Raking up the leaves

I started out the day thinking I was just going to put together the leaf blower and learn again how to use it. I remember last year, when we first got the leaf blower and tried to use it, that it was not as easy as it looked. The leaves went everywhere and it seemed to only cause us more work. On top of that, I thought it would be better if we put all the leaves in the trailer that fits behind the lawn tractor and just haul the leaves behind the house and dump them in our woods. Well, the tires on the trailer were flat and I had to go and either get new tires (they were old and crumbling) or get them pumped up to last for a day. Mr. Cheap went with an offer to pump them up for free from our local tire company (yes, we do business with them so I didn't feel too guilty). I finally figured out how the blower was best used and it went fairly well. But all five of us (including Grandma) were out there raking as well as using the blower.

This year, I was going to be prepared. I was going to practice! It didn't take nearly as long to relearn to use it as it did to learn about it in the first place. After about ten minutes, I was having a blast! In about an hour and a half, I had the whole front yard in one big pile (see the top picture with our son Evan). As I used the leaf blower and learned more about it (you can start low and sort of blast the leaves into the air and then raise the nozzle and push them where you want) it made me think about how we go about learning anything and specifically how I learn a new project at work. It's always fun to learn new things but, for me, the best part is when you get to the place where you can actually do something useful with your tools. There is always a big debate about why more programmers don't use the code developed by others to save time and the need to make sure the code works correctly (I'm talking about using freely available software components or purchasing packages of software components - not stealing other peoples' work). The problem is that people get into this line of work because they like to fix problems and make new things - we like solving puzzles. Well, part of that is doing things your own way. In the back of your mind thinking, "I can do this a new, better way." That's how I felt with the leaf blower. I could have asked someone who had used one before to help me learn it. But it was more fun to figure it out for myself.

As you can see from the second picture (that's Emma buried in leaves, you can't see the fact thats she's lost one of her shoes and that we'd spend a long time looking for it :-), before hauling the leaves around back, I called the kids out to jump in the leaves. I should have taken more pictures - especially when they were jumping in together and throwing leaves at each other. Then Charlie the Dog came over and joined in. He had a great time, too. He helped us haul the leaves in the back (it only took four trips). Evan got to drive the tractor and Emma rode in trailer. We were all exhausted when it was over but it amazed me how fast it went. And to think, I wasn't going to really do the job that day - I was only practicing!