Sunday, November 18, 2007

Do You Hear What I Hear?


Gentlemen (women:0) Start your engines.




My Hubby and neighbor who's behind the bush in the upper right-hand corner (dang! I should know his name) - engaging the enemy.


Our neighbor, Irv. Yep. Leaf blowing.



I only glimpse Deb a few times a year through the hemlocks. She's chasing leaves, too.




I say a little prayer when our neighbor, Rick, gets on that danged roof.




I think I heard next years leaf buds sniggering at the futility of our efforts.




Do you hear it? I did. Even with ear protection: Sniggering.
BTW - that's a buckeye necklace. Big game day :0)


Thirty years ago we moved into a development called Lincoln WOODS. We'd lived in Denver during the first part of our marriage. There weren't many trees and heck - those prairie/foothill winds made short work of leaf-blowing.

Well. The friendly shade-providing trees around our Midwestern home are now 30 years older and bigger and leafier. My hubby and I are also 30 years older, bigger and . . . . well, bigger.

The trees seem to be doing fine. In fact I think I hear them sniggering up there as they watch us mortals cleaning up the shavings from the floor beneath their summer's work bench. Listen. Do you hear it?

Here's a great Robert Frost poem about leaf raking. At the literal level - it records something of the nature of the big Leaf Roundup.


Gathering Leaves


Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.
I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer
Running away.
But the mountains I raise
Elude my embrace,
Flowing over my arms
And into my face.
I may load and unload
Again and again
Till I fill the whole shed,
And what have I then?
Next to nothing for weight,
And since they grew duller
From contact with earth,
Next to nothing for color.
Next to nothing for use.
But a crop is a crop,
And who's to say where
The harvest shall stop?




Robert Frost

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16 comments:

Anonymous said...

3 years ago I moved to my new house which has pines and open field around the house! Lucky I don't need to do leaves much anymore but I do need to pick up the needles in the spring! I do miss that sound!

Ruth said...

My husband and I just finished 2 days of leaf raking. Our leaves fell very quickly on 3 large maples this week. We still rake, but I know my hubby would love a noisy leaf blower!

Larry said...

Nice poem.-It's funny how everyone seems to do yardwork on the same days in our area. If I cut the grass-two other neighbrs will start up their lawnmowers. Works the same way with leaves.I just run over my leaves with a lawnmower-don't have many leavs.

dmmgmfm said...

Aww honey, great pictures. I miss raking leaves. All I have in this yard are pine trees and you can't rake up the needles and make a pile to jump in.

Pam said...

I loved this post! Humor, feats of daring do (the man on the roof, oy!) and Robert Frost. We have a large yard that sits in a hollow. So many trees on the banks, so many leaves in the yard. My husband finally got fed up and bought a leaf blower backpack.

Anvilcloud said...

I like that photo of the buds wit the out of focus background.

RuthieJ said...

Wow, that's a whole lotta leaves, Cathy! Even though my trees have finally gotten big enough to drop a fair number of leaves, the fact that I'm on top of a windy hill means most of those leaves are blown away by Mother Nature. Makes things a lot easier for me!

Bonita said...

And who is to say where the harvest will stop...especially if those leaves are composted or used for mulch. I never throw any of mine away.

May I admit, that I am one of those gardeners who will 'bend over backwards' not to make noise when working out in the yard? I even use sissors to trim the grass along the fence and around some rocks, just to avoid hearing an edger. It just seems for favorable to the dear residents of our neighborhood - the birds. They don't like abrubt noise.

Anonymous said...

I was raking leaves yesterday down in the country even though I have an electric leaf blower in the trunk of my car. I've never before considered the green footprint or actually, lack of one, that the blower represents. I thought about it awhile, and glanced over and saw my neighbors sitting on their porch enjoying the beautiful afternoon sun and I thought, I bet they'll go right inside if I fire that thing up .... so anyway I didn't use it and raked leaves for a couple of hours and only cleaned up about a quarter of the area I needed to do. But I enjoyed the exercise and my neighbors enjoyed the afternoon sun. I dunno now, I'd love to have the leaves all done, but wonder if I want to use the electricity and destroy all ability to hear anything ... just a thought you sparked in my mind.

KGMom said...

I must be a little crazy--I actually went out on Saturday and raked my NEIGHBOR'S leaves. She hasn't moved in yet, so I was being neighborly.
I also try to rake as much as possible (saves energy) and gives me a good work out. Cheaper than a gym membership!

Mary said...

Cathy,

IT'S LIKE SWEEPING THE SAND OFF THE DAMNED DESERT.

Thanks for the giggles...

Rurality said...

Ha! I agree with Mary. :)

That's so funny about everyone doing this at the same time. Well that's one thing different about living out in the country!

Beth said...

Oh sis ... what memories these pics bring back. Love the pics & the thoughts!

threecollie said...

Happy Thanksgiving, Cathy!

Mary said...

I forgot to mention that I think you are the prettiest leaf blower I have ever seen! Seriously...

;-)

Windyridge said...

I love Robert Frost and have been hearing "The woods are lovely dark and deep..." in my head lately.
I read your comments on Northview Dairy, one of my favorite blogs. I thought you might enjoy our blog as we live a similar lifestyle. Come on over!