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Butch Furse
“Driven . . . like leaves before an autumn wind.” That statement by writer/poet Robert Southey was made sometime between 1813-1843. Unfortunately, at the time of my reading a couple centuries later, it didn’t carry the romanticism the Englishman had wished to convey a couple of centuries earlier.
It was two days after I had just completed putting away our power leaf blower/vac after about eight hours of labor and then filling 11 39-gallon leaf bags. In addition, the Betterhalf had gone over our backlot three times power mulching with the lawnmower that required no bagging. And she too was in no mood to appreciate the Englishman’s love of “driven leaves.”
A few weeks ago seemed to challenge our love for trees. Strong winds along what appeared to be extra leaf growth, tarnished our feelings more this year than ever before. We have always enjoyed the beauty and shade from our old Pin Oak, Ash and Silver Maple trees. But now Blue Spruce and Pines are becoming more appreciated.
We’re hoping to be around for a few more years, and will probably continue to engage the battle with the fall leaves. We must be reminded of another poetic observation. That is, “We all do fade like a leaf.”
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Just over a month away and it will be Christmas. We came across an early observation when a young son was questioning his dad about Santa Claus.
The son a year ago had observed cell towers as he was riding on the tractor with his dad during harvest. The young son had asked his dad about the blinking red lights on top of the towers. At that time the father told him that light was Santa.
This year the son was again riding with dad and pointed over to the blinking light on the cell tower. He told his dad, “It looks like Santa is keeping an eye on us again this year.”
His dad had momentarily forgotten what he had said earlier, but gave a quick response. “Why, Santa’s up there every evening until Christmas Eve watching which boys are ‘naughty or nice.’”
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Here’s a little advice: “Never let a computer know you’re in a hurry.”
RL Furse is publisher emeritus of the News-Register
