Falling into place

Now that fall is finally here, we've begun chattering about our upcoming schedule.  As you know, we often turn to this blog to "think out loud" by writing about our plans and our schedule and so forth.  Somehow, when we write stuff down here is becomes a lot more likely to happen.  It's not exactly chiseled in stone but it's a whole lot better than simply "thinking about it."

We know one thing for sure--we're heading to Arizona sometime between now and December.  So, that's basically a max of two months away.  Whazzup for that time period?  We have only three tentative trips planned:
A) To Bryan's Place over by Geneva, Idaho October 1-3;
B) Maybe to The City of Rocks October 7-11
C) Up to Salmon on October 18-21

If all of the above come to pass, they will make for a blindingly fast October.
Meanwhile, we're biting off a long laundry list of homeowner projects that include:
A) Construction of an overhang on the west porch to shed snow and rain from the entry.
B)A new roof on the cook shack
C)A new frost free hose bib on the north side of the house
D)Rehab of the garage door
E)Total R&R the basement

And, meanwhile, of course there are The Leaves.  Ah, The Leaves!  Those beautiful fall colors eventually turn into a real grunt.  We've vowed to deal with our leaves before we head south.  What makes The Leaves so daunting is that you simply can't rake and bag them once, nor twice, nor....  Nope, ya gotta rake leaves repeatedly.  It seems to go on and on and on.  Oftentimes, your leaf raking window is very small due to fall rains and frost.  Some of you may know that wet leaves are much harder to rake and bag than dry leaves.  Also, frozen leaves are in a league of their own.  Disposing of snow covered leaves is out of the question.

So, what's a recumbant homeowner to do?  AH, we have a solution--a $500 leaf vacuum and shredder!  Yep, we're popping for the heavy artillery for our leaves this year--a Sears Craftsman gigantic leaf sucker.
We're buying it today.  By gosh, we are armed and dangerous when it comes to The Leaves this year (and for many years to come).  We will be able to jump out on a moment's notice to wipe our small yard clean in minutes.  No more angst over when and how to rally up to deal with The Leaves.  Also, we're going to be able to take the offensive in The Leaf Wars.  We're going to suck leaves off of Chuck & Lynn's yard and Kenyon's yard, too.  Why?  Well, we live downwind of them and that's really where most of our leaf problem originates.  Our own leaves leave home and cause problems to our northern neighbors who live downwind of us.  It's like leaf dominos, if you will.  Well, we're coming out swinging on The Leaves this season.  Because, pure and simple, we can't leave here (pun intended) until The Leaves are fully in remission.  The sooner The Leaves are gone, the sooner we get to go.  This giant leaf sucker is our main weapon now and the key to a smooth departure.

Why is a relatively early departure desirable?  One word: Weather.  If you looked at the 90-day forecast graphics on our weather blog, you can easily see it's going to be a wet fall here.  No doubt about it.  We've already had two snow & rain trips to and from Arizona.  We know just how "dicey" that type of travel can be.  We do not want to drive in bad weather.  The later we stay here, the higher the odds become for yet another white knuckle trip south.  Hence, the $500 leaf sucker.

Realistically, it looks like the earliest we can depart will be early to mid-November.  Meanwhile, we've sure have our work cut out for us here on the Home Front.  Well, that's enough "thinking out loud." 

Cheers, jp