The 2015 Leaf Management Team

2015 Leaf Management Team

Over coffee this morning it was decided I needed some additional motivation to finish raking the yard. Since Winston and Heidi chose to sleep it off this afternoon, Stella and Sadie were 2/3 of the leaf management team. Winston opted out at the last minute and chose the couch instead of the yard for his afternoon nap.

The morning started with the usual recon of the perimeter, no bloodhound playing and a camera that is once again not working on a consistent basis. The Nikon D3200 has the same issues as before, so in less than a year I have had this urge to see just how far a Nikon D3200 can fly. After the 55-200mm lens started working, the flight was canceled.

Stella was in the back of the field near the woods locked into a deer scent. At the time I was not sure if she would come because of the way she was running around out of control with her nose to the ground. Surprisingly when I yelled "Stella", she looked up and started her slow decent back to the yard, although she was not happy about being interrupted and being told to get back to the yard.

As usual, Sadie met her at the edge of the yard and to escort her back to the safety of the backyard.

All of us went back inside. I needed that 2nd cup of coffee, they needed a morning treat and a short nap. It was before their lunch we decided to go back outside and check out the weather, check to see if the morning dew had evaporated and what the plan of attack would be to bring every leaf in the backyard to its final destination for 2015.

Yet, the more The 2015 Leaf Management Team thought about it, the less motivated they became and for a short period of time I actually thought I'd get the day off and they would move the leaf raking project to tomorrow. Afterall, when you are retired, you can do that.

They kept analyzing the situation, kept thinking about what to do. It was a beautiful day to finish the leaf raking project but I am always up for a day off so I was willing to do whatever they decided. My day was up to them.

Finally Sadie and Stella decided "lets do it".

We started a little before noon, temps at 76°, no wind and it wasn't soon after I picked up all the fallen tree limbs that Sadie and Stella took their places to observe and manage my work for the afternoon.

As you can see from the picture above, Stella turned it over to Sadie while she napped in the sunshine.  Sadie stood over her trying to get her to wake up but Stella never moved. They later moved in a place to monitor what I had finished and to report if there as any backflash of leaves blowing back into the raked area.

After an hour, Stella decided the pace was more than she could handle and dozed off again. I raked around her, touched her feet with my rake and she never moved. That sunshine must have felt good.

By 2:30pm, they both had enough of the management job. They didn't care if I raked all the leaves or left some behind. All they really wanted was to finish their nap and then go back inside for some ice cold filtered water.

Once the sleeping basset hounds heard the refrigerator door open, the were wide awake from their naps. They were probably a little disappointed that I was taking out water and not food, but water was good for them too.

We went back outside for a final inspection, put the rake away and make sure all the side fires were out along the bank. Heidi had plenty of flies to chase, their had to be 100's of them camped out on the ceiling this morning when we went outside.

  

Stella walked the edge of the yard and then picked her spot in the yard ... giving her final approval for the job I did.

While I was inside editing photos of the day, I heard the local pilot flying in the area but this time he sounded very close to my house. By the time I grabbed the camera and headed outside, he had already skimmed the property at tree top level and was flying off into the sunset.

I have just the side of the driveway to do. I'll bring out the leaf blower tomorrow and blow the leaves over the side of the bank. Then I'll get on the roof, turn the lever of the leaf blower to the vacuum option and suck all the leaves from the gutters. I have a couple of more days of sunshine before it rains on Friday.

All members of the 2015 Leaf Management Team announced, due to their fear of heights, they will not be joining me on the roof of the house tomorrow. They believe their job is finished for the fall of 2015.

It was another great day in "the tropics" of southern Indiana.