My next door neighbour is kind of a strange little man. He probably would say the same thing about me on his blog, but I’m pretty sure it’s a safe bet he won’t, because he is just now contemplating the move to buying a CD player for his house. He has one CD for his truck, because it didn’t come with a cassette or 8-track. His daughter made it for him.

Don’t get me wrong – he’s a good neighbour, willing to lend a hand whenever it’s needed, and never afraid to share his opinion on almost anything.

I call him the lawn mower man. In a way, he’s almost like my father. You never can have too many lawn mowers. But that’s another story for another day

To get back to the tarp, you need a little background.

About a week ago, my neighbour and his “Italian old-timer” friend (his words, not mine), would talk loudly in front of his house for an hour, and then jump into one of their vehicles on some sort of secret mission. I knew it was secret, because I overheard (remember I said they talked loudly) that someone was not supposed to find out about it. This went on for several days.

I didn’t give it much thought. Perhaps a surprise birthday party or something.

Anyway, two days ago, the two of them were busily tearing down part of the fence in the back yard. They measured loudly many times (everything is loudly with those two) to make sure the opening in the fence was big enough, and then jumped in the truck and were gone for two or three hours.

Before you think I’m just a Mrs Kravitz (the nosy neighbour from Bewitched, remember?) don’t forget, everything they do is loud. You can’t help but overhear or wonder what the hell is going on.

When they returned, they had a brand new shiny white Ford half ton truck. Between the two of them, they squeezed it through the section of removed fence, shut the engine off, and admired the truck (loudly, of course) for about a half hour. It is a nice truck.

Then, they took off again. They returned with a Canadian Tire bag full of bungy cords and a great big blue tarp. With much ado, they covered the truck completely (except for the radio antenna – they cut a hole in the tarp for that) Several noisy measurements were made to make sure the tarp was on the right way, and that it would indeed cover the entire truck.

That task completed, they rebuilt the fence and walked out back into the lane and declared that the truck was not visible at all.

I admit it – I am curious. Why would anyone buy a brand new truck and go to all that trouble of hiding it?

When I find out, I’ll let you know. Maybe there’s more under that tarp than we need to know.