Playing in the leaves in Ohio

The boys are fascinated by the amount of leaves on the ground, and before we were even here Sam made plans to play in the leaf piles. I was a bit dubious on whether it was actually going to happen because of the extraordinary amount of rain they’ve had in Ohio this year. My sister said it was up to 58 inches for the year (so far) just a week ago. Our normal is 15 inches, and even though we had a wetter than normal spring, I doubt we’re setting records.

Yesterday the sun peaked through the clouds so we donned boots and headed outside. Mom’s entire lawn squishes. If I didn’t know better, I’d say we were walking on the tundra. Even a short venture into the surrounding unkept areas is an adventure since the amount of rain turns normally dry areas into swampland. We picked a couple of cattails for the boys, and checked out the interesting vegetation tucked back into the weeds. The growth around here never ceases to amaze me. If you stand still too long, I’m certain you’ll be covered with brambles – or some sort of vine – within moments.

After cruising the yard, checking out deer tracks and wild plants, we went up front where I raked up a big leaf pile for them. One of the good things about living in Great Falls is your rarely need a leaf rake. First of all, we don’t have much for trees. Secondly, what few leaves come off the apples and other small ones quickly blows away. The boys loved the big oak and maple leaves, though. They jumped, threw and ran into them, then took turns re-raking them into a pile so they could do it again. If the weather holds, I’m sure we’ll keep up the activity, but with the forecast I’m not so sure a whole lot of leaf playing is going to be on the agenda. Even so, I found an oak tree seedling that started growing in Mom’s garden and plan to bring it back to see if we can keep it alive. It might never produce a large pile of leaves, but if we can gather a few for a scrapbook it would be fun!