Autumn leaves, fall past my window

I swear every leaf in the neighborhood has ended up in my yard. It's about ankle deep out front right now. You can't see the driveway anymore but there's still a ton left on the trees. This is the down side of renting a house. The yard maintenence is a killer. I don't whether to rake for four or five hours now or wait until the trees have let more go. It's going to be a beautiful day though so I may take a stab at it.

Meanwhile the local squirrels have gone a little nutty. They've been chasing each other up and down the trees and chattering furiously at each other. They're starting to look more normal though. All summer long their tails were skinny, like a short haired cat but seemingly overnight they've grown bushy fur so they look like the guys up north. I think they're starting to like me as well. A couple of them have taken to sitting close by when I'm on the porch and chittering at me.

Meanwhile, the stupid ants are back. I never got around to spraying outside but I did finally manage to find some borax so I'm going to try my sister's remedy after all and hope it doesn't kill the shrubs. Here's hoping it works for me, otherwise I'm going to have to resort to Kathy's solution - get drunk so I don't notice them.