Help Wanted (Scuba Divers)
I need two scuba divers to remove large potted plant from a swimming pool.

That's what the forum item said when it was posted on RM.com Saturday. Hundreds of Murietans, drawn by the headline, clicked to see what it was about. Yes, it was about Friday's storm, and the story has a happy ending.

The story begins after the storm, when Ray Santos was taking stock of the damage at his home on Domingo Drive. As he picked up leaves and branches the wind had tossed around the backyard, a feeling came over him that something was amiss. But what?

He gave the yard a closer look. The focal point is a formal, Mediterranean-style pool. A blue-tile wall runs the length of the pool on one side, making a dramatic setting for the fountain and the two cast-iron urns containing Sago palms that flank it.

Except there was only one urn.

The pool, with the flanking urns. (The one on the right was the troublemaker.) That's the palm sitting to the left of the urn.

A brief search located the other urn, complete with palm, sitting bolt upright on the bottom of the pool under six feet of water apparently after being toppled by the wind.

"I would have never thought that would have ended up in the pool," Santos said.

The question was how to get it out, short of draining the pool.

That's where the idea for the scuba divers came in. But, as it turned out, they weren't needed. A friend came up with the idea of using heavy chain instead.

The plan consisted of letting the chain sink into the water and then maneuvering it into position around the pot by controlling it from outside the pool, Santos explained. Once the pot was secured, it could be dragged to the shallow end of the pool for recovery.

Santos and his friend tackled the job Sunday. The plan worked so well, the pool didn't even sustain a scratch, he said.

And now that it's all over, "It's actually kind of humorous," Santos said.