The price you pay for some things....
Fun with neighbors and fall foliage
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
Some weeks back I posted an article about enjoying living in the Mid-Atlantic area (Why I love the mid-Atlantic area It's that time of the season....), today I get to post a little on the down-side to that pleasure.
The neighbors on one side of my home include a gentleman that is most likely the most anal individual when it comes to the topic of yard care. I guess I can't declare him the absolute winner, as we also have neighbors up the street just a bit that are constantly yardscaping/landscaping in front of their home too. No matter the time of year, they are planting something, and weeding, sweeping, refreshing paint on the bricks/rocks that surround the flower bed, etc. They probably would get the number one slot for anal yard care, but my immediate neighbor is definitely high on the list also.
The immediate neighbor is one that is constantly sweeping his driveway. He gets down on hands and knees, clips blades of grass from the skirting around his mobile home, and rakes his yard if even one leaf falls in it.
And there we get into the problem with myself being one that enjoys nature perhaps a little more, and in a more laid back way. We have a large tree in our yard, and our neighbors on the other side have an even bigger, older tree. Between both of them, when fall hits, our yard gets covered, and since we live in a mobile home park, our neighbors yard catches some of the leaves that fall as well.
With a neighbor that seems to truly hate having leaves in his yard, I get to feel "neighborly pressure" when it comes time to sweep up the leaves each fall. That was today's chore for myself and my children (both teenage now).
At least this time my family didn't fuss too much, as we found that we didn't have to actually bag up all of the leaves. We found out that all we have to do is rake the leaves into piles by our curb where someone will come by with a large leaf vacuum cleaner that sucks them up and disposes of them without the hassle and back breaking work of bagging up over a dozen 30+ gallon bags full.
Still, even with the hassle of having to rake up the piles every season, I do enjoy the shade the tree in the yard provides, and I'd much rather deal with the mess a few times per year than have the tree gone and pay a higher cooling bill in the summer months.
The neighbors on one side of my home include a gentleman that is most likely the most anal individual when it comes to the topic of yard care. I guess I can't declare him the absolute winner, as we also have neighbors up the street just a bit that are constantly yardscaping/landscaping in front of their home too. No matter the time of year, they are planting something, and weeding, sweeping, refreshing paint on the bricks/rocks that surround the flower bed, etc. They probably would get the number one slot for anal yard care, but my immediate neighbor is definitely high on the list also.
The immediate neighbor is one that is constantly sweeping his driveway. He gets down on hands and knees, clips blades of grass from the skirting around his mobile home, and rakes his yard if even one leaf falls in it.
And there we get into the problem with myself being one that enjoys nature perhaps a little more, and in a more laid back way. We have a large tree in our yard, and our neighbors on the other side have an even bigger, older tree. Between both of them, when fall hits, our yard gets covered, and since we live in a mobile home park, our neighbors yard catches some of the leaves that fall as well.
With a neighbor that seems to truly hate having leaves in his yard, I get to feel "neighborly pressure" when it comes time to sweep up the leaves each fall. That was today's chore for myself and my children (both teenage now).
At least this time my family didn't fuss too much, as we found that we didn't have to actually bag up all of the leaves. We found out that all we have to do is rake the leaves into piles by our curb where someone will come by with a large leaf vacuum cleaner that sucks them up and disposes of them without the hassle and back breaking work of bagging up over a dozen 30+ gallon bags full.
Still, even with the hassle of having to rake up the piles every season, I do enjoy the shade the tree in the yard provides, and I'd much rather deal with the mess a few times per year than have the tree gone and pay a higher cooling bill in the summer months.
to my way of thinking that's along the lines