I was enjoying a well-deserved nap when I began to shrug off the post-nap grogginess and open my eyes. I looked out on the deck and the lawn and was shocked and horrified by the sight of the destruction, mayhem, and debris that is fondly referred to as Fall. It is obvious why the season is called “Fall.” Everywhere I looked, things had fallen.
The debris included an extinction-level quantity of leaves, pine needles & branches of every size due to the early snow and sleet that hung on the leaves. Then the wind picked up, causing an overnight dump of leaves! The garden looks like a post-apocalypse scene from a sci-fi movie. “Oh, the humanity!” Once an organic garden producing wonderful fruits & vegetables was now laid to waste. At the top of this, with the earlier warm temperatures, the grass has grown and is sticking up amid the debris.
My biggest complaint is that Fall cleanup is not one-and-done. Fall cleanup is an ongoing process, a journey from summer fun to fall exhaustion, truly, this is summer’s revenge! It reminds me of the movie “Groundhog Day!” You work in the yard raking, picking up, and bagging leaves, looking around feeling satisfaction at a job well done, put the tools up in the shed, and head into the house for a hot shower, dinner, and bed. Accomplishing a job is a great feeling. I revealed my feelings all night and before going to bed.
You wake up a little sore from the manual labor the day before, open the blinds, and look out into the yard, and your eyes are shocked to see there are more leaves on the ground today than yesterday. The work starts all over again: a full day of raking, picking up, and bagging leaves, a hot shower, dinner, then bed. The next day, you wake up, look out at the yard, and start all over again. Yep, “Groundhog Day!” This repeats until the first significant snowfall. Snow covers up any additional leaves that may have fallen, except for the Oak tree leaves that hang on and drop a little at a time until spring.
One year, I wanted to beat “Mother Nature” at her own game. I decided to not do any fall cleanup until everything had fallen. Then I will have only one cleanup time. I learned that “Mother Nature” has a sense of humor. Generally, we may get a bit of snow before December, but it usually melts off. I planned to do my cleanup in the last week of November. The night before the cleanup day, it began to snow. It snowed all night and into the next day, 6 inches. Then a cold front hit, so the snow couldn’t melt. The snow lasted until the following spring.
So, it turned my “Spring Cleanup” into a nightmare, with all the Fall debris soggy and soppy sitting on the ground. It was the worst spring cleanup ever. My Fall cleanup is now done multiple times each year. It does make my naps feel better!
