Fall Fun.

Part of my goal for being in Colorado is to make my dad's life easier. The other part, obviously, is to help my mom recover from surgery. So while he has been at work, I've done my parents' laundry, done the dishes, taken care of the pets, cooked, etc. Because it is fall, there has been yard work to do in the form of leaf-raking.

Colorado is an arid climate. I know most people just picture mountains everywhere but my parents live on the high plains near the foothills of the mountains. Because it is dry, the landscaping is generally a bit of grass that is expensive to maintain, a lot of rocks, and a few trees. My parents' yard definitely fits in this generalization. Not a huge yard and three, small, leafy trees.

Despite that, somehow, it took me three hours and five bags to clean up their yard. And, that wasn't even to a high standard. Definitely nowhere near the level of their backyard neighbor who has OCD and picks the leaves out of the rocks by hand everyday. It was just getting it done. While I was outside working, three of my parents' neighbors stopped to talk to me. Most of them see me maybe once a year or so but I think the powers of deduction should make them figure out that I'm not some hired hand doing the yard work. Each of them made some sort of joke about how fun raking leaves is.

And every time, my response was "This is why I live in the city." Of all the trade-offs between living in a house in the suburbs and a condo in the city, I think it is hands-down a clear winner for the city to not have to do yard work.