Lighthouses: not just for keeping ships off rocks

Honestly how cute is this? These replicas of Huntington Lighthouse sit atop the street signs in the incorporated village. We were living here for about a year before I first noticed them, which gives you an idea of how aware of my surroundings I am. My excuse is that they are fairly high up and I know the roads so I don't need to look at the signs, but still...
They slightly bug me because they aren't functional in any way. I think they should have little doors at the back so birds can nest in them, but they are purely decorative. Not much use as foghorns either, rather like the original which is still silent since it's latest malfunction.

Powered by the sun, even in the fog

It transpires that I'm not the only one whose sleep has been affected by the Huntington foghorn. After proudly announcing on Saturday that it was functioning again after three years of silence, the Coast Guard has had to admit that the foghorn on the lighthouse has been malfunctioning since it was turned back on and they've had numerous complaints from local residents.
Apparently it is now powered by solar energy (a very good thing) but is designed to stay on if it malfunctions, rather than shut down (a not so good thing for us). The last time it malfunctioned it sounded continuously for 41 days. Oh joy!

Season of mists... and foghorns

On Friday evening the temperatures were in the mid-eighties, even at 10 PM, and the humidity was a killer. That set us up for a big blanket of what passes for fog on the North Shore of Long Island. Where I come from it would be described as a little light mist, where Steven comes from it wouldn't even be worth noting. Everyone else seems to have their air conditioners back on but I am too fiscally prudent mean to run the airco in October. So I opened all the windows as wide as they would go. And then it started.
Sometime in the Friday night/Saturday morning hours the foghorn sounded and it's been going off every five seconds since then, even though the fog lifted at around 9 AM on Saturday. How do I know it's every five seconds? Because I spent the last two nights counting One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi... Steven, of course slept through it. In fact he only noticed it on Saturday morning when he walked the dogs on the beach!
It got so annoying on Friday night that I went to another bedroom to try and get some sleep. The other bedroom is over the garage. At the end of the driveway are two large oak trees. This year has been a bumper one for acorns. They make a delightful ping when they hit the ground, Approximately one a second. So my night went something like this: One ping Missi ping ssi ping ppi ping.

The foghorn, I guess, is on Huntington lighthouse. And either it's part of the Long Island Fall Festival or the thing is stuck. If it's the former it should end sometime after the meatball eating contest today. If it's the latter I suppose it will be sounding every five seconds until someone goes and fixes it.

Season of foghorns and falling acorns
Sleepless nights for me.......