Raking Etiquette

[Raekwon]

I was going to rake but it got pretty windy earlier this week and now the neighbors have to.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Ducay

I've raked 4 or 5 times. A lot easier to do a quick pickup (15 mins) than waiting until it becomes a big soggy wet mess that takes an hour and weighs a tonne.

That way you can just mow in-between and that becomes another pickup cycle, and your property is going to look tidier. Win/Win.

For anyone who does raking, I implore you to get these. It takes 3 or 4 grabs to fill a garbage bag, versus watching others do it handful by handful for an hour. Plus you can use it to re-collect leaves into a pile if they get scattered during pickup.

I see that and raise you the one shot solution:

[wontondestruction]

When seeing your neighbor out raking, don't forget to say, "You can rake my lawn when you're done doing yours." That seems pretty common etiquette.

[The Familia]

Originally Posted by Canehdianman

Once all of the leaves are down, I mow them up.

Raking/mowing before the leaves are all down is as stupid as making your bed.

It's just going to get messy again.

Not picking on you but this quote drives me nuts. Why shower? You are just going to get smelly again. Why wash your clothes? They are just going to get soiled at some point. Why eat? You are just going to crap it out and need to eat again. Why do anything in life that will require repetition?

[photon]

I get enough wind that I don't ever seem to ever accumulate any leaves.

[Sliver]

I just mulch mine. I've got a craftsman/honda mower that's maybe five years old or whatever and that thing mulches any amount of leaves, grass and pine cones. I haven't bagged my clippings or leaves once since I bought that thing. Just turn them into free fertilizer.

[mrkajz44]

Originally Posted by The Familia

Not picking on you but this quote drives me nuts. Why shower? You are just going to get smelly again. Why wash your clothes? They are just going to get soiled at some point. Why eat? You are just going to crap it out and need to eat again. Why do anything in life that will require repetition?

But the example provided was reasonable. I'd say most people don't make the bed because there really is no point other than it looking nice.

People shower and wash their clothes so they don't smell bad. People eat so they don't die.

I'd equate the leaves with the bed - no real reason to do it multiple times since you can do it in one go once all the leaves are down. There really is no benefit to doing it multiple times.

[troutman]

Why shovel snow before it has finished falling? Many of my neighbors do that.

[Canehdianman]

Originally Posted by The Familia

Not picking on you but this quote drives me nuts. Why shower? You are just going to get smelly again. Why wash your clothes? They are just going to get soiled at some point. Why eat? You are just going to crap it out and need to eat again. Why do anything in life that will require repetition?

Pick on me all you want, but I'm going to laugh at you until you can come up with a sensical argument.

There is no benefit to mowing/raking my lawn a bazillion times, just like there is no benefit to making my bed everyday.

If I never make my bed, it doesn't get worse everyday (like not eating or showering).

[Canehdianman]

Originally Posted by mrkajz44

But the example provided was reasonable. I'd say most people don't make the bed because there really is no point other than it looking nice.



People shower and wash their clothes so they don't smell bad. People eat so they don't die.



I'd equate the leaves with the bed - no real reason to do it multiple times since you can do it in one go once all the leaves are down. There really is no benefit to doing it multiple times.

Haha, this was a more polite response than mine. Same point though.

[llwhiteoutll]

Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler

You can do whatever you want with the bits over the property line. However, talking first would be the prudent thing.

There is a bit of a caveat that goes along with this though.

Yes, you can prune the branches on your side of the property line, but you can't do so in a way that hurts/affects the health of the tree.

There is some good neighbor bylaw that deals with this stuff.

[CroFlames]

It's my back neighbor, and I don't have a back lane. So I would have to walk around HALF THE BLOCK to talk to him. What a chore.

[You Need a Thneed]

The wind seems to be taking care of most of the raking for me so far.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

It's my back neighbor, and I don't have a back lane. So I would have to walk around HALF THE BLOCK to talk to him. What a chore.

Fair enough. Probably best to just set it on fire.

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by troutman

Why shovel snow before it has finished falling? Many of my neighbors do that.

This one makes sense to me though, snow can get pretty heavy if there is a huge dump of it. I would rather shovel a couple times with less volume than 1 time after a lot of it.

[calf]

Originally Posted by troutman

Why shovel snow before it has finished falling? Many of my neighbors do that.

A small amount of snow is lighter & faster to shovel twice than a huge pile of snow. You can also get ahead of people walking on it, compacting it down.

[calgarywinning]

Well, what about blowing the leaves back to the original owner? What is the etiquette on that? I've got this amazing Stihl leaf blower and it's clear where all the leaves came from, so can they from an etiquette point of view be blown back? Same with street leaves if you can clearly identify 95% ownership of where the leaves came from?

As a side note, I think it is important to be proactive on clearing the gutters out. Also, trim tree's back from roof line and extended exposure to leafs is not good for roof life at all.

[rbochan]

The day someone tells me what I can or can't do on my property is the day the guns come out blazing.

[calf]

Originally Posted by rbochan

The day someone tells me what I can or can't do on my property is the day the guns come out blazing.

...um, I don't think you can do that.

[Fuzz]

It's the new leaf your ground law.