Raking

Today was sunny, the first golden light and blue sky to come our way in what seemed like an eternity. I decided to take advantage of the day and rake the leaves that have been piling up. We have a big Norway maple out front, and the next door neighbor’s red maple had made some contributions as well. The leaves were pretty thick out there. I’d been waiting to rake, putting it off and putting it off. Partially because the weather has been so cold and wet and miserable, and partially because even though the leaves were ankle deep, the Norway’s not close to done yet: it’s still holding onto half its leaves.

I couldn’t resist the call of the vitamin D though, so I tackled that lawn with a vengeance. We don’t normally go in for the whole suburban lawn one-upmanship, eschewing the lawn services and chemicals and even mowing whenever possible. But I raked the shit out of that lawn: it looks like it’s been vacuumed. There is a veritable wall of leaves at the curb.

The obvious, visible progress makes raking a rather satisfying chore, at least when the weather cooperates like this. I was way overdressed, having prepared for the indoor temperature of 55 degrees with long johns under my cords, a thermal shirt under the turtleneck sweater, and a fleece vest. The temperature outside was a few degrees cooler, but I was kicking ass, so kept having to peel off layers and hang them on the mailbox. [Back inside, I’ve reapplied all layers, and added one more sweater on top of it all.]

Now I just have to wait for the rest of the leaves to fall, and I can go do it all over again.