Old Yeller Meets Its Demise

If you've been reading for a while, you will remember that a couple months ago my neighbor remodeled his bathroom and planted a yellow toilet in his back yard. The yard that I can see from my bedroom window to my kitchen window to my family room window.

I dubbed it Old Yeller.

His wife swore it wasn't staying, but I wasn't getting my hopes up when he started putting decorative rock around it.

But the other evening my husband started to holler excitedly, "The toilet! They are getting rid of the toilet!"

I tell you, it's been quite a while since a potty caused that much excitement in our house.

I came running to find that, indeed, the yellow toilet was gone.


Later Judy came over to tell me that Jerry wanted to me to know he'd been "outvoted by management, two to one." And that he was filing a union complaint.

To which my husband smartly replied, "Tell him this is a right to work state."

Apparently Old Yeller actually didn't meet its demise. It was just moved around to the other side of the house where I can't see it. So never fear, it still stands as a monument to bad taste. But it sure was nice of Jerry to move it where I couldn't see it.

Old Yeller has been replaced by this lovely lady.

I can almost hear her saying, "Oh, crap. What did I just step in?"

At Least I Don't Have to Clean This Toilet

Some days you're just not sure what to blog about. Then, suddenly, your neighbor decides to put his old yellow toilet out in the backyard for a planter. Before nap time. So you can even get photos for the blog. Some people get lemons. I get lemon yellow toilets.

I looked out the kitchen window about 10:30 this morning and saw this lovely yellow toilet (which is visible from EVERY window on the entire west side of my house and from my deck) had taken up residence in the neighbor's backyard.

Perhaps a nickname will make it more palatable. I think I'll call it "Old Yeller."

I know they are remodeling a bathroom, so I hoped it was only temporary. Half an hour later my neighbor was putting decorative rock around it. Crap. Perhaps it's not temporary. I can't wait to see what Amelia has to say about this.

Now, these are great neighbors, and if the worst thing they every do is use a toilet as a planter, that's pretty minor. Still, because I am who I am, I thought maybe I could talk them out of it.

So, I opened my back door and yelled to my neighbor.

"Hey, Jerry! Do you need to use my bathroom?"

He replied, "It's our new outhouse, like it?"

Polite laughter from me. "Jerry, don't tell me I'm going to have to look at that thing from my kitchen window and my deck."

"I thought it looked kind of nice."

Sure does, right up there with a velvet Elvis and the picture of the dogs playing poker.

"To each his own, but no matter what you plant in it, it will still look like a toilet. You do know the trash men will take that away for free, right?"

Maybe, just maybe, he'll change his mind. If not, just think how much fun three two-year-old boys will have with a toilet in the neighbor's backyard. I'll bet nothing will grow in there that summer.