Amen brother...
My lot, just under an acre in area is heavily wooded. It is also situated in a suburban residential area and I feel obligated
not to let my leaves bury my surrounding older neighbors. On the 4 pickup days in November, the city allows me to put out
40 bags of leaves. I use 55 gallon drum liners and currently have 82 of them lining my driveway. That represents about half
of my leaf fall - mostly maple, tulip, hackberry and redbud. Like you, my oaks are just starting to drop in earnest so I've got
plenty to keep me busy. My "catch" is the European copper beech tree, Fagus sylvativa V. atropunica that dominates my
front yard. That variety is native to the maritime climate of the U K. It is about 3 weeks behind its North American cousins so
in the spring when buds are popping everywhere, it looks dead as a bug. In the fall, you guessed it, it's still green until almost
every other leafe is bagged..... Fortunately I have a gardener neighbor who is delighted to the non acidic beech leaves for mulch,
but it also means I may be cleaning up into early December. I tend to let the smaller back yard go after a couple of trips over.
I grind them up and have about 5 large compost piles out back. Like you I am taking advantage of the mild weather, lousy for
duck hunting, and trying to buy some time later in the season.
I silll manage to slip away to the local river and, again, deal with leaves searching for smallies.....
fish on, making leaf blower music,
rivereddy