I have to admit that I'm loving living in a neighborhood that doesn't have mature trees yet. Don't get me wrong. I love trees. They are beautiful, create shade and privacy and are needed for our environment. But, I don't miss raking leaves. Every year I would spend several hours raking and bagging, raking and bagging. I would end up with double digits in bags full of leaves, sore, and sometimes allergy ridden. I would do all of this just to have to do it again a week later when the yard would once more become littered with leaves. One year I flat out refused to rake until all the leaves had fallen. Then I ended up with a yucky, wet mess and dead grass since it had rained on top of the 4 inches of leaves I had accumulated on my lawn. So I love the fact that this was something I didn't have to do this year. Especially since our yard is constantly littered with dog poop. Try raking leaves in those conditions.
While I didn't have to rake leaves, my in-laws did. But they have a small yard and a leaf blower ,so it isn't so bad. This year my father in-law had some helpers. The job took twice as long, but it was also twice as fun.
The conversation at the point consisted of, "Grandpa, can I do that? Grandpa, is it my turn yet? Grandpa? Grandpa? I want to use that thing!"
The pile didn't remain a pile for too long before kids would run through it or take handfuls of leaves and throw them.
I don't miss raking leaves, but I do miss watching the kids play in them. The kids had a lot of fun and Grandpa actually did get most of the leaves out on the curb.
