Panicking The Neighbors

We put down some weed killer / fertilizer a few weeks ago. Turns out, our timing was bad. The weather over the next few days wasn't hot enough to activate the "weed killing" bits, but the "fertilizer" bits were all good. Our yard looked like we were *trying* to grow weeds.

So, I went out Saturday morning with two goals. First was to burn off the dregs of last season's gas from our mower. Second was to bag up a couple of the worst areas of wildflower weed from our yard.

There was a lot more gas left in the mower than I thought. I wound up mowing the entire yard. The mower *still* isn't empty. Nobody's yard is even green yet, and the trash collectors won't start picking up yard waste for a couple of weeks. Holy buckets, what have I done?!?

My wife and I discussed the futility of my efforts for a few minutes. Then, Neighbor 1 stepped outside and nearly feinted.

"Whoa!", he gasped. "I had no idea!... Hadn't thought about... Er..." He started to run toward his garage. "I guess I need do my yard..."

We talked him down from his panic as best we could. "Jeff didn't intend to mow our whole yard, it just kinda happened." He looked at me like I was crazy. Insert your own joke here. :)

While we were talking, Neighbor 2 stepped outside and saw our yard. He yelped and ran inside before we could say anything to him. A few minutes later his garage door went up, and he raced out into his yard. He was pushing his mower with one hand and spraying from a bottle of weed killer with his other.

"I want to have a nice yard!", he shouted as he ran by. He was moving so fast, if he'd been on the street his mower would have left skid marks.

I'm all for encouraging / influencing good behavior in others, but this was a bit wacky. Even for me.

Speaking of influencing good behavior in others... I'm gonna buy a Tall Latte for myself today. I'm just sayin'. :)