I shouldn't subscribe to the local newspaper because there's nothing but bad news in it. On Monday it was revealed that come fall of 2009, there will be no more curbside pick up of loose leaves. The reason given? Not monetary which I figured would be the reason since the city is near bankruptcy. The reason that was stated was because last year, too many people missed their scheduled week of pick up and there were lots of loose leaves blowing around in other people's yards and clogging sewers. I always thought that the sewer grate area was similar to that of the sidewalk - technically owned by the city but the homeowner has to maintain it (i.e. keep the grass clippings and other garbage from blocking it). They wanted to enact this beginning this fall but they agreed that perhaps there wasn't enough time to let every one know so while there will be a scheduled curbside pick up this year, if any loose leaves are found after, the homeowner would be fined $100. Why not just fine everyone that misses their scheduled pick up instead of making us rule followers have to come up with an alternative solution? Bagging them really isn't an option with two large 30+ year old maples and leaving them on the ground isn't an option because there are too many plus I have a dog whose idea of heaven is pooping in a pile of yard waste (yeah, I don't get it either).
I'm now relegated to mulching them which means running the lawn mower over them every day but what happens when it rains? Won't wet leaves just clog the lawnmower? My favorite idea is to create a big pile of them in the front yard (on private property, not the city property between sidewalk and curb where the normal pile goes for pick up) and anything that hasn't blown away by the spring, I will then bag.
Big A and I will be using this year as a dry run for next year so stay tuned. I am open to suggestions so if you have any, feel free to share.
7 comments:
As someone with lots of experience of not raking leaves, here is my suggestion. Leave them where they fall. The grass always grows back and nature decays them for you. The first mowing in the spring takes care of what is left.
Ed's got a good idea. You could burn them, maybe Yard Nazi would raise H.E. Double L...Or can you do that there?
Ed - But I can't see how that could work since it would be nearly calf high.
A.I. - Nope. No burning in the city. :-)
Ahh, you are forgetting that all but the top inch blow away and are someone else's problem. Of course you do have a fence on one side of your house. A good pair of fencing pliers and a moonless night can solve that problem.
I did entertain the idea briefly of coming up with a retractable fence so once Hooch is done for the night, the fence goes down and they all blow around and then I could raise it in the morning. I should've been an engineer. ;-)
Well, you could ship them to Iowa... or you could burn them, but to get around the legality, burn 'em accidentally, just take up smoking and drop your cigarettes in different parts of the yard.
You're surprisingly devious, Sage.
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