Fall Cleanup

One thing I love about living in Midvale is their green waste program. Once a month, from April to October, you can set any green waste stuff out on the curb and they'll take it away to make mulch out of it. Well, not grass clippings because nothing can be bagged. And of course, it has to be in four foot lengths or they give you a red tag and don't pick it up. We learned that the hard way. But as a non-truck owner, it is so nice to be able to get rid of yard clippings all at once rather than putting as much as you can into your garbage can each week. It's fabulous. Frequently throughout the spring and summer we set branches and things out of bushes and trees we've trimmed. And every October we set a whole bunch out after our big yard cleanup. Today was such a day because our green waste pickup is Tuesday. We started with the catalpa trees. I don't know where in this world besides our neighborhood that clips catalpa trees back so they look like something out of a Dr. Seuss book, but because that's how they are, that's what we do. We also cleared the garden and the bamboo plot. When I was little, we always had a big Saturday yard cleanup day. We pulled and dug and weeded and took the truck to the dump at least once. No green waste pickup in Boise. As I tossed the rotted tomatoes into the garbage can, I remembered chucking similar rotted tomatoes over the back fence into the canal behind my parent's house. I don't know how many made it and how many just splattered on the canal bank. For the next few weeks, joggers probably had to maneuver carefully around that section. I may have jumped the gun a little on the tomatoes this year. The tops of the plants were frozen, but after I had them dug up and carried out to the curb I noticed the lower branches still looked okay. Maybe some of the 95% of our tomatoes that were all still green could have been salvaged. Oh well, this way it's done and I don't have to deal with it. Miriam was a huge help. She picked up the downed branches from the catalpa trees, carried them to the curb and proudly said "STACK" as she piled them up. Until she got tired of that and buried herself underneath the downed branches, as pictured. Then she ate lunch and went down for a good long nap that lasted til we were almost done. What a girl! It's amazing how much two people can do without a little person running around. We are proud to declare that we are done with the annual fall cleanup. Besides raking up the leaves that are even now blowing off the trees, of course.