Monday's picture-a glimpse of what awaits come spring clean-up

Spring starts out kind of yucky--lots of leaves, all smashed down and moldy on the still-wet ground. We have a maple tree that usually won't let go of its leaves until December (the tree sticking up out of the deck), so it's rare that we can ever rake them up before the snows. Oh, and YES we need a new deck. I think I have finally talked my husband into it. (I wanted it redone back when we moved here in 1997--you can see how long I have to work to get my husband to agree to ever spend any money on house improvements! But I suppose that explains why we actually have money on hand to help the boys through college.)