It was there when she left, she's sure of it. But when Denise Thompson returned from a weekend trip out of town, she discovered that her front lawn had disappeared.
"We had grass when we left," Thompson said of her north-end home. "We didn't have grass when we came back. We had dirt."
On Friday morning Thompson and her children left for a weekend trip to visit her husband in Stettler. When they returned, entering their home through the backyard, everything appeared as it should. Then they got inside.
"I went in the house with the kids, got them settled ... and opened up the front blinds and noticed there was a whole mound of dirt as opposed to grass," Thompson said. "I freaked out."
Thompson searched her front yard and checked her mailbox for any clues as to what had happened, but found nothing. Even her neighbours weren't able to help.
"They just aid that they saw a big white truck sitting in front of my house, they didn't notice any name or any logos or anything on the truck," Thompson said.
While it's not unheard of for lawns or trees to be repossessed by landscapers who haven't been paid, Thompson is sure that's not what happened this time. The grass had been there since she moved in eight years ago. She does have her own theory though.
"That somebody got the wrong address. Somebody was supposed to have some yardwork done this weekend and they got the wrong place," Thompson said.
Thompson hopes that someone will realize their mistake and own up to it, and that she'll get her lawn back without having to pay for a new one. The costs would be covered by insurance if she can prove it was vandalism, otherwise she'll have to pay for it herself.
Though Thompson and her neighbours suspect the incident is simply a mix-up, and not a malicious act, everyone vows to pay closer attention to what goes on in their neighbourhood.
"They all kind of feel bad that they didn't notice or pay attention," Thompson said. "And I feel bad for the next landscaper that comes to do work because they're going to get the third degree."
With files from Julie Matthews.
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