Leaf It to the Neighbors
Laughter does not have to come from a major source. It could be ... relatively minor.
It’s fall, the season when trees shed their coats, inspiring the phrase “I’ve fallen and can’t get up,” as thousands of leaves blanket the ground. Many people consider this their favorite time of year, when a slight morning nip in the air gives way to warm afternoons — a welcome change from the constant heat and humidity of summer. Others, however, dread the thought of trudging to the shed for a rake, knowing they’ll spend endless hours clearing the autumn debris from their yards, causing homeowners to employ different strategies to get the job done. In the spirit of autumn efficiency, here are a few effective methods for dealing with those endless leaves.
Several residents in the community who appear somewhat lazy are sold on the Neighborly Wind Strategy, waiting for a strong breeze to blow the colorful lawn litter east into their neighbor’s yard. Or they re-brand laziness as environmentalism by acknowledging that they are not skipping raking, but rather enriching the soil.
Others tell their kids it is a game, where the one who gathers the most leaves wins, neglecting to mention that there is a prize. While others convince themselves that the leaves look festive until the first snow buries them.
And you can’t miss the neighbors in the next block who are using the reverse psychology approach, shouting, “I love raking leaves!” hoping Mother Nature will quell their tune with a windstorm just to shut them up.
For years, around this time of year, I have noticed someone using a leaf blower on my neighbor’s roof, seemingly trying to clear the gutters of leaves. It looks as if they are conducting an orchestra of chaos, with leaves swirling in the air like confetti. This makes me wonder if this is truly the safest strategy, especially since it is fall.
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Hi Keith,
Each fall I often wonder where all the leaves come from. We don't even have trees in our front yard and seem to have many covering the ground. We use the environmental method and leaf them until we run them over with the lawnmower.
We lost 2 large maple trees in the derecho a few years ago. We still get almost as many leaves on our lawn!