Rant: Raking Leaves

[ZestolPastilevsky]

This has to be the worst chore ever conceived of. It's totally senseless, and completely futile. You rake the leaves, inevitably miss a bunch, and they just come right back anyway. And hell, why wouldn't they be there? It's the outdoors. Why the hell am I trying to clean leaves up outside? It's like going to a beach with a broom and dustpan and trying to sweep up sand, or going around getting the dirt off of blades of grass after it rains. Totally pointless. I'm convinced if I end up in Hell I'm just going to be raking leaves until the end of time. I mean, I already dislike gardening as is. But raking leaves really takes things to a new level of pointlessness.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

This has to be the worst chore ever conceived of. It's totally senseless, and completely futile. You rake the leaves, inevitably miss a bunch, and they just come right back anyway. And hell, why wouldn't they be there? It's the outdoors. Why the hell am I trying to clean leaves up outside? It's like going to a beach with a broom and dustpan and trying to sweep up sand, or going around getting the dirt off of blades of grass after it rains. Totally pointless. I'm convinced if I end up in Hell I'm just going to be raking leaves until the end of time. I mean, I already dislike gardening as is. But raking leaves really takes things to a new level of pointlessness.

.

In my part of the Midwest, everyone owns a riding mower, and we use them to mulch all those leaves, and then we use a leaf sweeper to gather the mess up, bag it and use it to mulch our vegetable gardens.

I have a lot of empathy for anyone who has to actually rake the buggers.


.

 

[JoeMoma]

I like leaves. I often just leave them there.

 

[Grumblenuts]

Love 'em or leave 'em.

 

[luiza]

Just sprinkle Olive Oil all over them and they will stick together .
Simples .

Exceptional problems require exceptional solutions

 

[ReinyDays]

This has to be the worst chore ever conceived of. It's totally senseless, and completely futile. You rake the leaves, inevitably miss a bunch, and they just come right back anyway. And hell, why wouldn't they be there? It's the outdoors. Why the hell am I trying to clean leaves up outside? It's like going to a beach with a broom and dustpan and trying to sweep up sand, or going around getting the dirt off of blades of grass after it rains. Totally pointless. I'm convinced if I end up in Hell I'm just going to be raking leaves until the end of time. I mean, I already dislike gardening as is. But raking leaves really takes things to a new level of pointlessness.

[emphasis mine]

There's the problem ... chainsaw is the solution ...

I can't say I enjoy raking leaves, but it is only a few days a year ... against several months of shade during hot summer weather ... for all that raking in the Fall, I get fully 15ºF cooler summertime temperatures in my house without A/C ... so the trade off is good for me ...

Secondly, I'm an avid gardener, all these leaves get turned under as compost every year ... and that's the real work ... shovel shovel shovel ... gardening is hard work, you kids today don't know what that means ... why you don't know where your food comes from ...

 

[Dekster]

I just mow them up with the bagger, wait awhile for all my neighbors' leaves to end up in the yard, and do it again. Raking is so mid-20th century.

 

[TNHarley]

Just blow that shit into the neighbors yard, like a good member of the community.

 

[odanny]

It's a lot easier to mow your grass, and provides nutrients for your grass from the leaves. I usually mow and also rake as I get the neighborhood's leaves but my 4 white pines leave a lot of needles that I rake (and those needles also make a great mulch)

 

[whitehall]

You would be sitting on your ass watching CNN if you didn't have to rake those leaves. You should thank them for saving your life.

 

[Sparker]

I have a rake but I haven't used it in a few years. When the grass stops growing I stop mowing.

 

[Rawley]

This has to be the worst chore ever conceived of. It's totally senseless, and completely futile. You rake the leaves, inevitably miss a bunch, and they just come right back anyway. And hell, why wouldn't they be there? It's the outdoors. Why the hell am I trying to clean leaves up outside? It's like going to a beach with a broom and dustpan and trying to sweep up sand, or going around getting the dirt off of blades of grass after it rains. Totally pointless. I'm convinced if I end up in Hell I'm just going to be raking leaves until the end of time. I mean, I already dislike gardening as is. But raking leaves really takes things to a new level of pointlessness.

As compared to shoveling snow? I'll take raking leaves any day

 

[ZestolPastilevsky]

As compared to shoveling snow? I'll take raking leaves any day

Yeah, but the snow doesn't stick around. And really all you have to shovel is the places where people walk.