Leaves, Leaves, and More Leaves

First part of December is always a fun time of year. Fall is in full swing with college football wrapping up the regular season. College basketball has been going a few weeks and getting closer to league play. Finally, at this point in the season, those of us with large trees in our yards have already picked up leaves a few times. The way trees look, I will have a few more times to pick up leaves before the end of the year.

The worst part about leaves is that some how they manage to make their way into our house. When we let our dog out or simply coming back from the store, leaves are in our kitchen and family room. They cling to the bottom of our shoes or simply blow in the back door as we go out or into the house.

The act of cleaning them up is not so bad. The large trees though means we get to do this a lot of times throughout the season. One tree in our front yard, a gum ball maple, keeps the leaves until about January or February. Or, if we have a large snow fall, then it will drop all of the leaves on top of the freshly laid snow. That always looks really nice!

This year, I am trying to do much more mulching than years past. Yesterday, I did the front and back for leaves and only ended up with three bags. The rest was mulched into the yard. The majority of the yard cannot tell that leaves were picked up, but some of the heavier areas because the leaves were mulched, I could not pick up the leaves in those spots. Still, I think it will be good for the yard in the long run. Plus, I know I will have a few more times to pick up leaves before the season is over.

The best part of leaves is being able to play in them. The picture to the right was taken a few years ago as we were leaving for a Washburn home football game. Carrie used some leaves I had not gotten to that seem to collect in the middle of our driveway to get that perfect picture.

Our dog on the other hand, he is not a fan of the leaves. If there is a pile in the back yard, he will walk around it to go to or from the back door. He seems to be happiest following the back yard being cleaned up. He is so pampered!

Hard to believe Christmas will be here in a few short weeks. I hope I am done picking up leaves by then.