November, November, you’re more than a month past but you’re still so easy to remember.

I recently got a fresh reminder of the big storm that wreaked havoc across South Whidbey when I learned why the big branch that fell on my roof hadn’t budged an inch over the past six weeks — two and a half feet of it was poking through the ceiling and into the attic.

Feeling pretty sheepish, here. Admittedly, I saw that thing every day coming home from work and had been feeling increasingly guilty for being too lazy to go up there and kick it off. The repair guy comes Friday, so the final price tag of my sloth has yet to be tabulated, but it’ll be more than simply fixing a hole in the roof. Remember all the rain in December? There was a ton of it, and an ungodly amount made its way into the insulation and down into the walls downstairs.

Lots of people got it much worse, however, so I really can’t complain. Actually, I’m grateful my eagle-eyed neighbor alerted me to the problem when he did. Apparently he had just the right angle from his property to see the hole which was so hidden by branches from ours. I should mention that a falling tree almost squashed his house during the same storm, and though I barely lifted a finger to help out, I came home to a stack of freshly cut firewood in my carport.

I suppose you could say he was just being neighborly, but in general I’ve found that Whidbey Island is filled with people like him. Folks around here look out for each other, and not out of moral obligation but because they seem to enjoy doing so. They do nice things because they want to.

Take Hearts and Hammers, an organization composed of volunteers who spend a day every year doing hard labor fixing up other people’s homes. If there a better example a community looking after its own, I don’t know it. By the way, the non-profit group’s annual spaghetti dinner is 4:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 12 at Langley United Methodist Church.

Similarly, and much sooner, are two events this weekend that also exemplify the spirit of Whidbey. On Saturday is the Sea Float Scramble in Langley at 11 a.m. The goal is getting together for some winter fun, rather than an event designed to give, but I watched a guy last year toss down his own float for a little girl who arrived late. That simple act of kindness made her day, and mine. And on Sunday, a community meal for neighbors, friends and the homeless is at 2 p.m. at Bayview Hall. Not much to say other than the obvious — people doing nice things simply because they can.

So here’s to Whidbey, and the cool people among us who make our lives better.