I'm a sailor peg/And I lost my leg....Dropkick Murphy's.

Boy, hearing that song blasting out of the speakers was one of the few good things about the movie The Departed.

I thought about the lyrics to that Dropkick Murphy's song (which I believe is a remake of a Woody Guthrie tune), after reading Diane Bell's column in the Union-Tribune this morning.

Her column is a trip. Sometimes it's filled with interesting stories about what's happening around town. Othertimes, there will be two sentence items on Hollywood stars that were spotted eating dinner in La Jolla.

Anyway, this morning was one of those interesting columns. It dealt with a San Diego lifeguard that found a human leg that washed onto the beach.

It had a foot with polished toenails, a shoe, and...before you get to grossed out I should mention...it was a prosthetic limb.

A tourist from Washington had lost the leg during the powerful swells last week, and filed a...missing leg report. It makes me wonder if there were pictures of the leg sent out.

It also makes me wonder if any sharks took a nibble, only to wonder what the hell was going on.

The leg washed ashore a mile away, and the owner was thrilled. The insurance company, as insurance companies do, refused to replace the $20,000 limb. She had been on crutches ever since.

It was cleaned and sent back, with money being refused.

I would've at least taken a few wacky pictures with the leg before sending it back.

Or I might prank a few of my friends. I'd ring there door bell and leave it on the porch. Oh, who knows. The possibilities are endless.

But, like the dude in The Fugitive searching for that one-armed man...at least it had a happy ending.