Willow fun

Thanks to global warming, the two willow trees in the back yard are just unloading their leaves.

The shot at left is a stock photo, but that's basically what they look like. All those leaves are like little paper sardines, sardines that avoid rake tines or the 220 mph blast of a leaf blower with ease. And when they drop in the fall, or early winter, they also bring with them branches, long, whip-like strands that don't get past the rake, but do manage to clog it all up. What this means is, essentially, a nightmare. Sure they look good in the summer, if you don't count the small, black, bloodsucking bugs that hides on the leaves, and sure, they drink a ton of water, which saves the back yard from becoming a lake (usually). But cleanup is indeed a bitch, and the only efficient way I've found to rid the yard of leaves is to go over them all with the bagger on the back of the mower. This is a tedious process (believe me, and I've done it twice this week), because you can walk the width of the yard about three times before you need to empty the bag, and that, even for a relatively small yard, is a lot of stop and go. And chances are, I'll have to do it again soon. Ahh well, so it goes.