A few years ago there was a pothole in our neighborhood that you wouldn't see until you were right up on it. One night after dark, my wife and I took a walk with the dogs and a can of spray paint. We painted the edge of the hole so it would be easily seen. In the back of our minds, we thought that maybe it would embarrass the city and they'd eventually fix it. A few weeks later, it was fixed.

There was a pothole on the little street where our office is. Been there for at least a year. Monday evening I worked on my pinballs until it got dark. Then I took a leisurely stroll down the street with a can of bright orange fluorescent in my back pocket. The hole was filled in by Wednesday!

Now, I don't know if some city person noticed it and ordered the pothole fixed. Two days seems fast for that, even for a smallish town like Garland. My guess is that the folks on the asphalt truck saw the orange paint and figured some higher up marked it to be fixed.

So, if you have a pothole that's bugging you on a neighborhood street, give it a little spray paint. No calling the street department. No calling your city counsel person. Just mark it and see what happens!

I'm more risk-adverse. I just spray the rim of the hole.

At least I didn’t say I lick it.