Saturday, October 30, 2010

Making do

Why do I not own a leaf blower?

I keep asking myself when fall comes along. I hate raking leaves. Despise it. You would think I would get a leaf blower and make the tedious job go a bit quicker. But I don't. I keep telling myself the real issue is not having any outlets on the outside of my house. Yes, my house was built a long time ago and the closest electrical outlet would be in the garage. The back of the garage. And no, I don't own one super duper long ass extension chord.

Maybe I just like bitching about raking leaves. I blame the leaves for me feeling worn out last night and drinking only 3 beers. They were already haunting me.

Another problem with raking leaves is my attitude. Because my heart ain't in it, I don't do the best job. I figure if I get 80-90% of the leaves pushed to the street then I have done a good enough job. Unlike the old guy down the street who meticulously gets every leaf- even those tiny yellow ones- off of his lawn. Screw him and his leaf blower.
My neighbor stopped by to talk to me as I was raking. I saw him dumping some plants into a leaf pile. He then turned and started walking towards me. I instantly thought "What is wrong?" as he only talks when something is wrong. He is a nice guy. Old, just had heart surgery. So if he is coming to talk then something is up.

As he gets closer, I stop raking and try to give a warm "Good Morning". He responds and begins to tell me how I must think something is wrong if he is coming to talk to me.

What? Why? How would you think that?

He tells me that the fence behind my shed is falling apart. That it will be falling soon. I thank him and go take a look. Yep, it is on its last months. I have a vine problem back there and the vines have been winning. I thought I would win this season but they made a late surge to victory in August.

My neighbor was right. The fence was bowing over into the alley. I went behind the shed to see what I can do to make it better all while making a mental note to replace the fence come spring. I took a look and thought I had some rope or wire I could use to pull the fence back into place and keep it help in place. I was about to get some out of the basement when I noticed the vine intertwined in the fence. The vine was kinda thick too.

Hmm...

I could make do with the vine. I pulled on to the vine and the fence came up with it. I then wrapped the vine around a metal post that had been holding the fence up. It only gave a little back. I grabbed another portion and pulled it in. That held too. I guess this will work out well.

Back to raking leaves. I had finished the section by the street and was willing to say screw the front yard. But the voice inside my head so go do it. The front yard is enclosed by a fence. Raking those leaves means moving them out by another means other than the rake. I have used a old shower curtain in the past. I thought about buying a nice sized tarp but never have. The old plastic sheet does the job; it just takes a few more trips. As I took care of these leaves, I noticed the neighbors down the street cleaning up as well. One lady was using an old blanket to pile leaves before dragging them to the street. Suddenly my shower curtain didn't look so bad.

So unless another wind storm hits, I should be done with leaves for the year. Now to go check on the snowblower...

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Just brought in my fourth truckload of leaves over the weekend. 80+ 30-gallon bags full AND we're not done.

I am not amused by leaves.