When I was at the Minnesota State Fair in August, I asked the McCain team for a lawn sign.  These days, campaigns deliver and install the signs themselves in order to make sure that they get displayed properly, and it took more than five weeks to get it.  They finally installed a brand-new McCain-Palin sign on Thursday … but it didn’t last long:

Sometime last night, between 10 pm and 11 am this morning, someone stole the plastic sign from the wire frame.  I think they wanted to steal the entire sign, as the wire frame was partially lifted out of the ground, but it must have proven too difficult for the thief.  Oddly, it looks as though this was the only sign stolen in the neighborhood, as the other McCain and Obama signs I’ve seen were still there this morning.

I didn’t expect the sign to remain unmolested until Election Day, but I thought I’d have it for more than three days.  But, hey — it could have been worse.  I’d ask for another one, but it would probably arrive at Thanksgiving.

There are other things to enjoy, anyway.  We spent the day on the St. Croix on a paddlewheel boat, having a great buffet lunch out of Stillwater and enjoying an unseasonably warm weekend.  The entire family listened to a Dixieland jazz band, and we even ran into Brian “St. Paul” Ward of Fraters Libertas, my NARN colleague, on the same cruise with his family.  Somewhat ironically, I’m wearing a Hines Ward jersey, which Brian’s family appreciated.

Update: From left to right: Ed, Marcia (the First Mate), David, Kayla (the Little Admiral), and Missy — with granddaughter #2, due in December.