Opinion : As I tiptoe through the....what's that??!!!

A few days ago we got the press release from the local PD asking everyone to make sure the yards are kept clean and tidy.

I laughed. I remembered. And I laughed harder.

When I was a kid, we lived in this house in town that went with a quarter of a block of yard.  In the corner by the alley, was my dad's stash of old tire rims, and metal items. One morning I went out to play in the yard, looked in the backyard and saw a tractor with a couple guys loading up my dad's stuff.

I have to agree with my dad on this one, "I don't know why it was bothering anyone, the grass was so tall no one could see the stuff!" he'd say. Yep, it was the city guys coming to help my dad spiffy up the yard.

Long story short I tattled on them and my mom made them put that stuff right back where it came from. There hadn't been any permission granted for them to just come on over and load it up.

I remember the times the neighbors thought it was time for my dad to mow.  The grass was a bit too tall, so they'd complain.

Then my dad would be out there mowing his quarter of the block with his push mower, early in morning on Saturday, later in the evening after he returned from working all day in Cedar Rapids on the weeknights. 

Then the neighbors would complain.

"You mow too late.  We want to enjoy our evening without the constant sound of a mower."

Then he mowed too early. This brought neighbors on the other side of the block growling at him for waking them up. The guy just couldn't get a break. Once in a while he'd say he missed the country...I never really understood why.

This week we are entertaining the Texas aunt. Well, it's the time I usually spiff things up, send out yard details to pick up after the dog.  See to city folks that means something completely different.

At our house, it means, picking up deer bones that the dog dragged back to the house to chew on. Picking up chewed up items the dog found but didn't take back to her house.

I remember the day I went to visit a dear friend of mine.  I walked outside and laughed.  There was another deer leg laying there.  That is nothing new.   Alongside that was a raccoon skin. Next to that, evidence that sometime in the night the neighbors cows had gone through the yard.  Didn't see them, but they left a gift by the front door.

What are you gonna do?

You just keep walking to the car and deal with it later.  Of course a farmer would look at it and say, "Cool! Fresh fertilizer for my lawn, delivered right to the door, can't beat service like that!"

So anyway, ya'll keep your yards tidy and be sure to mow the grass at a good neighborly hour, whatever time that is.

As for me, I'll tip toe through the country side and be glad my neighbor can't see my yard from their kitchen window!