Every year, Thanksgiving week coincides with the beginning of a mass migration that is a pestilence upon mankind. Taken as individuals these migrants are benign. They travel no great distances in their migrations, yet they do tend to congregate together in an unseemly manner. All year long they bide their time, picking the worst possible moments to make their vertical pilgrimage. There are those among us who make a great fuss over their inherent beauty, right up until the moment that they show their true nature.
I speak of the deciduous leaf.
I have a mixed relationship with these creations of nature. Their stately hosts provide ample appendages for decorating with antenna wire. The dense foliage provides welcomed shelter from the heat of southern summer sun. But once they are done for the year they are at best a nuisance. In my own particular case they are a pox upon my house – very literally.
Fortunately, the city vacuums them up, and takes dead limbs, and grinds it all up for recycling into mulch for landscaping around town. This stack was the first good raking. It was followed by another three or four piles of similar size.
Good Riddance! Leaf Me In Peace!
As I slide into Christmas, the annual chore is only now winding back down to regular maintenance. Whew.
I think I need to invest in a John Deere with a big bagging attachment. It wasn’t so bad the first time I did it a decade ago. But that was a decade ago…
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