Early this morning (for me) Frank and his crew of landscapers showed up for our annual fall clean-up. The leaves started falling in earnest in mid-October, but it doesn’t make any sense to get them until they’re all off the trees.
In earlier years we had been cleaned in late October only to see the lawn covered in leaves by that night! Very frustrating.
Of course there are also twigs and branches that have fallen in the inexorable march of time. Frank and the boys get out their long extension ladders and head to our gutters and downspouts, clearing them too, as best they can.
Trust me on this – you don’t want your gutters to overflow in a heavy rain because of leaves.
Before we found Frank (who not only maintains our lawn but plows our driveway, making him very close to a dependent for IRS purposes) we left a huge pile of leaves on the lawn one year through the winter. That was the year we thought cleaning leaves wasn’t a big, back breaking job. We’ve since learned. When the spring came, that section of lawn was dead. We’ll never make that mistake again.
At this time of year the lawn is not a pretty thing. There are many areas, shaded by trees during the height of the summer, that are more stubble than grass. The whole thing looks a little too much like a crew cut at the moment to be pleasing to the eye. It is green but a sad rather than lush shade.
It won’t be long before my lawn is covered in snow – not that there’s anything in the forecast at the moment. That’s actually pretty, until the snow over our septic tank melts. Then it’s an entire lawn, with a rectangle removed!
So far, the cold weather season hasn’t been all that bad. On the other hand, there are three really tough months still to come followed by the tease of March (not really winter – not really spring).
Blogger’s note – As I was finishing typing this the doorbell rang. It was Frank. The louvers on the vent from our dryer are missing and there are now some twigs inside, as if a bird is beginning to building a nest in there. This weekend I’ll have to go and buy a new vent and clean out the birds home. Fall cleanup always means surprises are found. Some year could he just find a package of money I’ve dropped and give that back?