Thursday, October 31, 2024

Leaf Mulchers - October 31, 2024

As you might have noticed from yesterday's picture, our yard is carpeted with leaves, with more on the way down.  By the time the trees are bare, leaves will be up to our shins.

I don't mind the leaves on the ground; I think they're beautiful.  But I want to make compost with some of them, and for that they really need to be shredded.  Two springs ago, we bought an electric leaf shredder, big scary thing, and boy did it shred.  It played out last fall.  Yesterday, I shopped online for a new one.

I decided to try a cordless one that can be carried, like a leaf-blower.  (This is a leaf-sucker, I reckon.)  It probably won't have enough ooomph to do the whole yard on one charge, but we never do the whole yard, anyway.  Home Depot had them on sale.  I stopped after work to get one.  They didn't have the same package advertised online - the mulcher plus the necessary charging equipment - for $219.  They had the leaf mulcher, itself, but the charging stuff didn't come with it, and they wouldn't sell me the mulcher AND the charging stuff for $219.  So I stood there in the store and ordered it online, to be shipped to my house. 

The second errand I had to do after work was stop by the store for coffee filters and toilet paper.  In the store, I got to talking with the employees and the Coke truck driver, and went to the cash register with only coffee filters and a bag of Halloween candy.  As soon as the transaction was complete, I remembered toilet paper.  On the way to get it, I picked up a 3-box package of Kleenex and stuffed it under my arm so I could get the toilet paper.  At the register, I flopped the toilet paper onto the counter, paid for it, and started out of the store with the Kleenex boxes still under my arm.  Only when I reached for my keys in my pocket did I realize that I was about to shoplift.  Went back to the register and paid for it.  

I brought home a box of mystery files to work on.  It's still in my car - couldn't manage it AND the toilet paper at once - and now I don't want to go out in the rain to get it. My feet hurt, and my back is tired.  My sorting system involves four 8-ft long tables, set two by two.  I've put stickers, 1 through 12, on two of the tables, and stickers, 1 through 31 on the other two.  I dole out a year's worth of files, by month on one side of the worktables, and then by day on the other, walking around and around those tables.  Then I sort them by time and take them to the cabinets.  With each year, the stacks get higher.  I did 2007 today, and it took all day.  2008 is on the tables, ready for tomorrow.  Having already sorted all of the files by year, I can see what's ahead.  It's going to be a tactical nightmare.  I may need more tables.

And better shoes.




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