By Larry Flesler

My editor Murray Lite asked me to write a seasonal opinion article so here goes.

I enjoy the fall season, baseball is reaching its conclusion, hockey and football are well underway and basketball is just getting started.  Of course the changing colors of the leaves and crisp breeze in the air are a reminder that winter will soon be here.

I have a large yard that is a magnet to all the leaves in the neighborhood.  Raking leaves is great exercise and as I’ve been rather sedentary lately I thought I’d give it a go instead of paying my son to do it.  I put on my dungarees and flannel shirt, grabbed a pair of gloves and an old wooden rake and got busy.  I was at it for about 10 minutes before I was sweating profusely and needed a break.  I went inside for a belt and decided to call my old pal Van to see if he wanted some exercise.  He said it was a great idea and showed up about 10 minutes later.

Van was wearing a pair of overalls, no shirt, a straw hat and cowboy boots.  He was also kind enough to bring a bottle of Kamchatka Vodka.  We sat and sipped the vodka while planning our assault on the leaves.  Van suggested that we rake them into a pile in the middle of the yard and then to the curb.  We each took an area of the yard and got started.

We were at it for about 10 minutes when Van needed to take a break, he sat on the front lawn, unstrapped the top of his overalls and downed more Vodka.  My elderly neighbor Agnes was walking her dog and Van said hello.  They were soon engaged in a lengthy conversation.  I kept my distance as Agnes has a thing for anything moving.  I kept at the leaves as it looked like it might rain.

I glanced back after about 10 minutes and only saw the dog tied to my tree.  Van and Agnes were not in sight.  I walked around to the front of the yard and saw four rail thin greyish-white legs sticking out of the pile of leaves.  They were moving rather slowly and making sounds that my ‘72 Buick used to make.  I leaned into the pile of leaves and asked if everything was alright.  Agnes then pulled me in and I was sucked into the mass of sweat soaked leaves, Jean Nate perfume and Aqua Velva.  My dungarees were off in a flash and I realized that my leaves would have to wait.  I don’t remember everything that happened but I think I enjoyed myself.  We all fell asleep and awoke when it started to pour.

We gathered our clothes and our dignity and said our goodbyes.

I called my son and told him I had a lawn full of leaves that needed to be raked.