The Autumn Follies
Here’s the basic way it went: I was out of town for a couple of weeks in Colorado (a story for another day there, but it was a fun trip). While I was gone, my Bride decided to surprise me by having the Autumn leaves removed from the front yard so that I wouldn’t have to rake and bag them this year—Truth is, we have almost an acre of the woods here in the Mill Creek area of Youngstown, and I routinely produce a couple of hundred yard bags of leaves every Autumn. I really don’t mind, and it’s fun when we do it together, but still, it’s a chore. We’ve tried hiring this job done, or partially done, in the past—never quite to my satisfaction though. Too expensive, and the companies and individuals who have done the job in the past have complained about it while doing it. I recall offering one young man some water while he was picking up the leaves, and he declined, asking if we didn’t have any soda or tea instead. Had a full grown man with manly equipment once who bitched incessa