Every Leaf's A Pain In The......

Inspired by my friend Donna's post about loose leaf collection, I write this. I don't know if it's prose, poetry, haiku, or whatever, but it sums it up for me:


I have big trees. Big trees produce TONS of leaves, which in turn produce big piles of leaves in the gutter. I know that many of my neighbors' leaves tend to migrate to my lawn, whether I like it or not. And yet they sit there, awaiting a final rake and yearning to be discarded. After all, they're so brown and crispy.

And every year, I can't decide whether or not it's best to rake them constantly, or to do them all at once, since there's so many. I am a chronic procrastinator, looking for reasons WHY I wish not to rake (and this time it seems my used excuse of being on vacation in China is the cause for my negligence). I chose the method, and I raked them all at once.

I got my raking system down, with help from a blower, taking me about 6 or 7 hours of combined time over the course of 3 days to get my share (plus that of others) of leaves raked and to the gutter in front of my house for final collection. Leaf collection for me is today.

And today, the city came and collected my leaves.....or at least I think they did.

Why?

I'm not sure, as I am certain that I see a third of my leaves still strewn all about the front of my house in the street, with truck tire tracks running through them, having already taken most of them to their final destination. However, methinks the city workers are sick of collecting leaves, as my street is one of the last on the list yet again.....their job was done so half-assedly, and I prefer that they do it with the whole ass.

Which prompts me to reply: did it even make a difference how much time I contributed or what method I chose due to the sheer volume of leaves I got piled up and ready for them today? After all, the city obviously doesn't take the same pride that I do in making sure that my job is completed. I suppose not. And golly, how fortunate I am to have to pay someone for a job not done well, even though I have no choice but to look at the brown mess outside my front window, all along the street.

So if I should take my garbage, cut it open and let it be loosed, and go to spread it over the leaf collectors' lawns, would they then care as much as I do about a tidy neighborhood, or better yet, a tidy home and a job well done? Would they think twice about this?

After all, at least that way if I were that magical trash elf, EVERYONE's yards and neighborhoods will look like a landfill like mine does, and I won't feel so neglected like i did today.