We had some terrific windstorms last week and over the weekend. We usually do every late October/early November. What a site! People’s trash cans, litter, assorted clothing and tarps.. everything that wasn’t nailed down or as heavy as a water softener was blowing around the neighborhood. :S
Despite the inconvenience, the winds are nice because they usually blow off the last of the leaves, the ones that have been tenaciously clinging to life on the trees. This comes just in time, just as we down below are sick and tired of wondering how many more days we’re stuck raking raking raking. So the leaves blew down, finally, and we have only a little bit of the final raking to do. I’m glad the kid like to rake… but me thinks they fool around too much while they do so. 
Here’s the leaf sphinx that preoccupied them for an afternoon:
It takes a while to rake up the yard– usually about 3 weeks, on and off. I think we finally got all the leaves out of the Secret Garden area. Here are before and after photos.
Still left to do: prune and clip perennials (which look very messy not that they are withered and brown), bring in the garden hose, clean out the shed and get out the winter tools, prepare the pets’ homes for winter, and… reinstall our big automatic garage door, which broke. 
One of our kitties lives in the garage, and since the door broke and had to be removed, he’s been chilly in his home. I hope we can get all this stuff done before the snow flies! How about you, how are you doing with your final preparations for winter?
3. November 2009 at 3:56 pm
Hey Rebecca!! haven’t visited ur blog in awhile; I love the new look!! Did u do it yourself??
3. November 2009 at 4:00 pm
Hiya Lisa!!! How have you been? Thanks for dropping by. It’s a Woo Themes theme, and I really like it.
It’s sometimes hard to always get a photo for the post headers, though.
Getting ready for winter?? All our leaves are gone… they say we’ll get some wet snow later this week!
3. November 2009 at 4:57 pm
Up here in western Montana we had an early and hard freeze, zero degrees and even below. The result was frozen leaves that never changed color but just turned brown and are still on the branch; they’ve not fallen yet! We are waiting for a heavy rain or snow to bring them down. Meanwhile, the City Street Department has delayed annual leaf pickup twice now.
3. November 2009 at 8:58 pm
I am starting to get some serious leaf envy from everyone! I want a pile of leaves to play in.
3. November 2009 at 10:10 pm
Aw, your son looks so cute in his pyramid. LOL I still have a few perennials to cut down. Hubby raked and blew some of the leaves into a pile. He is hoping a big wind comes and blows the rest into oblivion.