Leaf Thief?!

While on a conference call the other afternoon, I noticed a car straddling the sidewalk in front of my mailbox, so I watched to see what he was up to.

Much to my surprise an elderly man was taking the big brown leaf bags I had raked on Saturday, nine of them, and loading them into his 4-door sedan; in the rear, in the backseat, even in the front passenger seat too!  God love him, he got all nine crammed in there and all doors shut.

Of course my OCD was bouncing off the charts, as I was thinking about the mess being created inside the car.  The bottoms of the bags being wet from sitting on the ground, how I overpacked the bags and when placed in any position other than straight up "stuff" would fall out, dirt and dust, ICK!

My initial thought was this dude has a screw loose, what in the world is he doing and what does he want with those?  But them it dawned on me, that back in the day when I was a youte, my dad did the same thing only grander.  He would hook up the trailer, see below actual trailer, to the old station wagon and we'd drive around the neighborhood picking up leaf bags too! Back then, we'd knock on the door and ask the homeowners if we could have them first, then load them into the trailer.

My dad would use the leaves in the garden and the compost pile. One of his gardens was in a low spot that would often flood when the spring thaw would start.  I guess my dad thought the leaves would help prevent the soil from washing away when flooded.  I can't say it wasn't weird back then, so I will give the elderly man a pass, as I'm sure he has a valid reason, if only in his mind or perhaps he's kin somewhere in the ole Frye family tree...

Thanks for the walk down memory lane, as odd as the subject is!

#Blessed