Hokey smokes

Yikes. I'm glad I got some more of that done. I'm only good for an hour at burning leaves before my back starts to give out. This is of course is because of the convoluted way I do it. I have a very complicate system of raking the leaves into a big bucket and carrying it over to the bare spot in the back yard so I don't end up with charred grass all over the place and also don't burn the neighborhood down, which at one point, when the wind kicked up, seemed like a distinct possibility.

The whole affair was a smoky mess because the leaves have been piled up out there for so long that they've been rained on a few times so the underneath part is wet. This of course complicates the system further, since I have to rake off the top layer without getting too many wet leaves in the mix. It's not very encouraging to do it this way either, since I left the pile kind of spread out so the next layer could dry so it's doesn't look like the pile is getting any smaller. Still I uncovered a ring of lawn around the edges and I think the next round should show more visible progress.

I really should move out of this house. Taking care of this huge yard by myself is too much for an senior citizen like myself to manage. There's a couple of apartments in town that have opened up recently and I dutifully collect the phone numbers, but do I call them? Nah.

Much as I bitch about all the upkeep, the thought of moving is even more odious and besides, I've always been a victim of inertia. I'm really not good at major life changes. I tend to wait for them to happen on their own, rather than making them occur on purpose.