On Wednesday the weather was unusually mild for October and the wind was calm. All the trees that hover near our yard had finally let go of their leaves, so I decided it would be a perfect time to rake. I spent hours removing leaves from every nook and cranny in our yard. I don’t usually put that much effort into raking, but I wanted an excuse to enjoy the beautiful day.
I really got a workout and was feeling pretty accomplished when I went inside the house for lunch. There wasn’t a leaf to be found in my yard.
After lunch I stepped outside the front door to check for a package and was a little irritated to see leaves all over the sidewalk. I peeked around the corner and noticed the front yard was no longer spotless. The side of the house was even worse. How could this many leaves appear in such a short amount of time? I had worked too hard to see all my effort go to waste, so I hauled my freshly-showered self outside and raked up all the newcomers. I wish I could say that was the end of it, but by early evening another pile had formed in front of our garage door, so out again I went.
Early the next morning, I hoped for the best as I slowly cracked open the front door. Unbelievable! Thousands of leaves stared at me defiantly. At that point I should’ve surrendered, but I couldn’t relax knowing they were out there being all crunchy and leaf-like. After breakfast I grabbed the rake and my tarp and began hauling away the latest batch of wanderers.
If you should happen to drive through my neighborhood and see a crazy woman frantically trying to catch leaves falling from the sky with her collapsible barrel, don’t be alarmed. And please catch my new reality show “The OCD-rakers of Southern Wisconsin.”