The Leaves of Wrath

Bwahahahaha…  

Did you know that the alternate name for the season of Autumn is Fall?  Why?  Because all the leaves are FALLing.  (I don’t know if that’s true, but it sure sounds right to me!)

My yard has a dozen or so full-grown, leafy trees.  I love them all.  They are also the reason, along with the dogs why grass will not grow nicely in the back yard.  Too shady.  I’ve had them “lifted” and a lot more light reaches the ground, but weird growing seasons and three dogs have stunted my attempts to re-grow a lawn back there.

But back to the leaves.  Owing to the stress and uncertainty around Hyper Piper, I’ve done next to nothing around the house and/or yard for the last couple of weeks.  Two days ago I realized I’d better get going on the yard or the weather would make outside work more miserable than it already is.  I mean, who LIKES to do leaves?

Last spring I treated myself to a battery-operated blower that uses the same batteries as my drill/driver and chainsaw.  Also, got more batteries…  So I blew off the side yard, twice.  Took three (!) batteries each time.  Yesterday, I blew off the front yard, which only took two batteries.  Since the town will suck up leaves, I blew them all into the gutter, which is illegal, but if I left them on the lawn there’s a good chance what little grass I have would be killed.

I don’t worry about the leaves in the street on the Henry St. (south) side.  It’s a dead end, I’m the only one who drives there besides the garbage trucks, so really, who cares?

Anyway, back to the leaves…  I went out this morning sometime after 10 or 10:30 and got the lawn mower out.  I wanted to mow/mulch the side and front lawns and start mulching the back.

OMG, it’s been a loongg time since I started that poor thing.  Francis (grandson extraordinaire) has been mowing my place when he mows home (next door) so my mower hasn’t seen runtime in Months.  I think it took me 20 pulls on the cord to get it started.  My poor aching right shoulder!!! 

With the fur babies safely in the house, I got the front and side yards taken care of, including running over the beds in the front, also mulched up the north “yard” where our neighborhood bunny hangs out (did not disturb any nesting sites!) and said “yay!” 

 

the gigantic squirrels' nest in the pear tree.

the front yard is done

 

I should have stopped there, but I’m a sucker for punishment.

I mulched and sucked up the yard east of the driveway – not all of it but the nicer part.  Then I grabbed an old tarp and headed into the dogs’ yard.  I’d done some blowing and raking a couple of days ago and the dogs were loving the huge pile of leaves in the middle of the upper part, but I really wanted to get that mulched down and sucked up.

It takes multiple passes with the mower without the grass catcher attached to mulch down the leaves and debris, and repeatedly lifting the front end of the mower as it threatens to quit with the massive amount it’s being asked to chop up.  It did quit a couple of times, although it started right back up again, my poor shoulder not withstanding.

I think there were eight or ten loads from the grass-catcher on the tarp when I decided it was full and I should drag it to the road.  Thankfully, it’s downhill.  I dumped two more loads into the dogs’ pool (which we didn’t use last summer).  I did not drag that down to the road as I realized my back was starting to ache a bit and well…  I’ll tie a rope around the lip and drag it down by that maybe tomorrow.  Or later today?

Piper is looking for the leaf pile.

 

It doesn't look like much, but it is.

Side yard looks pretty good!

East side yard looks like crap!  Not worried about it.

Tripp and Tyson playing in the rear of their yard.   The un-done half of their yard.  They love the leaves, but I'll get rid of them Soon!

 

By now I was certain that it must be mid-afternoon.  I’m soaked with sweat and aching, so I put everything away.  What time is it???  12:35?  WTF?  Is that all?

That’s what I get for getting up at 8 a.m. to take Piper to the vet to have her stitches out.

Speaking of Piper, she’s now getting 3, 5mg prednisone pills twice a day and is doing better.  She’s still not herself, the list of medicines she’s on and the schedule for taking them is appalling, but she’s here, she’s up and about (a little) and we’re all happier for it.

She still not eating well, but she is eating – what dog wouldn’t scarf up chicken liver, ground turkey, carrots, asparagus ends and rice? She left the little bit of kibble behind.  Smart puppy!!

So anyway, the dogs’ yard is about half done and I’m done in.  I hope I have energy later to go out and maybe blow leaves away from the fence or mulch some more.  The three ibuprofen should kick in any minute now.  Really, any minute, please.

 

 

Trippy and Tyson playing in the yard.