If we're going to get all technical about it, I spent part of the afternoon outside (Item #63) engaged in trespassing, theft, and property damage. I didn't get caught though, and I will happily give all their leaves back if they ask for them, so hopefully that makes it be OK. There's not much I can do about the little pieces of grass that got ripped up by the rake, and I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping they don't notice.
I've had a long history of hit-and-run gardening with the next-door neighbors. It started years ago when I looked outside and realized that Dave had raked part of my yard when my yard bin was full. So I retaliated by raking his entire (much smaller) front yard when he wasn't home, since the leaves were all off of my oak tree anyway. He escalated things by using his leaf blower to clear the leaves off the street in front of the house, and I ripped all the weeds out of his rose beds - that'll teach HIM not to bring that contraption over here any more. He spread some leftover barkdust around my roses when he bought more than he needed for his own, so really, I had no option but to wait until he and his wife went to work, reach across the property line, and eradicate the nasty wild blackberry vine that had taken root at the base of their retaining wall.
Today I noticed that the leaves from my oak tree had drifted across to their normally pristine yard some time at the end of fall. Now that their personal yard maintenance service has grown up and gone to college, the leaves were still there, slowly decaying into their grass. I had my rake out, the yard debris bin was still under the tree from my latest attack on the Ancient Disintegrating Leaf Piles of Doom (see Day 133), and nobody was home - perfect! I snuck through the rose border, checked to make sure I didn't see their car coming up the street, and went to work as fast as I could. Twenty minutes later, I had some VERY sore muscles and an upset stomach from doing that much physical activity with no warning to my poor winter-indulged body, but they had a clear yard.
I think I got away with it, but if I come outside in the morning and find the sticks picked up off of my lawn, the leaves in their flowerbeds are GONE, BABY, GONE.
(gratuitous oak tree shot)
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