pee in the pickles
v. phr.— «My old man referred to it as peeing in the pickles. Only he used a different word. I never got the connection but I knew he meant taking your eye off the ball. Or in Tony Stewart’s (7-1) case not paying attention to his driving while turning left at 190 MPH.» —“Texas Motor Speedway preview” by NASCAR Jack Covers.com Nov. 4, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
The admonition Don’t Mess with Texas may sound like a tough guy’s warning, but it started out as an anti-littering slogan more than 40 years ago. In the 1980s, the Texas Department of Transportation launched the campaign to cut roadside litter that...
While hiking in Colorado, Becca from Corinth, Texas, felt what she calls a kind of “pre-emptive nostalgia,” an appreciation sharpened by knowing the beauty would soon be gone. Is there a word for “feeling homesick for a place you haven’t yet left”...