Going Green and Other Extremes

As John and I are in the midst of selling our house, we are starting to see the advantages of a home owners’ association. Now, our neighborhood is the type that opted more for the neighborhood crime watch rather than a HOA (but as you have read earlier, the neighborhood watch is a little lacking). As we move away from our lovely area, we are realizing that there are some things that we are going to miss. For example:

We are going to miss how easy it is to teach Braden his colors. Simply driving through our neighborhood, you can find a vast array of colored houses, as if there is a permanent rainbow for all to see regardless of the weather.

"Look Braden- fuchsia!"

"Look Braden- mustard yellow!"

I give big props to the yellow house for also buying the matching yellow water hose so as to not clash by having a green one sitting out.

I vote to give the people at Home Depot and Lowes the right to deny mixing an exterior paint color that resembles any color of Easter peeps!

We will miss seeing what the forest will look like that the house on the corner has planted in their yard. Now, I had to take a picture of this as proof as I know that no one would believe me that this guy PLANTED 39 PINE TREES IN HIS YARD!! That’s right, all the wooden stakes you see in the picture are marking the place where a pine sapling is growing. We still can’t figure out if this fool is taking the “Going Green” to the extreme, or if this is his creative way of hiding the junk in his driveway; the old bus, the old boat, the old car (it’s like a graveyard for modes of transportation that have become immobile).

Would it be totally inappropriate to leave the following note on his door?:

To Whom It May Concern:
We, your neighbors, would like to applaud your drastic measures to help our air supply by planting so many trees. However, we feel it necessary to inform you that we feel it best for you to focus more of your efforts on getting grass to grow (it’s the green stuff that only covers about 40% of your yard), rather than the 39 pine trees you have chosen to suck all of the water out of the ground. If you insist on nurturing these trees, we must warn you that pine trees are notorious for being breeding grounds for ticks, in which case we can only hope they will eventually suck your dogs dry in order to keep them from barking at every little thing that passes by. Please accept these hedge clippers and bag of St. Augustine seed as a token of our appreciation for you making your house a little less of an eye sore.
In neighborly love,

P.S. Any more "bright ideas" you have will need to be brought before five of your neighbors. If four out of the five neighbors think that your idea is actually indeed a good one, please proceed with your plans. (If any of these neighbors are the proud owners of a FlowBee, please vacate their premises, as their opinions cannot be trusted.)