Hell Froze Over

Our next door neighbors finally got the Ginormous POS Totalled SUV towed out of their front yard.  (You may remember I wrote about its arrival in this post last November.) It may have something to do with that little call to the city that Kurt made and the subsequent visit from Code Enforcement, but after an entire YEAR of looking at this literal piece of junk from our kitchen window every day, I was delighted to see Mr. Tow Truck driver take it away this morning.

You can't fully appreciate the horror of this thing with this iPhone snapshot.  Suffice it to say it made our neighborhood look like trash.  Last October (yes, that would be a year ago) I sat having breakfast on a Sunday morning with my Mom who was visiting while Kurt was out of town.  We heard this rumbling noise, and I looked out the window to see the neighbors' adult son DRIVE this thing into their driveway and park it on the front lawn.  That's right, he drove it.  How, do you ask?  The roof is completely caved into the driver's seat.  I still don't know how it was possible to drive it on the road or how far it came from, but I saw him do it with my own eyes.  Then, they proceeded to cover it up halfway with a tarp  (there.  nobody will notice.) and left it to rot for the past 12 months.  I'll admit the lovely canvas tarp made it a little less noticeable, but still.  You have a JUNK CAR in your front yard, people!

A month ago, the tarp blew off in a terrible rainstorm and they never bothered to cover it up, so Kurt finally had enough, called 311 and not a week later, code enforcement left a big orange "move it or lose it" sticker on the back, along with all the hunting and ammo bumper stickers that already littered the rear window.

Also noted on the picture above is the fine job they did painting their trimwork.  They hired some local neighborhood criminal to paint the trim.  He painted the front of the house, (well, parts of it) and then painted about a foot up the side of the house, leaving the rest to continue peeling and rotting away for our viewing pleasure. When we put our house on the market we are going to have to sneak over there and paint it ourselves or no one will want to move here.  They would never notice.  They only venture outside to sit in their carport and smoke, unless there's some neighborhood ruckus in which case Ms. Gloria will shuffle out in her housecoat and slippers to see what's going on.  The thing that drives me crazy is, these people are not that old.  In their early seventies, I'm guessing. 

I assume that the city had to arrange for the tow truck.  Initiative is not their strong suit.  These are the same people that STILL have their Christmas tree up from last year.  It's in their front picture window.  They don't light it of course, guess they save that to make it special for the holidays.  The rest of the year it's just the dusty tree in the living room.  Or maybe they decorate it for every season...throw a few flags on for 4th of July, hang gourds from it for Halloween and Thanksgiving.... doubt it.  I suppose once they hit the 6 month mark they considered themselves early for next year.

For now, I'm just happy that the heap of twisted metal is out of sight.  I can only imagine what will take its place now that there's space freed up in their yard - broken 4 wheeler?  Old bathtub?  Place your bets!