This past weekend I raked leaves for the first time in my life.


Luckily the town I live in vacuums the leaves left on the curb so I didn't have to bag anything....


This is what my backyard looked like prior to raking





This is an in progress shot...... the orange thing is the tarp I used to carry the leaves from the backyard to the front curb...





They started piling up quickly.... I thought I was going to run out of room! After about 2.5 hours I broke for lunch... and then didn't want to go back out after I sat down to eat ;)


But I gave myself a short nap and went back....And after one more tarp trip where the backyard seemed slightly more than halfway done, I busted out the lawnmower and proceeded to mow (thanks to a previous hint/suggestion from a friend).


Backyard done!





Then I moved on to the front yard which is much smaller, and really only has leaves at the very front... I raked the front and mowed the rest!


After about 4 hours of work I was done.




Final Damage - 2 blisters ... one on each hand (Guess I should have worn gloves!) and my forearms ached sooooo bad I could barely concentrate on anything else. I also have some tightness in my shoulders and back..... but oh well.... better than paying someone!