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| one of three large oaks that dump on my house/yard every fall |
where i live, we don't have friendly curb-side leaf sweeping/pickup. sad times. you are supposed to bag/haul them off yourself and the landfill charges you for dropping off yard waste (boo landfill)!
how to postpone having to rake leaves:
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| half mowed, half not |
1) mow over them. this chops them up and makes them practically invisible. it also buys you at least a couple of weeks.
2) toss a tarp-load in the bed of a truck and go for a drive. the leaves will fly away on their own! note: you can't fill the bed too much or cops might get suspicious.
3) rake them down into the street and let the cars driving by re-distribute them.
4) rake them into your flower beds. "leaf mulch" is not the most attractive, but it does make for some fertile soil in a few years.
running
since i'm running out of days in the month and still have a few more goals to check off, i combined my long run with a tempo today. it went well, although i did have to stop at mcdonald's for some water. there were too many fat people in line so i ended up helping myself to ketchup-cup-shots of water.
sunday (11/28) am run: 12.05 miles, 1:42:49 (avg pace 8:32), 43*
6mi easy, 5mi tempo, 1mi easy
7:38
7:35
7:33
7:40
7:28
(not that you guys care but i like having the stats to look back on; or other random things - like how two years ago i was wearing under armor already and this year i'm still in shorts and a t-shirt)
still in shorts and a tshirt? sigh. life is so not fair.
ReplyDeleteI wore 4 layers yesterday but today was warmer so I only had 3. What will I do when it gets really cold?
ReplyDeleteKeep posting that stats, I am loving them:) Great run. As for the leaves, I like the one about raking them down the street ha!
ReplyDeleteWow, awesome run. I suspect that you are lot stronger at this point than you might think you are (or that you didn't lose as much fitness as you thought?... or that you are regaining fitness more quickly than you anticipated...)
ReplyDeleteKetchup-cup water shots. Way to be creative in the face of limited resources!
Also, major laughs to the leaf elimination tips. I enjoyed reading about your surreptitious redistribution methods... :)
ketchup-cup-shots of water, woman you are hardcore!
ReplyDeleteI am sooo glad I don't have a yard with leaves to rake...yet. BUT I do have a patio that I've already been shovelling SNOW off of. Leaves might be better...
ReplyDeleteI really like being able to look back on my blog and remember what I did 2 years ago on a certain day! It's so fun :)
nice run! ketchup shots of water is a new one for me, but sounds like it works great!
ReplyDeleteoption #5 for leaf cleanup: hire someone. I'd rather be running than raking! lol!
woo hoo tempo! nice work. i love looking back at what i was doing a year ago/ two years ago. def a perk to the blog!!! and it keeps getting better :)
ReplyDeleteshorts and a tshirt?! wahhh. hehe.
I like your ideas about the leaves. I guess one advantage to living in a tiny apartment is that one doesn't have to deal with those things. I'd trade in my apartment existence for the hassle of leaves, though.
ReplyDeleteSpeedy tempo! Great job!!! Whatever you are doing is working bc you are back!!!!
ReplyDeleteI feel guilty that I'm reading and thinking of the feasibility of your leaf-distribution techniques; is there something wrong with me?
ReplyDeleteLeaves: form into large pile, get local burning permit for your community, 1 lighter and POOF, leaves all gone!
ReplyDeleteNothing like the smell of burning leaves! One of my top 5 favorite smells.
Unless, for some crazy a$$ reason you're NOT allowed to burn leaves where you live-then this comment pretty much is useless!
Good luck!
i love the stats. i'm a numbers dork (duh) so i like seeing the deviations in the numbers and the flux :)
ReplyDeleteoh leaves. i have a landlord that luckily does that. but i think it's only because he wants to sell the building hahah
Fantastic tempo/long run! I am laughing at the thought of a bunch of fat people standing in line while a desperate, sweaty runner gulps little ketchup containers full of water. Too good!
ReplyDeleteNice tempo run! Good job! I am in the same boat with the leaves in my yard, ie no pick up. I rake them into the natural area or mow over them. Works great! But, I may have to try the pickup move!:)
ReplyDeleteOak trees are the worst. We mainly have one big maple and one big oak. The maple was all cleaned up over a month ago but the damn oak tree takes it sweet old time at dropping the leaves. I wish the snow would just fall and cover it all up.
ReplyDeleteNice work on the tempo workout! Super speedy time!
I'm with you on the leaf cleanup. I have a "mulching" mower. It really chops those leaves up and thrusts them right into the soil. We haven't started dropping leaves yet, though. We're in the acorn stage. There's no attic over my bedroom and the evenings are filled with "thunk" every 5-10 seconds or so.
ReplyDeleteBTW, you totally stole this workout from me :P.
Nice, nice numbers. Great job.
ReplyDeleteHere in TX we don't have many leaves so it's not a problem.
When I lived in White Plains, NY (Jon) I would rake them into the street and they had a huge vacuum cleaner come by and suck them all up. It was awesome so maybe you can look into that for your area and start a business.
Kinda jealous about your running attire.
And our Clemson boys were not a pooh-pooh free run this weekend.
You're making my 5K look rather pathetic (whaaa) - I'd say your speed is coming back, Speedy!!
ReplyDeleteI have a crap load of leaves in my backyard....thanks for reminding me I have neglected them!! :)
You need to move south, I occasionally have to pick up a big ass palm leaf...just one!
ReplyDeleteWTF...SOUTH! Hello!
ReplyDeleteWest!
Nice consistently long tempo runs! Way to be efficient incorporating both the long run and the speedwork into one. I think your stats are pretty cool!
ReplyDeleteLOL at your ingenuity around having to rake leaves! Haha!
I love option 2 about the whole tard thing, oops, I meant tarp. Let em' blow every where. When I was a kid in my parents place, it was all about pine needles. lol. All the fatsos in line in McDonalds. It's really sad I would say. They just need to eat a chocoturd for the day. Great running Lindsay. You would def stomp my butt any day. Tomorrow I am going to attempt a 70 minute long run, actually a tempo sort of thing but I am working in time now instead of distance. I can do this since I am not in official training mode. hehehe. Take care and have fun being creative with the leaves man.
ReplyDeleteKetchup-cup-shots make a water stop sound much more appealing!
ReplyDeleteI would mow it to chop it up!!! That is how I roll :) I hate having to pay for things like that! Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteI am too cold natured for shorts and t-shirts in this temps... Maybe in the middle of the day in the sun. That would work! ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhat a pain with the leaves! I like the way you think... very sneaky.
ReplyDeleteAwesome long/tempo run!
Oh, I so don't miss having to rake leaves. Our huge oak trees used to hold onto their leaves, until, I swear, literally, the day after the last leaf pickup from our town. (If it makes you feel better, we didn't just rake them to the side like we did growing up, we did have to buy the bags and then bag them. It adds up after a while.)
ReplyDeleteThe mowing trick does work though - we did a lot of that.
You are so speedy. I love it, too many fat people in line. You and I would travel very well together!
ReplyDeletekeep those stats and numbers coming. I love the details and data.
ReplyDeleteOne day it's 79 degrees, hot and humid and the next day it's 30 degrees. Life in the South! I'll take it over the teens and snow.
Great tempo/ long run - go girl!
I really wish I was running in shorts. Lucky girl!
ReplyDeleteYou know - now that you're married you can have kids and have them rake the leaves. I know I know. Bite my tongue.
ReplyDelete