Nose for News by Sarah Stultz

 

We took a closer look at the aftermath of this past winter on our own yard over the weekend.

Procrastination, a busy schedule and unfavorable conditions led us to not get as many leaves raked as we would have liked to before the snow fell.

As I looked at the cleanly raked yards of our neighbors and the hint of green beginning to peek through — compared to our light brown yard littered with leaves of last fall — I knew we had to set aside time to start cleaning up those leaves in our yard once and for all. As evidenced by the difference in color of our yard, it was clear that all our leaves seemed to be stunting the progression of our grass.

We recruited the help of our niece and nephew, who came over with my father-in-law, and we began the long, tedious process of raking and then bagging all the leaves.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I have a love/hate relationship with trees. While they provide shade and add to the aesthetics of our yard, they do carry with them a lot of responsibility — and cleanup.

Before we moved to our home about a year and a half ago, we lived in a home with a small yard that did not have one tree — but that didn’t keep away the scores of leaves that blew in from the trees in the neighboring yards. That yard in itself was a decent amount of work raking and picking up all those leaves.

Now, we’re at a house with multiple trees and a much bigger yard, and the amount of leaves seems astronomical in comparison.

I guess we knew what we were getting into when we bought the place, but — wow — it is quite the task.

Though most of the leaves we raked were dry, some were not, creating an even more unpleasant experience as we picked them up.

After about three hours of steady work — after the efforts of five people — we made it through about three-fourths of the yard and decided to call it a day.

Considering how thick the leaves were in the yard, I was pleased with the progress we made and hope we can get the remainder picked up this week.

This past winter was hard on everyone, and we’re pleased to finally be outside and enjoying the weather. Soon enough, we’ll be having to mow the yard weekly, and it’ll be time to plant the garden.

Now, if only there wasn’t a winter storm on the horizon calling for heavy snow accumulation over the area Wednesday night into early Friday.

Sarah Stultz is the managing editor of the Tribune. Her column appears every Tuesday.