Date: Fri 14-Nov-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

leaves-fall-raking

Full Text:

1,001 Ways To Rake Leaves

(with cuts)

BY DOROTHY EVANS

Now that we are firmly fixed in the middle of November, most Newtown

homeowners have finished planting bulbs, bringing in the wood or stowing the

garden furniture in the barn or the basement.

But wait. The outside chores are not quite done yet.

Before those handy hooks in the garage can be hung with snow shovels, the

rakes must be put away. And maybe we haven't even used them yet.

Even the most skilled procrastinators among us would have to admit that after

two rainy, windy weekends, the trees are looking pretty bare.

This is in marked contrast to the ground underneath, which is now totally

leaf-covered.

Clearly, making another round of the back forty while riding on the trusty

John Deere or Sears lawn tractor is not going to "cut it" anymore.

Two weeks ago, we could count on those rotary blades to shred a few leaves

into biodegradable bits that would conveniently disappear into the grass. Now

the tractor is up to its hub caps in billowing drifts of brown and gold.

Time to get serious about those leaves. No matter how we manage the business

of raking and removal, we had better get down to it and soon. Timing and tools

can make all the difference.

Then again, some of us may decide to do nothing at all.

Waiting For The Last Leaf

There are those who prefer to wait until the last leaf has fallen.

That might be a poetic excuse for procrastinating indefinitely, since there is

always at least one more leaf hanging on somewhere, especially if there is an

oak tree in the yard.

Putting a kinder spin on such a passive stance would be to say that by simply

ignoring the leaves, we can save a lot of money, time and energy, and we won't

be risking a slipped disk or a hernia.

Perhaps the leaves will eventually rot where they have fallen, or blow away

into the woods, or drift into the road, or find their way onto a neighbor's

lawn.

Unfortunately, The Bee was not able to find any homeowners willing to pose for

a picture illustrating the "let them lie there" approach. But we know they are

out there.

No Leaning On Rakes

Several residents have already begun to tackle their yearly leaf removal

chores with vigor and determination, not to mention ingenuity.

Barry Dumican of 19 Hyvue Drive was out a week ago Thursday, raking his leaves

onto a bright blue tarpaulin and hauling them off into the woods where they

could rest in peace, decomposing.

"I took a half-day off from work to get this job done," Mr Dumican said.

Somehow, he guessed it would be raining all the next weekend and he wanted to

rake dry leaves, not sodden clumps that would weigh a ton.

Main Street resident Dan Honan and his son, Patrick, age 9, were seen Tuesday

morning, November 11, on the Veterans Day holiday, working together clearing

leaves from their front yard.

They were an impressive team. One person raked leaves into neat piles while

the other was left holding the bag, or tarp. Nary a leaf escaped their notice.

It was not clear, however, whether Patrick preferred this activity to whatever

else he might have been doing on his day off from school.

Cyrenius H. Booth Library custodian Jim Kearns is a longtime Newtowner who

takes leaf removal very seriously.

Mr Kearns has been raking almost continuously since mid-October, cleaning up

the library's front lawn and the portion of the sidewalk that crosses 25 Main

Street. He seems undaunted by the steady rain of gold coming down from

towering maple trees overhead.

"I keep at it and eventually it will get done," Mr Kearns said with

philosophic acceptance.

He did admit being annoyed by the cars going south on Main Street. Their

speedy passage stirred up his piles and caused eddies of leaves to blow back

from the curb and onto his lawn.

"The eddies even bring the neighbor's leaves down in our direction," he noted.

When asked about ideal conditions for leaf raking, Mr Kearns said he prefers

slightly wet to completely dry leaves, because "you can pack them down and get

more in the cart."

He pointed to an ingeniously conceived chicken-wire cage that was framed in

wood and sat atop a two-wheeled cart. There was a hinged trap door for easy

access.

High Tech Leaf Removal

For those home or business owners who want to get the job done fast and do not

care about reaping any cardio-vascular benefit in the process, raking is not

necessarily the best method. There are many other options.

William Hink, a volunteer custodian at St Rose Catholic Church and St Rose

School, has spent the past week pushing a powerful, eight horsepower, two-

wheeled leaf blower called a Billy Goat, clearing leaves from around the

church grounds.

With this machine, Mr Hink is able to make absolutely huge leaf piles wherever

he wants. Unfortunately, the Billy Goat makes so much noise that we were not

able to interview Mr Hink to find out what happens to the piles afterward, but

we noted they were gone as we went to press.

Professional lawn maintenance companies, such as Cedar Hill Landscaping owned

by Timothy A. Flynn, have a complete array of different leaf blowing, leaf

sweeping, leaf sucking, leaf shredding and leaf bagging machines. These

machines are manned by an army of workmen who wear ear muffs to keep out the

noise.

When the heavy machinery is trucked in and the professional crew gets to work,

even the most leaf-ridden lawn imaginable can be cleared down to green grass

within an hour.