The job is not without benefits: along the no-man's-land between sidewalk and street, hidden under leaves gold, brown and shameless red, the year's last few violets are quietly blooming, dreaming still of a summer now well-lost.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Ow. Ow, Ow (Leaf-Raking)
Tam and I cleared the front yard yesterday, raked up all the leaves. Viola! Well, more of a cello, really, lumbering and sad as a small, lost pachyderm, picking out a minor-key melody of turning seasons and cold winds to follow:
A few more leaves have fallen since and there are more to come (lo, the mighty oak has not yet relinquished its leafy thralls) but the big job is done. Just in time for predicted violent weather -- wind gusts possibly as high as 70 mph! (That's 31.29 m/sec for the Euro contingent).
The job is not without benefits: along the no-man's-land between sidewalk and street, hidden under leaves gold, brown and shameless red, the year's last few violets are quietly blooming, dreaming still of a summer now well-lost.
Meanwhile, my back is reminding me of many summers lost, that I'm no longer young -- and that I really need to buy a new mattress soon. Couldn't even sit up in bed this morning, had to roll on my side and let my legs drop to the floor. The hot pad has helped and I believe a decent breakfast might, too.
The job is not without benefits: along the no-man's-land between sidewalk and street, hidden under leaves gold, brown and shameless red, the year's last few violets are quietly blooming, dreaming still of a summer now well-lost.
Ibuprofin!!
ReplyDeleteAnd a leaf vacuum.
HTH
Used both. Still using the first.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many of them that we rake the leaves up into long heaps -- one rakes, one vacuums, we work together to fill the leaf bags. The rake-wielder (mostly me) tries to remove sticks while raking.
My kids have been pining for weeks about the ability to jump in a leaf pile...but now that the back yard is full of leaves, it appears they want ME to be the one rake them in a pile so they can jump in them. Think they are going to be sad when I come home from Big Lots later on with a couple of kid sized rakes.
ReplyDeleteGreg, you might point out that having their very own rakes mean they can rake up a pile of leaves to jump into any time they like....
ReplyDeleteDon't miss 'that' pain at all... And a new mattress might help too!
ReplyDeleteViola/violet/pachyderm. Good morninski.
ReplyDeleteRumor has it that the tractor will be fixed next week, at which time I will use it to suck up all the leaves.
ReplyDeleteI'm mostly commenting because my wv is "staymow". Yes, lawn, please stay mowed until Spring.
If you are lucky, Fuzzy, the leaves will all be gone by then.
ReplyDeleteCute little bungalow. Looks like you've got a prowler ducking around the back though.
ReplyDeleteEuropean? Bite your tongue young lady!
ReplyDelete31.29 m/sec? What's that in knots?
You know if you'd just use the correct meteorological terminology ie. 'a bit breezy' (Your recent thermically challenged episode could be a bit 'parky', 'nippy' or even 'Baltic' although I'd suggest it was at least 1.2 on the Brass Monkey Scale myself).
Back ache due to extreme leaf-raking? You've got wiles haven't you? Equality and independence are all well and good but ....
I make 70 mph as 188,160 furlongs per fortnight.
ReplyDeleteKen
ReplyDeleteOh 'that' windy! Why didn't someone just say?
I don't want to appear (more) pedantic but the correct Imperial scientific units would in fact be leagues/fortnight,so 7840 lea/fort (this isn't the, populist, shirt without tie, regional accent, weather report on daytime TV after all).