Garden... Gone
With the freeze on Sunday night and then again last night, the garden wasn't going to stand a chance.
So last night we dug in and ripped everything out, or at least everything we could see. It was getting pretty dark so it was really hard to know if we got it all. I do know there were quite a few tomatoes on the ground since we kept stepping on them. Yuck!
The leaves are really starting to fall as well. The thing is all the trees in our yard drop their leaves late. This is great and we are able to see the fall colors longer. That doesn't mean that we are exempt from raking leaves in your yard early on, it just means that we get to continue cleaning up our yard for a good long time. But thanks to the neighbor girl, we have extra leaves.
I watched her execute a portion of her "plan" and I couldn't believe it. At first glance one might think... "Oh, that is nice of her to rake up the neighbors leaves". But knowing her a bit more personally, that is not at all what first comes to mind. I don't know how long she was at it, but I came out to find her, with her trusty rake and a large plastic bag, raking up leaves along the neighbor’s fence line. The wind must have been blowing just right to deposit quite the pile of leaves in that one area. If it was snow and she was looking to build a massive snow fort, she would have hit the jackpot. Fortunately for her, leaves are much lighter!
So I go on about my business. I don't have much time before it gets dark and I've got more than enough to do. I start to mow my lawn, sucking up leaves as I go when I notice that perhaps I suddenly have more leaves, piles of leaves, in my yard than I did just moments ago. Then I notice the neighbor girl with an empty bag. I look around to the side yard and I notice that perhaps she made a few trips. To say I was furious is an understatement.
Now, it isn't like she went to the middle of my yard and just dumped piles of leaves. I doubt she meant to intentionally create more work for me, work that I was in the process of doing. And really, I don't at all mind the notion of playing with leaves. But it just seemed so disrespectful and thoughtless at the time. Instead of intending (?) to dump the leaves in their little 3' strip of green space that connects to our yard she could have easily collected the leaves in their much larger green space on the other side of their double wide driveway. Oh, but then she might have been seen by her parents. And really, with the wind they would have likely ended up my way sooner than later.
As we are wrapping things up her parents come outside and meet up with another adult who appears to be visiting. The dad notices that there is an abundance of leaves and makes a comment. The visitor said something. I heard it all and couldn't help but chime in to let them know that the leaves came from up the street courtesy of their daughter. Oh, and what is left is only a small portion. I couldn't believe it, but it was all received very well. They totally called her on it and they (not her!) totally apologized. The thing is, she is quite often doing something crazy and she’s totally a bad influence on our kids. And yeah, they called her on it and they said that she would have to clean it up after school the next day. But she didn't have to take ownership of her actions. And then her parents mowed so who knows if she actually had to clean it up or if they cleaned it up for her.
I really wish we could get along with this family. It would make life a bit nicer.
So last night we dug in and ripped everything out, or at least everything we could see. It was getting pretty dark so it was really hard to know if we got it all. I do know there were quite a few tomatoes on the ground since we kept stepping on them. Yuck!
The leaves are really starting to fall as well. The thing is all the trees in our yard drop their leaves late. This is great and we are able to see the fall colors longer. That doesn't mean that we are exempt from raking leaves in your yard early on, it just means that we get to continue cleaning up our yard for a good long time. But thanks to the neighbor girl, we have extra leaves.
I watched her execute a portion of her "plan" and I couldn't believe it. At first glance one might think... "Oh, that is nice of her to rake up the neighbors leaves". But knowing her a bit more personally, that is not at all what first comes to mind. I don't know how long she was at it, but I came out to find her, with her trusty rake and a large plastic bag, raking up leaves along the neighbor’s fence line. The wind must have been blowing just right to deposit quite the pile of leaves in that one area. If it was snow and she was looking to build a massive snow fort, she would have hit the jackpot. Fortunately for her, leaves are much lighter!
So I go on about my business. I don't have much time before it gets dark and I've got more than enough to do. I start to mow my lawn, sucking up leaves as I go when I notice that perhaps I suddenly have more leaves, piles of leaves, in my yard than I did just moments ago. Then I notice the neighbor girl with an empty bag. I look around to the side yard and I notice that perhaps she made a few trips. To say I was furious is an understatement.
Now, it isn't like she went to the middle of my yard and just dumped piles of leaves. I doubt she meant to intentionally create more work for me, work that I was in the process of doing. And really, I don't at all mind the notion of playing with leaves. But it just seemed so disrespectful and thoughtless at the time. Instead of intending (?) to dump the leaves in their little 3' strip of green space that connects to our yard she could have easily collected the leaves in their much larger green space on the other side of their double wide driveway. Oh, but then she might have been seen by her parents. And really, with the wind they would have likely ended up my way sooner than later.
As we are wrapping things up her parents come outside and meet up with another adult who appears to be visiting. The dad notices that there is an abundance of leaves and makes a comment. The visitor said something. I heard it all and couldn't help but chime in to let them know that the leaves came from up the street courtesy of their daughter. Oh, and what is left is only a small portion. I couldn't believe it, but it was all received very well. They totally called her on it and they (not her!) totally apologized. The thing is, she is quite often doing something crazy and she’s totally a bad influence on our kids. And yeah, they called her on it and they said that she would have to clean it up after school the next day. But she didn't have to take ownership of her actions. And then her parents mowed so who knows if she actually had to clean it up or if they cleaned it up for her.
I really wish we could get along with this family. It would make life a bit nicer.
Labels: Fall
posted by Sonya at 11:10 PM
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