Leaves....Raking....Removing

Leaves.  The bud out on the spring, framing everything in varied shades of green.

They provide shade, rustle with the breeze, and give a home to birds and squirrels during the hot summer months.

Then comes fall...and that is what they do.  Fall.  Of course the colors of the leaves change from intense greens to vibrant hues of gold, orange, and red.  People take road trips just to look at the beautiful leaves that blend into a magnificent palate on the hillsides and along the roadways. 

But they still fall.  Onto the ground.   On the flower beds. On the roofs.  Into the hidden spots above bathrooms and porches.  And if they are not removed, rainwater and melting snow will gather in them making one soggy mess and creating so much moisture which just might seep into the ceilings inside the house.

That is where we are right now.  Leaves everywhere.  Our leaves tend to stay on the trees longer than most do.  Plus we have leaves still on the trees which won't fall until the new ones appear in the spring.  But those that have fallen, or have been blown off by the wind, are heaped in the flower beds, littering the ground, and gathering on our roof in spots hidden to the eye but still there to attract rainfall and melting snow.

Much as I like living in the middle of a grove of trees, I despise raking them.  When we were first married, I envisioned Gary and me raking on a Saturday or in the evenings, then roasting hot dogs and marshmallow over the fire as they burned in our drive.  Well, that didn't happen.  Most of the time I was by myself raking leaves because he was in the field harvesting corn or soybeans.  Why would he waste a perfectly good Saturday or stop harvest early just to rake leaves with me after school? Not gonna happen.

Then when Megan and Hilary were born, I once again envisioned happy times with two little girls, each with our own rakes, piling up the leaves and the girls running and jumping in them.  More visions of roasting hot dogs and marshmallows popped up in my mind.

Wrong again.  Megan didn't like to rake leaves and after 5 minutes, if that long, would make an excuse to go into the house, usually to the bathroom, and never return.  We would find her there an hour later, reading her book.  Since Megan wasn't raking, Hilary fussed because SHE had to rake and why wasn't Megan out there too.  Neither of them shared that same vision that I did of little girls laughing and playing and jumping in the leaves.  I don't ever remember roasting the first hot dog or making the first S'more over a fire of burning leaves either.

Fast forward to the time I was teaching at Ivy Tech.  We were hosting Thanksgiving, and on a free Friday in November, I decided I would spend the bright sunny day outside raking leaves and dragging them to the back pasture. I laid out a tarp on the ground, raked the flower beds and the yard onto it, and pulled it out to the back dumped the leaves off, and repeated the process.  I was sore, my muscles ached, and I was exhausted at the end of the day, but the yard and the flower beds looked great and I was so proud of myself that I was ahead of schedule on things I needed to do before the holiday.

A few days later...it rained. It was windy.  And the rest of the leaves had fallen to the ground.  There were so many that it didn't look like I had even raked the first one.  

A couple of years we paid for leaf removal.  One year Andrew Leman made short work of removing the leaves and the yard looked fantastic.  Another year the Youth Group was looking for ways to earn money for trips and other expenses, so we invited them to come out and rake in return for a donation to their fund.

This year we decided to hire the lawn service guys who have trimmed our poison ivy laced hedge a couple of times.  An advertisement in the county paper caught our eyes---leaf removal!  We could tie that in with the return trim of the hedge that they wanted to do in the fall.  Perfect!

Today was the day.  So this morning Gary decided to move the leaves from the roof to the ground which entailed my holding the ladder for him as he climbed up with the rake to scoot the leaves from above the bathroom ceiling and above the kitchen ceiling and above the living room ceiling....to the ground.  Next he finished the clean up of garden stones and decorative clay  pieces, emptied all of the flower pots, and moved the patio furniture to the barn.  We were ready...and waiting...and waiting some more.

The guys did not come.  Later in the afternoon Gary called them. No answer. He left a message. No return call.

Of course there could be a good explanation why they didn't come today.  Maybe the rain yesterday created too much moisture and they decided to wait another day.  Maybe there was a family emergency of some kind. Maybe they just forgot!

 The best scenario will be that they call tomorrow and tell us they will be here Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday to clear the leaves and trim the hedge.  Perfect.  The next best is that they can't do it after all and that Gary will rake around the front door and flower beds and mulch with the mower as much as he can. The worst case scenario is that nothing happens and no leaves are raked and the outside looks leaf-covered with one little path up the sidewalk to get to the door.

Next year the same process will happen. Green leaves, nice shade, changing colors, leaves on the ground.    Same cycle as always.