Fall Foliage

One of the really nice things about living on a lake is that the majority of the inhabitants on the water tend to be seasonal....meaning not around.  Houses back off the water tend to be owned by year round residents.  In the summer, the lake can be a hopping place, though this last year because of the drought nearly everyone's boat house being high and dry so it's been relatively quiet.  My boat sits unused on it's trailer at the Dallas house waiting for some usable water.  Rumor has it that even 2012 will be light on rain.  Oh well, at least it's allowed me to focus on the house.

The upside of having several lots tied together (did I mention I finally bought the lot to the right of me?) and having a fair amount of established old growth trees around the house is the that everything is green and pleasing to the eyes.  The trees provide beautiful shade canopy overhead.  No one lives on the lots to the left of the house and there are two lots between me and the house on the right.  The only house across the channel is over one lot with empty lots to the left of that.  It's not remote by any stretch, but it is sufficiently removed from the neighbors to be peaceful.

Of course, the down side of all that is the maintenance.  In the spring and summer the old growth trees provide a beautiful canopy.  In the fall however, they dump a ton of leaves and branches to keep a fire going all winter!  Add to that the fact that the lot on the right hasn't been maintained and you have a some six years or more of accumulated debris.  The two lots to the left has a lot of St Augustine grass and other varieties and had been maintained probably up until about three plus years ago.  The drought has slowed growth so I only had to mow it one time this last year.

If I was going to get a leg up on I'd have to get some industrial help!  Before the holidays, the big box hardware store ran a special so I picked up a pretty powerful backpack leaf blower offered by Husqvarna.