Fall in the Martin house usually means leaf-related chore avoidance until we get snow and it’s too late to rake or mow. That means our first duty in spring is to find our grass under the 4″ of oak leaves on our lawn.

This year we had some hiccups. I forgot to engage the transmission on the lawn tractor which caused white smoke to pour out and scare the crap out of me. See photo evidence below:

Luckily Nole figured out what I did when he got home and after taking 6 hours to do the front yard without the mower with blood sweat and tears, he and I finished the backyard in about an hour and even had time for a bonfire. Now that fall is out of the way, we hope to see our magnolia bloom before we leave for France. For us, it is the true sign that spring has arrived.

Here it is from late April of 2016: