A grand piano recently showed up on a sandbar in Miami's Biscayne Bay, about 200 yards from condominiums on the shore.

The piano, which weighs at least 650 pounds, was placed at the highest spot along the sandbar so it doesn't get underwater during high tide.

While officials aren't sure how it got there, but they know it won't be going anywhere unless it actually becomes a hazard to wildlife or boaters.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Jorge Pino says the agency is not responsible for moving such items. And, he adds, unless it becomes a navigational hazard, the U.S. Coast Guard won't get involved.

For now, the piano has become a fancy roost for seagulls.

Source: The Miami Herald, http:// www.herald.com

Playing classical music has always been a favorite pastime of mine, and I have even taught music to young children in my spare time. So, you can probably understand why it behooves me to comment on a grand piano being abandoned on a sandbar in the middle of a bay.

These things don't come cheap (some costing as much as $27,380), and if you wanted to get rid of one, I'm sure there is an affluent market out there that would be willing to take it off your hands. But to just throw one away goes beyond any sense of logic I can think of.

Surely this isn't some kind of ridiculous prank, because if it is, it's definitely no cheap thrill. To think of a prized possession like that currently being used as a roost for seagulls just makes me mad enough to spit! The effort alone to lift something that heavy and sail it out to an embankment had to take some very careful planning.

Still, it had to get there somehow, and whomever is responsible should have a music teacher make them play "Chopsticks" 1,000 times so they gain respect for such a fine instrument!

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