Mission Accomplished

My mother told me that she wanted a flag hung on the flagpole outside the nursing home, so today, I st about to make that happen.  Found some good, sturdy rope, then went over to the fire station to ask for assistance.  Firemen are nothing if not patriotic and they hang flags.  They also have big ladder trucks.  The crew at the Masonic Street firehouse, Alexandria Fire Department told me they be happy to help, but the aerial truck was doing something right then.  The dispatcher told me that he'd send them right over, so I went to the nursing home to await them.  Inside of an hour, the truck showed up.

Big ol' aerial truck, T-41.  The captain told me that it had a 100 foot boom, but we didn't need nearly 100 feet.  In short order, he had the truck stabilized and the boom extended.

We had a little trouble, because this type flagpole has half of the rope (the down rope) running inside the pole.  I had never seen one like that.  All the other flag poles I've ever seen have both strands of rope running on the outside of the pole.  Not this one.  Leave it to me to have a weird flagpole.  But, in short order the guys figured it out and had the new rope strung through the pulley.

That's a smallish flag, a 3X5, but it was the best I could do locally.  I raised it with honors, and it will do until we can get a 5X8, which is a size better suited to this pole.

Long may it wave.