Signs of Spring

Falling leaves ... a sign of spring? Yes, at least at my house. You see, we have this retarded oak tree in our yard that refuses to shed its brown leaves --- until spring. All winter long, it is the lone tree in the neighborhood with a full bush of brown leaves shading the winter ground. Then in spring (about now) it starts dumping those leaves --- into my pool!

I grew up on a farm in Ohio, and relished the coming of spring. We endured cold winters that were brown and gray and ugly most of the time. Oh sure, there was the delight of fresh, new fallen snow. But it didn't happen that much. Most of the time we had the drudgery of old snow, gray and dirty from lying around so long. When the snow finally melted --- and the mud started to clear, spring would be welcomed with such joy. The tulips and daffodils would spring up. The irises would take a bold stand and of course the trees put on their very best summer wear.

For most of my life, those childhood memories of spring have pre-conditioned me to welcome it with open arms. That was the case until we moved to this house. You see, we have a great big lot on a cul de sac, backing to a wooded creek. There are trees (and critters) galore. In the summer we have wonderful shade and the prettiest darn back yard this side of the Mississippi. In the fall, all those neighboring trees --- they crap all over our yard. We haul bags and bags of leaves out of our yard - and pay the city to haul it away. (Then in the spring, we buy those leaves back from the city ... in the form of mulch!) But our lone oak tree? It refuses to submit to the protocol.

So here I am, on a warm spring evening. I'm out in the back yard, celebrating my own weird right of spring --- raking leaves. We are filling bags and bags of leaves. The pool looks like a sewer with brown leaves in it. I clean and clean and empty the skimmers and the Polaris bag. They fill right back up the next day. Today the skimmers were so jammed with leaves that the two times we emptied them, they sucked leaves into the pool filter! Then when I went to unclog them from the filter, the back flush valve handle snapped off in my hand! Now I need a pool equipment repairman to come. And who is to blame for all of this? That stupid oak tree!

To add insult to injury, our delightfully shaped tree - which no one would ever cut down - has a special treat for spring. Right after it sheds it's leaves, it breaks out in some green clingy stuff that precedes the new leaves. That stuff blows in the wind like crazy ... straight into the pool. It is even more insidious though. You see, it is small and fine, and can't be caught in the skimmer baskets. So it gets sucked into the filter and then I have to tear the filter apart to get all that gunk cleaned out (twice last year). As I was working tonight on the pool, I looked up and saw all that green gunk hanging from tree. I realized that I'm almost done raking leaves - so the gunk is ready to blow. I swear I caught a sinister grin on that tree as it stared back at me!