Leaf triumph

Remember this insanity?

Well, on Thursday morning, Heidi and I turned it into this:

And then, this morning, I turned it into this:

It took 31 lawn & leaf bags and three trips out to the yard waste place here in town (which is free every Saturday in November), but they are no longer in the back of my pickup, no longer in the garage. Oh, sure, there's still some leaves on the ground, but as my dad says, it's not about getting everyone, no matter what the perfectly manicured lawns around town try to tell you.

It threatened rain all morning and the wait was minimal each time. According to one of the guys out there working, last weekend was horribly busy and the wait time was atrocious. It was also about 30 degrees warmer last weekend so I imagine that a lot of people were taking advantage of it.

I always cuss and moan and groan, but having it done is an undeniably good feeling. I've actually accomplished something today and it's not eve 10AM.

Now its on to the 8-year-old's birthday party.

Leaves everywhere

Every fall it is a race to get all the leaves picked up before the snow flies. October was so cold and wet I figured that we missed our window for certain and that this would be the year that the snow just piles up on top of an inch of leaves. Fortunately, November has been milder and I've been able to get out there and get the leaves picked up. They're not all done, but I made a serious dent in them the other day.

I have found that the winning combination is a lawn mower and a leaf vacuum. Getting them chopped up before they go into the vacuum is essential as the bag on the leaf vac is the size of a sandwich bag and you're emptying it every 5 minutes as it is. This has mostly been my domain - Monday I spent probably 3 hours out there by myself with my iPod (probably damaging my hearing) while I mowed and vacuumed. We've filled 13 lawn and leaf bags already.

Today Heidi went out with a rake and tried to consolidate what was left. Have a look.

It may not look like much, but that's probably at least another 6-7 bags, probably more. I have to try to get some done tomorrow morning before work as we're really heading into the time of year when there's precious little light after work to get the job done.

After this is done, the only thing left is cleaning out the gutters again, but this will be the LAST year for that as we are getting Leaf Guard next year which is pricey but so worth it because of the tree-filled neighborhood we live in.