The Times We Live In

It was when I met our mail carrier at our mail box that I noticed it-
A BIG puddle of bright red paint, reaching from the center of the road to the shoulder, immediately in front of our home.
"Yeah, I've seen several of those puddles along the way to get here", he said.
Tracks through the puddle indicated one car had already passed through. Fearful the paint would splash all over following car's bodywork, I pieced together sections of garden hose and tried to dissipate the puddle.
I was mostly successful, but remnants of the patch remained.
What would cause someone to dump blood-red paint in front of several homes along our road?
I called the Sheriff's Department.

"No, we've not had any other reports" said she, "but I'll call the City and see if they've had any."
I did some investigating on my own and found little spots of red paint on our side of the road, stretching half a mile West of us.

I've been very open about my political views. Was this done by someone marking republican homes in our area? The thought sent a chill down my spine.
Was the "trouble" I've been expecting about to begin? Did I need to get a long gun out of my safe and have it close at hand?
And so I thought about it all afternoon. Was there any OTHER explanation?

Four hours later I had my "Eureka" moment.
It was "trash pickup" day. I had pulled our trash can out for pickup the prior night. When the truck stopped to pick up our can, it apparently dripped the paint all over our side of the road and left spots of paint intermittently for at least half a mile West of us.
I sighed in relief, then picked up the phone again to report my thoughts to the Sheriff.
She laughed.
But it's a sign of how tense we all are in this political environment, isn't it?

I'm still preparing for trouble.