Raking it in

Gorgeous day today in central Wisconsin. About 75 and sunny. I saw lots of people taking advantage of the perfect weather to rake.

Good for them. I detest yard work.

I take that back. I don't mind mowing so much. Only because I can multi-task: get a tan and good exercise while pushing that mower around our big yard.

Raking is another story. When I was a kid, it seemed to take forever to rake that big ol' acre we lived on. When us four younger kids were living at home, we'd line up and it was almost an assembly line-type process. We kept that line of dead grass and leaves moving.

We probably got it done in only two days, but those were long days! The second day is always the worst. You're dealing with blisters and sore muscles. It starts to look more and more like slave labor. We thought that a lot when we were kids, between raking, mowing, weeding and doing dishes. What torture! And we didn't get paid for it!

One time my twin and I did get paid. Dad said he'd pay us a nickel for every thistle we dug up in the yard -- and 10 cents for the big ones! Well we got the yard done and figured we should take advantage of the cash cow, so we went after the big, tall thistles on the edge of our property near the pasture and the ones behind the old outhouse and shed. We must have worn gloves. I don't remember this being a painful process. I also don't remember how much we got paid. But it seemed worth it at the time.

I don't think any amount of money would be an incentive today. I'm still the queen of instant callouses and backaches that linger for days. I guess if we're going to get this raking done anytime soon, I might have to start looking into the current "slave labor" laws ...