Transformations

The forecast was for wind and rain, so my wife decided it was time to tie up the small batch of limbs and twigs trimmed from two trees in our backyard. First came some rummaging in the garage (had we saved the partial ball of twine when we moved, and if so where was it?) Fortunately my wife had labeled the box on a high shelf containing the twine. She also had to show me which box (cataract surgery coming up, however).

The morning was sunny and calm, with the crisp cold of early November. Twine and scissors in hand, I headed to the small backyard of our condo, cut two strands of twine, rolled the limbs over the twine, and tied the bundle as securely as I could. Job done! Then I noticed the leaves. There were not many; the trees in our backyard are not fully grown. Still, the grass would look better and neater if raked. Our previous home was a large ranch with an even larger backyard, with lots of trees. We had usually raked the leaves, not liking the noise and dust generated by leaf blowers and compactors. So we had several sizes of leaf rakes, the smallest of which we had kept.

And so began the familiar autumn task. Even though I work slower now, the job was soon done, yielding several small piles of leaves. Located in the garage also were a few 39 gallon leaf bags (left over from previous autumns). The leaf pile generated all of two bags (the peak at our old house was 45 bags).

It was time to go back to the house and do some writing. Then, alas my vision fixed on the border of the yard. We are located on the edge of town. Though we border crop land, it is fenced the way a farmer in the 1950s would have fenced for hogs. The hog wire extended down to the ground, topped off with two strands of barbed wires (still pretty tight) and supported mostly by steel posts. However, our side of the fence had about a two-foot wide stretch that looked unruly. The mixture of grass and weeds was unreachable by the riding mowers used by the crew that mows for our condo association.

Back to the garage to get the manual clipper we had saved. Soon it was mostly done - except for a stretch on our neighbors to the right. They are beautiful people with a tree in the popular family that is likewise beautiful, but the leaves on that tree are only about one-half down. I decided to wait a week or two to do the rest of the stretch. And speaking of stretch, I badly needed to limber up. How could it be that less than an hour of moderate work could leave my back and neck so stiff?

Soon the cropland will no longer raise beans or corn. The land has been sold and will transition to developments - likely more condos and houses. There are those of us who regret urban sprawl, even Ames style. But like the advancing age that made us opt for a condo, change is inevitable. I put away the tools, being extra careful on the stepladder, and headed to the car. The writing could wait. A scone and a cup of coffee would be just the trick to make the back feel better. Small pleasures are a balm that eases our transitions.

'Gary L. Maydew is a retired Iowa State University accounting professor. Comments: glmaydew@hotmail.com