When To Rake

I need to rake the leaves.  I don't want to; I think I should mulch them, and this article says I should leave them alone, for three reasons.  It seems to be a win-win; I don't have to waste any time on it, and it's best for the environment.  But once my parents come back home and see all these decomposing leaves strewn all over the yards, there level of approval for me will find an ever-lower bottom.

But when?  Because the Vikings are away this week, and my alma mater played last night, I have the weekend all to myself, and I thought now's as good a time as any to at least start.  There's more to winterizing the lawns than just raking; I want to mow one last time, then put fertilizer on the both yards to feed it through the winter months.  It's a huge undertaking, and not all of it will be done in one weekend.  And that is allowing me to procrastinate on even beginning.  That's why I'm blogging right now.

And the thing is there are things I could do instead, and other things that I can't do that I take as a sign that I should rake the leaves.  An example of the latter is the English Premiere League, which I'm really getting into.  Initially I thought I wasn't going to do any yardwork this weekend because I was going to wake up early and watch the matches downtown with a brew.  But I saw yesterday that the EPL was taking a break for international tournament qualifying matches, which means I didn't have to go anywhere this or next morning.  So that would be perfect to rake ... right?

An example of the former, on the other hand, is my firm plans to go to St. Paul to see the finals of the high school girls' volleyball tournaments at the Xcel Energy Center, and although I read on a chatboard that the match is sold out, I am going to go to the Sports Pavilion tonight to see #4 Minnesota take on #1 Penn St. in a huge women's college volleyball match.  This is a time to gorge on volleyball, I like to see the next great crop of v-ball players, I've never seen the high school volleyball tournament, and I want to use the Green Line to shuttle between the cities.  Plus, I want to make a night of it, and a night of volleyball would be unique.  So, I could stay and do a huge chunk of the yardwork today, but I would rather bug out in the afternoon.  Early in the afternoon, in fact; I don't want to pay for any meters on the streets of St. Paul, but I want to eat at Cossetta, so I think I will park at the U. on the Minneapolis side and Green Line it to St. Paul and have enough time to eat lunch before going to the X.  And that takes time.  (And I'll need a lot more time if the Prep Bowl sucks up all the available free spots around TCF Bank Stadium; in that case I'll have to drive to St. Paul and pay for parking.)

That means I should leave around 10.  Which means I'll need to drop all my raking by then.  And I see that it's well past 9 o'clock and I haven't even stepped outside yet.

You know, yesterday I had plans that, if I were to wake up early enough, I would rake at 7 in the morning and at least be down with the leaves in the front yard before I had to go.  Oh, well.  There's always tomorrow ... and watching all the football games.  Oh, well.  There's always next week ... when the EPL is back on.  Oh, well.  My parents won't kick me out of the house, will they?