Who's responsible for all these leaves falling off the trees anyway? Looks like poor build quality to me. Lazy slobs in QA not doing their jobs, I'll bet.

I hate burnt coffee. Bleech.

We live in an apartment building with a history of ...quirky resident managers. There's a smaller building across the street owned by the same family.

So Frank, the manager across the street, is sort of a "scurrying potato" kind of guy. The first time I saw him, it was about 11:30 PM on a weeknight and he was muttering to himself as he pawed through our giant recycling bin. (He does that regularly.) But his main obsession is sweeping the leaves. EVERY. SINGLE. LEAF. ALL. THE. TIME. If there's a leaf out there -- oh, too soon; there's Frank. Gotta get that leaf.

After the previous manager from our building absconded in the middle of the night (literally), we got a new guy named Greg. He seems nice. He is very fond of bib overalls. When we came home yesterday over lunch, we noticed the world's longest extension cord running through the front lot. "Oh," I thought, "Greg must be blowing the leaves." (Then I thought, "Poor Frank. He'll have nothing to do.")

Well... it was an upright Shop Vac. He was vacuuming the parking lot.

So that's what I suggest.

I dealt with the leaf issue by moving into the city. I have one skinny little linden tree in the sidewalk in front of my property and most of the leave fall into the street where the sweeper get them. The rest are pretty easily swept off the sidewalk.

Bagging trick (maybe you already do this, if so, sorry:) Rake all the leaves onto a smallish tarp. Roll the end of the tarp over to create a leaf burrito. Slide the end of the burrito into your bag, upend the whole thing, pull out the tarp (slowly). Some escape, but it's pretty efficient.

We used to have to start my summer camp season by raking like 3 acres of ground of old oak leaves, and this was the technique employed.

I live in the city and am inundated with leaves. I sweep them, I hose them, I , I ,I HATE THEM!!! But the trees look pretty the rest of the year.

Madamina, are you sure you don't live across the street from my old place? The super at that building was obsessed with the little plot of grass out front but only ever in the middle of the night; he'd be out there at 1 or 2 AM leafblowing, or watering, or sweeping the sidewalk, muttering to himself. The whole thing was fenced off with a little wrought-iron fence and a huge keep-off-the-grass sign. There can't have been more than 10' by 15' of grass there.

The weird thing (well, there are sooooo many weird things) is that sometimes I'll be out fairly late at night, and as I walk home I see Frank scurrying away from the building. I've never seen him talk to anybody aside from the building staff, and he is not going ANYWHERE in THAT outfit, so I wonder where on earth he could be going.

It's a mystery!

I'm fine with yard work -- I enjoy it, actually -- but I too HATE raking with passion. I use a leaf blower now (but it's electric and quiet so I'm not one of those people), but I still have a mental block against leaves.

They're out there now, covering the lawn like a threadbare blanket. I have the day off. I should probably deal with them. But only a third of the leaves have fallen from the ash tree out front, so what's the point? Might as well wait until they've all fallen, or until it's going to start raining again.

I don't want to make anyone jealous or anything, but we don't have to bag ours. We pile them in the street and the city comes along with this little vehicle with sideways jaws. They scoop them up and put them into the back of a garbage truck. It's really nice not to have to bag them.

12 bags. Probably 8 or 10 more to go. Breaking for lunch.

I would rake your leaves for you, JanetLand. I enjoy raking. I make little rows, I scoop them all together. I listen to podcasts while I work. I visit with the ladies who walk around our neighborhood. I don't bag them, though. I put them on my garden for compost. But I would totally rake your leaves for you.

In return, ColdChef, I will wash your dishes. I like washing dishes.

the mister just bought a fantastic ELECTRIC leaf blower and it is fabulous. Because we, too, hatehatehateHATE the autumn leaf problem. And weirdly enough, for living on the "prairie" so to speak, we have an enormous collection of big, mature trees in our neighbourhood and yard, and the leaves are ungodly. I don't know where they all come from. And the worst thing is when there are a lot of leaves that come down after a big wind storm, and then it SNOWS (like it is doing right now). They then become this godawful wet, clumpy, matted mess in the lawn that usually winds up being left until next spring. Sigh.

we do the tarp-leaf-burrito thing too, after blowing them into piles, but they all get dumped into the compost heap.

We discovered we really needed the leaf blower because we just installed 4 tons (!!) of rock (large gravel, really) for landscaping stabilization. Mainly to assist with drainage issues all around our house foundation (backfilled with fill dirt, then put rock all around the house up to the drip lines on the eaves) and also to fix a couple of crappy looking always-bare patches like the north side of the house that never gets daylight and a couple narrow strips along the driveway where grass refuses to grow.

I visit with the ladies who walk around our neighborhood. I don't bag them, though. I put them on my garden for compost.

Note to self: if ever offered ColdChef's homegrown veggies, refuse as politely as possible.

HA, dano beat me to it.

What happens if the leaves don't get raked? Do they disintegrate and disappear over the winter? I'm guessing no.

Oh, I'm with you on the leaves, JanetLand. I live by a deciduous forest :-( The leaves that fall in one half my back yard are easy to sweep up, because that part of the patio is raised, so all I have to do is lie the wheelie bin on its side and sweep them in. But in the other half the leaves need picking up. I hate it. Hate-hate-fuckity-fucking HATE it!

I have one of those leaf vacs but it's really heavy when the bag is even just a quarter full of leaves. I did see this the other day which is very tempting, but, looking at the dreadfully photoshopped demonstration photos, I have doubts about how effective it'd be.

If the leaves don't get raked, the neighbor lady calls the city and they send you a letter in the mail telling you not to let it happen again. My house has been passed down from renter to renter for 20 years, so I have this letter even though I didn't incite it. Maybe next month I'll bake some cookies and bring her some.

My thing that I hate is stupid rules. Like that time I lived in an apartment complex and they wouldn't let me hang my clothes on the balcony to dry, even though it was 100F out and I politely removed them as soon as they were dry - which took no more time than using their coin-operated dryer. They were opposed to providing or allowing an alternative (clothesline) to the dryer in the sunny and forgotten corner next to the dumpster.

amro: I have so many leaves per square foot that they won't disintegrate over the winter. If I don't rake them now they will be nastier when spring comes, and if I don't rake them in the spring, I will have no grass.

However, I am done. Grand total: 24 bags. Now I just have to remember to haul them out to the curb Sunday night so the city will pick them up Monday morning. Tomorrow the muscles in the right side of my waist will be sore from the bending over to shove leaves into bags.

You're welcome to come over and do my dishes anytime. (Sorry, ColdChef, I have no leaves to rake or you'd be invited, too.)

I don't enjoy raking leaves (jumping into a big pile of them got un-fun in the late 80s when we started learning all about Lyme disease), but I don't hate it. I *do* hate leaf blowers, though. They're loud, smelly, and inefficient, which reminds me too much of the things I hate about myself.

I love raking leaves. Call me next time! It's a pretty good workout and smells nice.

In return, ColdChef, I will wash your dishes. I like washing dishes.

JanetLand, I was half-seriously wondering whether you and I could work out some sort of labor swap.

Then I considered: what do I hate even more than doing dishes? Logging hours in the car. So until we can teleport the coupla hours back and forth, I guess I'll do my own dishes and not rake your leaves.

Ah yes, time spent in the car. The mister is going on a fishing trip next year and I'm already dreading the time it will take to take him to his brother's house (three hours one way) and then back to pick him up. And really, it's a beautiful trip along the Coquihalla, but that doesn't matter. Nine wasted hours I could be doing something else. *sigh*

I have always loved raking leaves. I think it has to do with the visible progress - like painting a wall or shoveling snow, both of which I also enjoy. I can't wait until I have a yard of leaves to call my own.

I loathe any sort of yardwork. I don't know why - I like physically demanding stuff in general, and I like things with a sense of progress. There's just something about the never-ending demands of living in a place with a yard. (i grew up in a rural area, but in a house, with a huge yard. May have something to do with it.)

I love my apartment. I'll take the herbs in a pot as my garden. Yeah, everyone I know looks askance that I would prefer it, but there you go.

I guess raking leaves is mostly seen as an activity for people who live in temperate climates and who have seasons, therefore deciduous trees. Pretty much all our trees are evergreen. You know the difference between deciduous and evergreen trees? Deciduous trees drop their leaves once a year, evergreen trees drop them all the fucking time! Not as much at once, though, so the mower takes care of them.

The home I grew up in LA has walnut , ginkgo, holly, avocado, fig, Japanese maple, orange, grapefruit, lemon....others I can't remember offhand in the yards (RIP peach and pepper trees). Some evergreen, some deciduous.

Eideteker: I will do your dishes if you help me clean and organize my apartment. Deal?