>George,
>
>I know.... God still loves me but I must confess the thought is at this point just too juicy to let go of. <g>

I hear ya.:-)

>I mean, we're talking anal here with respect to my neighbor. Oh, he's a nice enough fellow but he really is focused on his lawn.
>
>One day, last year, he extended some poured concrete curbing out in front of his house. He had a load of topsoil delivered and it sat for a couple weeks. Well, if Utah is known for anything it's that there are LOTS of kids, per capita. Lessee.. Dirt... Kids.. + bicycles.. What do YOU think happened? Kid + bike over mound of dirt, right? Doesn't take a particularly bright individual to figure that out. Well, I was walking my attack poodle (can't let her do her thing on his lawn - we stop and turn around) and he was outside yelling and hollering (to no one in particular) about the *^*&%^&^ kids who broke one of his sprinkler heads. I finally had had enough and told im something to the effect, "If it's that big a deal I'll buy you a new sprinkler head. Kids are more important than that," or something like that. Karol reminded me about this just last night. <g> He stopped and looked at me like I was crazy but it shut him up. <g>
>
>He's going to give himself a stroke for goodness sakes....
>
>Of course, when his dad comes and visits it's apparent where all this comes from. Sits on a chair in the open garage door yelling at the kids.
>
>Pretty sad in my book. Why not just enjoy them being kids; finding joy in a pile of dirt. <g> Personally, I have very fond memories of digging in a sand pile with my late son when he was around 4-5, hiding toy men and making truck & car trails. Cave ins and all that.. <g> Man, to have the ability to find simple joy in the little things of life, eh?
>

Really! It's my wife who worries about the lawn and everything, not me. I grew up in an apartment in Chicago. Had a nice big yard to play in (froze part of it over in winter and played ice hockey). But I never had to take care of it. At any rate, The Mick (my wife) found a basketball lying the flower bed and was a bit upset by it. First, the flower bed, unless it's given some protection is gonna end up with plenty of basketballs in it that she won't see. Second, our boys are 20 (21 in two weeks) and 17. I've told her many times, "Let them enjoy it. There'll be plenty of opportunity to get this fixed up after they've left." Considering their ages, it shouldn't be in the too distant future.