My Biggest Pet Peeve

One of my biggest pet peeves is people that park their cars on their front lawn. I think it looks trashy and tasteless.  I grew up in a neighborhood that started out nice with young families but gradually people started parking on their lawns, and then the next thing you know, Rockwood has a reputation for being the white trash neighborhood between Portland and Gresham.  The stigma remains to this day.

Two blocks from my house, a neighbor parks their old orange pickup on their lawn, right under a maple tree.  The poor maple tree is listing to one side, because the truck is sitting on the roots and compacting the soil.  I mentally blow up that truck with my imaginary laser beam vision every time I go past it. 

The truck canopy really pops the Euphorbia martinii.  Don't you agree?

So, you can imagine my surprise when I walked out my front door today and realized that My Pirate’s truck canopy is still sitting on the front lawn.  It’s been there for seven days.  (Gasp!)  I have become my greatest pet peeve. While I was busy enjoying a week of stay-cation with My Pirate and updating the den, our front lawn decoration was bringing down the value of the neighborhood.  Now we are that house that gets targeted in our neighborhood newsletter. 

I’ll tuck the canopy in the garage. While I’m at it, I should probably leave an apology note on my neighbor’s orange pickup truck for mentally blowing up his truck so often.  And bake a batch of cookies to help sweeten up my neighbors.  I’m definitely not going to get a thank you card for our beautiful yard from the neighborhood board this year.  How did I let this happen?