For several years now, the people in one house in our neighborhood have put lots of green tennis balls all over their front lawn. This year a number of other houses have done the same.
Is this a superstition of some kind? A celebration? It’s usually in winter - is it to keep the snow away?
Anybody have an answer. Or will I need to actually ask one of the people who do it?
Thanks!
Do they have dogs? We have to pick up tennis balls before mowing because of our dogs.
Does their lawn have some white lines on it and a net in the middle?
Oh Barclay, I’ve hit it over our court fence. Do be a dear and get that for me.
Wow, BeaG, nice neighborhood.
I’d guess that they think they’re protecting their lawns somehow. I can’t imagine how, but maybe there’s some old wives’ tale about lawns and tennis balls. Maybe they’re trying to keep animals off their lawns or something.
Just how dense is the coverage? Are they arranged in some regular pattern? Are they held in place somehow?
Do they have automatic sprinklers? I can imagine that a slit-open tennis ball could be slipped over a sprinkler head to keep it protected during the winter when it’s not in use.
I live across the street from the tennis courts. It’s a rare day that I don’t find tennis balls in my front yard. They must really be swinging for a home run to clear the fence.
Tennis balls on the sprinkler heads won’t protect them from freezing.
If you have an in-ground sprinkler system and live in a climate with freezing winter temperatures, standard winterization procedure is to shut off the water in the fall and purge all the outdoor piping using compressed air. If you don’t do this, the water in the sprinkler heads and/or the piping will freeze and crack stuff, necessitating expensive repairs.
Someone sowed their lawn with tennisball seeds?
Sorry, not a phenomenon I’ve witnessed.
Dear BeaG,
You clearly live in an eclectic neighborhood of people who do not wish to conform. The tennis balls are most likely a novelty to make their lawn and house a conversation piece. Your other neighbors who lack the creativity to be true non-conformist believe that by copying the other non-conformists in your neighborhood will give them non-comformist credibility, when in actuality it confirms the opposite. You must now decide whether you will conform along with them in your bohemian neighborhood, stay tradtional, or be a true radical and start laying dead cat carcasses across your own lawn.
Sincerely,
Omar
can we get a picture of this interesting phenomenon?
Maybe they are M.O.U.S.*
Mushrooms of…
They keep tigers away.
Drop them a thank-you note sometime for remembering this for you. You could have been eaten just going to the mailbox.
I’ve made that mistake before. Trust me, tennis balls taste awful.
Perhaps they’ve taken up Indonesian cooking and they’re the functional equivalent of wooden duck decoys? Do you see any of your neighbors lurking in the bushes with a shotgun?
Edit: Argh! Scooped!
That makes the most sense, because the OP said they were green and tennis balls are usually yellow.
if they look like this they are walnuts http://blog.lcmsworldmission.org/files/2009/01/walnut-green.jpg
Horse apples can look like green tennis balls from a distance, too.
I vote for your answer!
