Though there are very few downsides to having dogs rather than children, one is that you can't make your dog rake leaves. Leaf blower? No thank you. Whenever I'm besieged by the sound of a leaf blower, I feel like I'm in an old Star Trek episode. Alien forces are attacking the Enterprise with sound waves. Kirk and the crew grab their heads in agony, fall down and writhe until they pass out. Someday I'll join in the drama on my front lawn. So far I've refrained because I'm pretty sure my neighbors think I'm a little odd, why confirm their suspicions.
Leaf rakes work very well in moving fallen leaves around. They require no power other than muscle. And they are less likely to cause writhing than are leaf blowers. Procrastinate on raking leaves in November and in March the leaves will still be there, sodden. Then you must stomp on the mushy ground to remove them. This is not recommended.
You can put off indoor chores. Do your spring cleaning in summer? Why not! Most outdoor chores have a smaller window. Take the rain barrel, for example. As we all know, water freezes into ice. Leave your rain barrels out too far into fall and you have rock hard barrels. The hull of the barrel is then exposed to the damaging stress of expansion. When things finally thaw out you have a leaky rain barrel. This is not recommended.
Oh, Lynn ... how I loathe leaves, but yet love trees. I've spent many years sharing the rake with my husband. It may require no more than muscle, but it's backbreaking work all the same. There's nothing like a good day of raking to twist your back up!
ReplyDeleteNowadays, my husband just runs them all over with the riding lawn mower and mulches them up. It's the best solution we've found. I thought there'd still be clumps of shredded leaves all over the lawn, but that's not the case at all. They just disintegrate faster (or so it seems) and our lawn gets all those good nutrients sooner!
That's a nifty solution! My stubborn problem remains my dislike of noise...I use a push mower. Maybe I could push through the leaves, hmmm.
ReplyDeleteYou underestimate yourself Lynn. Anyone with your talent can surly train doggies to rake leaves!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I added a picture of my cutie pie to that blog-post called Dog-gone Good Memories where you were kind enough to comment.
You flatter me, Eve. (I like that!) Seriously, now that you mention it, I have been thinking you could harness a dog to one of those old fashioned rolling leaf sweepers....
ReplyDeleteI'll check out the picture of your cutie pie.