Gate City Gazette: November 2012

I went to California to meet my newest grandson for the two prime weeks of color from mid to late October. The day I flew home, we were greeted by the fringe area winds of Hurricane Sandy gusting up to 60 mph. Opportunities for photos in the first half of November have been less than normal since many of the trees were defoliated by the storm. The trees in my front yard were decimated, but the back yard was saved, so I have been able to capture much less color than would be expected.

The greatest issue, as always, is blowing and raking the thousands of leaves that fall in the yard each year. If you blow them to curbside, the city will come by in huge trucks with a large vacuum hose and suck them right out of your yard. More than 13,089 tons of leaves were collected during the 2011-12 program.
My street is lined with piles of leaves awaiting to be picked up. I was able to blow the front yard up to the curb, but the backyard remains in six large leaf piles that must be transported to the curb, or in large clear bags for pickup every two weeks. My back yard typically yields over a hundred 45 gallon leaf bags per year and the front takes 50-80 bags if I don't get them to curbside. The beauty of the colorful Fall usually compensates for the hard work in cleaning up the yard. Unfortunately, I virtually missed it this year, so I am grumbling more than normal.