It’s practically a tradition; I rake leaves on Veterans Day, or shortly thereafter. Usually, some ill wind blows the bulk of the leaves off the huge oak in the back, and the maple tree, not to mention the Japanese maple, in the front.
It’s one of those activities that allow for creative thought. Musing about raking, or the alternatives to it, such as leaf blowers, for instance.
So I don’t mind raking, though my wife is much more thorough than I. She’ll leave one leaf per square meter, and I might leave a dozen. My law of diminishing returns cuts in sooner I guess. I DON’T LIKE stepping into a hidden pile of dog manure, though, since we don’t own a dog.
When I’m out there, I like to play music. I don’t want to get some headphones, though; I do that every day at work. I want to hear music blasting out of my boom box. OK, not blasting; I’m too socially appropriate to have music blaring outside at 10 a.m.
Not that I should have worried. The leaf blower that someone turned on ten houses away totally made my Aaron Copland CD inaudible.
I was on Facebook dissing leaf blowers when someone defended them as “fun.” I think my antipathy towards the machine is one part pollution aversion (it uses gas or electricity and it’s LOUD), but one part irritation about how people use them, blowing leaves into the street so that they become the responsibility of the municipality. I see that a LOT, and it really bugs me.
I think I’ll crank up my boom box all the way to five; well, maybe four and a half. I said to my wife that I was feeling like having a hamburger, a reference to the use of Hoe-Down from Rodeo by Copland as the theme for the long-running beef campaign; here is one example, and here’s another.
For some reason, the Daughter, who’s a great help with raking, asked me if I had ever been robbed. I was reminded that in the late 1990s, someone stole my boom box, identical to the one I was playing, from my office at work; I had purchased one for myself and one for Carol back in 1995. The thief was eventually caught because he was purloining a number of items from the building over time.
The really interesting thing was I had to testify before a grand jury to indicate that, no, I had not had given the defendant permission to “borrow” my boom box, and indeed did not know the defendant. Much to my surprise, a few months later, I received restitution for very nearly the full value of my loss from some court-related entity.
We had a strange autumn this year ! the leaves remained on the trees until a week ago, and then they were blown away in one shot by a very strong wind of 62 miles/h ! I don’t know where the leaves have gone, but there were none in our yard ! What a blessing we both hate it like you !
We usually just let Mother Nature do as she pleases with the leaves. And that’s “usually’ to blow them into other yards! Unfortunately, she blows our neighbor’s leaves into ours. š
The second- best thing about living in Auckland is that nearly all of our trees don’t lose their leaves, so there’s no raking. On the other hand, our mild climate means that folks have to mow their lawns year round. Which relates to the best thing (for me) about Auckland: No snow (or anything beyond a very light frost).
I totally agree with you about leaf blowers, though I’m a little more relaxed about the ones that also vacuum up leaves and grind them into mulch.
I was actually watching an infomercial for one of those vac/mulch things. When I get older, I might go that route…
My house is placed in such a way that eventually all the leaves will wind up in one corner, simplifying matters immensely.
(Why, yes, I did buy it in the fall. Why do you ask?)
Last year and this year I got out the mower and mowed the leaves. The leaf shards cover the grass, but after a few days they work their way down the soil and become mulch. I only have to scrape out a few leaves from under bushes and fences.