Althouse: Mid-October lawnscape.

October 15, 2014

Mid-October lawnscape.

Madison, Wisconsin.

19 comments:

Meade said...: I'm pro-leaf.; 10/15/14, 7:15 PM
CWJ said...: I'm taking this as a café.

The Royals win the pennant! The Royals win the pennant!

To whichever regular who commented about a month and a half ago that the Royals bullpen was awesome. Thank you! After years of watching the Royals piss away leads in the late innings, I was not willing to believe. None are so blind as those who will not see! In my defense, I was actually at a game this year where Holland gave up the lead in the ninth.

They remind me of the Go-go White Sox of my youth. Here's hoping they do better in the series than their '59 Chicago counterparts.; 10/15/14, 8:06 PM
traditionalguy said...: I'm anti-leaf, and pro-rake. I understand that one in five yards in Madison has been raked. And I mean rake raked using a stiff rake tool and not a flexible rake tool.

Some rakers say they prefer to use a blow job, but I am for doing it the old fashioned way.; 10/15/14, 8:09 PM
MadisonMan said...: I rake using a rake with plastic tines vs. metal. Today I raked up locust sticks -- all the little leaflets are gone, but then the sticks holding the leaflets have to fall too, and the rain brought them down.

City destroyed my terrace grass when they took the leaf pile in the rain.

The best thing we did in our yard is cut down the huge old red oak behind the garage. That thing held its leaves 'til after Thanksgiving, and there's little that is worse than raking while it snows. (The oak had a split trunk, so it was ready to come down).; 10/15/14, 8:29 PM
FullMoon said...: Obama reassuringly talked about shaking hands and hugging hospital workers. No worries now...; 10/15/14, 8:29 PM
Original Mike said...: "City destroyed my terrace grass when they took the leaf pile in the rain."

I'll stop putting my leafs in the street when the City starts taking care.; 10/15/14, 8:35 PM
Original Mike said...: We took down our honey locust, in part, because it put out over fifty oversized yard waste bags every year. Broke my heart to do it, but I sure don't miss my afternoons on the roof picking up pods.; 10/15/14, 8:39 PM
Rusty said...: tradguy @ 8:09

I prefer a good blow job. easier on the arms.

On another note;
Turns out there were WMDs in Iraq. About 5000 warheads.; 10/15/14, 8:42 PM
RecChief said...: CBS News reporting that nurse Amber Vinson called #CDC BEFORE boarding the plane and was told she was OK to get on the plane with 99.5 temp.

Vinson called CDC several times before flying, informed staff she had fever. It allowed her to fly.; 10/15/14, 9:01 PM
sojerofgod said...: You mean to tell me you people rake leaves before mid march? OMG why do you rake leaves before they have all fallen off the trees??? A job worth doing once is worth not doing twice if you ask me. besides raking the leave up from my pin oak is practically impossible.; 10/15/14, 9:23 PM
sojerofgod said...: Oh, by the way, you likely know the tree I am talking about as a 'water oak' some yankee thinks a red oak tree is a pin oak because of the twig arrangements... we don't give a damn about the twigs around here... they are pin oaks because picking up the leaves, which are straight and look kind of like a a minnow are like picking up a box of spilt pins with a rake... not much fun.; 10/15/14, 9:28 PM
pm317 said...: I thought that Dr. Nicole Lurie, you know the ebola czar, might surface today. But she didn't. Wonder if she was at the cabinet meeting with Obama..; 10/15/14, 9:36 PM
sojerofgod said...: Likely she was serving coffee.; 10/15/14, 9:44 PM
Phil 314 said...: In AZ anti-leaf or pro-leaf is an oddity. We are leaf independent.; 10/15/14, 9:47 PM
Anonymous said...: No leaf independence here in Mass! Everyone but me is a Dendrocrat.; 10/15/14, 9:58 PM
ALH said...: Just happened to read about the new Marquette poll showing a 47-47 tie between Scott Walker and Mary Burke. A few weeks ago Walker was up 5.

Two aspects of that poll don't make sense to me-
a) walker's prior huge lead among independents disappeared (despite still having 53% of likely voters say WI is on "right track")
b) the huge male gender gap in walkers favor (28 points!) and female gap in burkes favor (14 points) have disappeared

I do think the race may be a toss up-- I just find it difficult to believe that there has been that much change in those areas in 2 weeks time. The only major event was a debate that was unremarkable and was not felt to be a factor by the pollster.; 10/15/14, 11:07 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: Mid-October lawnscape.

Your lawnscapes will be easier to post in a couple of weeks, and for the ensuing six or seven months. Just a large white rectangle.; 10/16/14, 12:37 AM
JOB said...: Tale of a Leaf

Its short life
Is brought on by benedictions of sunlight
That cut through buds like balled fists of forests
Held tight within spring’s tender-fingered grip.
See how it slowly thinks out unfolding
Itself, its tender veins like angel hair.
Its day begins to throb and throb and throb
A lemon yellow pigment, translucent
And submarine, its first feathery blush;
It catches eyes, winter-pent with map-travel,
From windows which have only seen the drab
Drapery of January’s liturgy –
A conclave of cardinals incensed with chimneys
And pitchy crows perched in proper vestments–
But now, noon is warm and shadows absorb
A stronger sense of thirst for sun and light
And leave a shawl of coolness on the lawn,
It’s body parts the air, a body part
With style all its own – arched for rain drops
Or flattered by breezes, flustered by storms,
Or, chlorophylled, twisting in adoration
Beneath a monstrance sun cloud-cloaked and raised
Above the evergreen’s constant newness
Until the leaf’s own plumage turns, becomes
The grizzled fur of tired Kodiaks,
Then skin of solstice, cracked, brown, reptilian.
A fat, flat hand – clawing for self-applause –
Beaten back, it withdraws and, whittled, curls up.
A monkey’s withered paw or wrinkled ear,
It falls off, falling down, and leaves behind
Half-formed ideas of staying on for winter.
It prays its final prayer, a last farewell
To gentle cruelty, plaything in the wind.
The leaf goes along, bumping and scraping
Deserted streets, frost-fractured walks, cold earth, snagged
On backyard fence, imprisoned by sewer grate,
And everywhere and everywhere finds its grave –
Autumn’s mortal coil shuffled off from
Its short life.; 10/16/14, 10:02 AM
effinayright said...: Where I live, in New England, picking up my dog's poop on leaf-strewn grass is a major test for color-blindness.; 10/16/14, 11:35 AM