When we lived in San Jose, we had an HOA who took care of everything outside our walls. 

They hired the landscapers, they fixed your roof, they cleaned your gutters, they did it all.  They even took care of any plumbing issues occurring inside the walls!

Of course, in trade, you gave up certain autonomy. 

You weren’t allowed to plant anything in your yard; you were restricted on decorations – including when you could put them up and when they had to come down; you never knew when you opened the door if you were going to come face-to-face with a guy on a ladder, or when you’d hear somebody clomping across your roof.  Yes – they were supposed to warn us – but that seldom happened.  You had to have a certain kind of garage door and painted a certain color.  If you wanted a screen door (or a new front door), you had to get approval from the HOA.  – Okay, the HOA had a lot of rules.

But still … they did all the landscaping. 

As in, removing leaves.

My darling husband wanted a home with lots of trees, and boy howdy do we have a bunch of fucking trees.  So do our neighbors.  Do you know how many leaves the average tree has (the answer is a seemingly endless supply) and how quickly they can fall off (and keep falling off)?

We have a lawn service company but they basically mow the (very big) lawn and take away the clippings; and in the fall the “clippings” are mostly chopped up leaves. 

Meanwhile, we have leaves accumulating in places where the lawnmower does not go – like in the shrubs next to the house, and the stone walkway in front of the house, and the sides of the house – and about 15 minutes after they finish mowing, the yard is fucking covered with leaves again! 

We don’t even own a rake!

Well, we didn’t.  We bought one and we bought a bunch-a-bunch of yard waste bags. 

We’re going to try and get things cleaned up a mite by ourselves.

We may be delusional. 

Only time will tell.