Within the Trap and the Base

First sunny day in a while.  I’d scheduled using the leaf blower at Tru Value Hardware one day, and then a second day and each time in rained.  The lawn is half done.  Today I decided I’d head over early and get it for a four-hour block if it was available.  Called and they couldn’t hear me.  That happens with my Pixel 3 phone.  I called again and this time we spoke and I confirmed that, seeing as how it was there, I’d come get it.

Noise cancellation headsets came in handy.  I was listening to Donald Byrd from the early sixties and it suddenly turned into Donald Bryd from the mid-seventies and then it spawned some mix they’d decided I wanted to hear that similarly spanned genres.  But it was only really background music to the roar of the motor, backpacked on to my shoulder.

Start high, push low.  We live along a slope. Form a line and blow it into the woods, over and over.  The oak leaves are easy, even the ones that have become wet and matted.  The leaves from the striped maple that were so beautiful not so long ago are much more recalcitrant.  They turn black and seem to stick to the soil.  In the base of the tree I seemed to blow away years and years of leaves from within the trap at the base.

My second rodeo, I knew that I’d be going through the tank of gas it came with pretty quickly.  It’s a sort of mixed fuel they want used and it comes at $9 per can, (this translates into one tank and one tank only.)  I burned through three tanks of fuel and I’m still not done.  The next day they get new fuel is the day before Thanksgiving.  That’s what Frank told me.  So I'll be back then. 

Thursday, 11/21/19