This is not how I wanted my day to begin.

After working really hard in my yard this weekend; mowing, edging, weed whacking, tree trimming, etc. I felt like I was really in the yard work groove. Then, this morning, I look in the backyard to admire my handy work and see... this.

David McCart - Townsquare Media
David McCart - Townsquare Media
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Are you kidding me?

This single red leaf was in my yard. The ONLY leaf in the whole yard (that I noticed anyway) sticking up like some sort of flag saying, "Hey man, nice yard you have there. Wouldn't it be a shame if me and all of my maple leaf buddies covered it up?"

It's weird, I never really minded doing yard work when I was a kid growing up in Louisiana. Even in August the heat indexes would reach into the mid 100's range. Don't get me wrong, I would be hot and tired when I was done, but still. I didn't mind it much.

Taking care of leaves though, hated it.

HATE.

Hate is a strong word. But it's appropriate for how I feel about raking leaves.

"But why? They're so beautiful, and it's not THAT bad." Oh sure, they look pretty enough, but here's the thing I hate about leaves - you rake (and bag) leaves for an hour or two, then yard looks fantastic! Until tomorrow morning when more leaves fall and the yard is covered with leaves again.

Come on trees! Get your act together! If you're going to drop 5,000,000,000 leaves in my front yard, do it all at once!

"You should get a leaf blower." To blow it where? In a big pile (that will be pushed around by the wind and scatter across the yard so I'll end up spending longer blowing than I would raking) that I still need to bag up? Pass. "What about mulching it with your mower?" Okay, yeah, that might be the plan this year, but the problem still remains, waking up the next morning to see leafageddon all over again.

I guess I could hire a yard service, but, I'm really too cheap for all that. I'd rather spend my money on cider and donuts.

Any suggestions on how I should tackle clearing leaves? Any tips on how to make it enjoyable?

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