leaves

Back in November, looking at my lawn I thought to myself, "hmm, guess we won't have much to rake this year".  But I always forget our annual spring break (yes, SPRING break) tradition: raking the leaves.  

We're all taught that in the fall the leaves change color and eventually fall to the ground and then you rake them before the snow comes.  That doesn't work here.  In fact, most of our leaves fall after the new ones grow in.  It's like the trees play mind games on you.  You look out and see new green leaves growing and don't ever think about, "hey, what happened to all the dead leaves?" (and of course, our leaves only go from green to brown).

So, today I started to rake.  I thought I'd get a week head start so all Nathan will have to do next week is pick them up (plus, it's about the only exercise I've had in I don't know how long).  I got about halfway through the backyard.  It's nice to see the green grass underneath.  Here, you can see half of the yard with all its little leaf piles, and the other half still leaf-covered:

  

Here you can see half and half:

Here are the trees in our backyard.  A shot to the left, center and right sides:

    

You know, one of the reasons we bought this house was because of all the beautiful trees in the yard.  Of course, we bought in the fall, before all the leaves fell.

it's time to rake

Prior to her nap, I told B that we would finish raking the yard when she got up. She responded, "No, I wanna rake now."

She and I really do have a good time working together in the yard. Having her out there helps me pass the time. She has her own toy shovel and rake that she will actually use to help out (although sporadically).

Well, Amy just went to get B up from her nap. As soon as she opened the door B declared, "I'm ready to rake now."