Raking the Yard

This afternoon we decided to attempt the dreaded task of raking the yard. With Sam. With Sam holding a rake. And twirling it around near my truck.

You would think the rake would be the source of angst outside this afternoon, but actually Sam was a great help pulling his rake back and forth across patches of ground. No, the source of angst came from the pull of the neighbor's yard. Sam wants to explore. He loves running up and down the street. And no matter what we tell him, he can't seem to stay in our yard. So, after being warned that he needed to stay on the grass or risk going inside, he decided to stray again. And so he went inside.

(insert visual images of Sam screaming in protest here)

I stayed outside and kept raking, which was a much less tedious task than usual because I was raking under this tree:
For some reason our maple decided to be the last at the leaf-changing ball this year, but when she arrived, she decided to make an entrance.

Here's one more picture, just to savor. I usually hate raking leaves, but this made my day a little better. That and Joy finally getting to help rake leaves so I didn't have to do it alone for at least the first half. Hopefully next year Sam will get to help more, especially since when the leaves fall from this maple, they make great, colorful piles to jump in.