Lawn Care Woes

Had I been blogging at this time last year, I certainly would have complained about autumn lawn-care responsibilities. But since I launched Flippish in April, this is my first chance to kvetch endlessly about this issue.

You see, we live in a magical house. Beneath our front yard, several feet below the surface, lies an enormous leaf-magnet. That's the only explanation I can find as to why our yard accumulates roughly ten times the volume of autumn leaves as most of our neighbors. Incidentally, I think the leaf magnet also attracts rodents, which dig various holes and caves in and around our yard. This in itself really isn't as upsetting as the residents that usually take over those holes once the rodents move on to trendier residences: Swarming, stinging yellow jackets.

But I digress. The problem this time of year is the sheer speed and volume with which our yard fills with leaves. Clearing it is both exhausting and relatively futile, with a new load arriving hourly, borne upon the wind.

This morning, I attempted to clear the yard in preparation for the onslaught of family coming in for Thanksgiving. (This, despite the fact that the leaves would doubtlessly reappear by Thursday.) First, I used our electric leafblower, which also converts to vaccuum up the leaves, mulching them in the process. A brilliant yard tool this is, at least in design. I should mention that this is our second one, the first having given out after a few weeks' use. The one I used this morning was given to us by the gracious B-dot and Mrs. B-dot, after they decided old-skool raking was more to their liking.

Suffice it to say, I discontinued use of the leafblower this morning when smoke began pouring out the side of it. I quickly unplugged it and moved on to other yard care tools.

Having cleared the areas with the heaviest saturation of leaves, I decided to try the lawnmower. The grass is long and in need of a trim, and the mower mulches - perfect for removing/reducing the leaves in the process. However, our lawnmower - cheap and underpowered, but fairly reliable for the past 2+ years - has, sadly, lost its will to live. I believe that a mechanical link in the throttle line somewhere has failed.

I resorted to raking a bit, but took a break to share these tribulations with you, dear reader. I'm now debating whether to spend hours raking, only to still have long grass, or to call a lawn service for a one-time maintenance.