[first get the tune to “Oh Happy Day / When Jesus Washed My Sins Away” going in your mind] “Oh happy day, Oh happy day, my blower sucked, my blower mulched, my blower bagged all my leaves away . . . Oh happy day . . . !”
For the last few weeks, I’ve been looking out the window at my withered up garden waiting to be put to bed for the winter, at a flat of blue and yellow pansies waiting to be transplanted by the mailbox, at four bags of bulbs waiting to be buried so that next spring will prove that something was planned ahead of time . . . and then there were ALL THOSE LEAVES blanketing the front and back yard. Just thinking of it was paralyzing, until yesterday when we discovered that our Black and Decker “hay” blower can also vacuum!
What a feeling of power to watch piles and piles of leaves disappear up a big plastic cylinder—filling one biodegradable bag after another with perfect bits of mulch that will cover our county's walking trails—I felt so . . . so green!
For the last few weeks, I’ve been looking out the window at my withered up garden waiting to be put to bed for the winter, at a flat of blue and yellow pansies waiting to be transplanted by the mailbox, at four bags of bulbs waiting to be buried so that next spring will prove that something was planned ahead of time . . . and then there were ALL THOSE LEAVES blanketing the front and back yard. Just thinking of it was paralyzing, until yesterday when we discovered that our Black and Decker “hay” blower can also vacuum!
What a feeling of power to watch piles and piles of leaves disappear up a big plastic cylinder—filling one biodegradable bag after another with perfect bits of mulch that will cover our county's walking trails—I felt so . . . so green!
It was such a great feeling, that after clearing and pitch-forking my garden, I covered it up with a beautiful "quilt" of the colorful confetti! My sense of accomplishment is worth every Advil I’ll have to take to get out of bed to make my Cranberry Jezebel sauce for Thanksgiving dinner!