Picture a Day - Day 285

Friday the anti-leaf fairy was quite busy, running around painting all the leaves a gold and red motif (a little garish for my tastes but then I'm not a fairy) and then ripping them off their branches to float off in the slight breeze. (If you really want to cause night terrors in children tell them every time a fairy rips a leaf off it screams)

Or it would have floated in the slight breeze if we didn't have a typical Nebraska windy day of 30 mph blusters. Unexpectedly we wound up with a yard full of leaves from a few counties over.The puppy wasn't so sure what to make of it all. She loves leaves, they're almost as delicate to the puppy palette as a weed but nowhere as coveted as a stick with a bit of mud on the end.

This weekend I decided I'd try taming those leave piles to discourage her from feeling like she needs to bring everyone she finds into the house.

While I swooshed the rake back and forth trying to create a convenient pile of snack foods for her she puppy flopped back and forth between my legs trying to attack the rake at the most inopportune moment.

Once it was completed (well as completed as I could get it at least) the puppy exploring began. She nosed the leaves back and forth a bit seeing if there was anything good in there.She even paused a bit to let me take a picture of her looking all adorable (or to watch me squeeze her squeaker toy with my other hand and trying to figure out how to get three feet off the air to get it).
But there was still a leaf pile to explore. And after much snuffling and nose shifting she came up with the ultimate prize.For the most part Es wasn't sure what to make of that new pile of leaves, at first. In a few hours it went from being something that was just in her yard to her new favorite nest.

Every time we'd throw her duck or toy to play fetch, Essie would thunder down the yard overshoot her target rebound back and splash through the leaf pile scattering it to the four winds.

What once was a nice little sized mound is now a flattened and tossed wad of foliage dug and fluffed to just the right specifications of a little puppy. Fall is going to be interesting if she views every leaf pile as her own personal bedding and toy hiding area.

What do your pets and various other animals think of the leaves? Have you had many fall yet or are you still waiting, rake clutched in your hand for the chance to dive head first into back breaking yard labor?