I've spent the afternoon raking leaves at my Manheim Township home. Yes, I realize that it is January... but these darn leaves didn't finally fall off of the tree until sometime between Christmas and New Years. The leaf collection organized by the township has come and gone, so now I'm left with all these leaves! 
While I was out there toiling away, I was busying myself thinking about how much I hate these pin oak trees that grace my yard. Everyone else's trees drop their leaves on time, but no - not my stately pin oaks. They hold on to them, even while the wind whistles around their branches and limbs. Those leaves, brown and dry, hold on.
I walk the dogs past the neighbor's homes in my Manheim Township neighborhood, Milton Estates, who all have their piles of leaves neatly arranged on the edge of their property, waiting for the leaf collectors to come, and I am envious of their neatly kept piles of leaves. Not my yard, for I haven't had any leaves fall until Christmas eve, or so it seemed.
At our previous home on Amity Drive, also in Manheim Township, we had a huge pin oak tree right in front of the house. How many nights I stayed up hearing the wind howl and thinking that tree will one night fall right on our house. It never did, luckily although other treas fell very close to the house! I hated that tree. I hated the squirrels it beckoned. I hated the acorns all over the lawn. I hated the tiny oak trees that those forgotten acorns spewed forth. I also hated to cut it down, so there it stayed, because I loved the tree swing and the bird houses and the shade that it offered for us.
When we first looked at the Manheim Township home we live in now, we fell in love with it instantly. The only downside to the home were the two pin oak trees that the previous owners had planted. Not just one tree, like my previous home -- but two. "What where they thinking?" was my own first thought. I almost refrained from putting in an offer on this home because of those trees, but I figured that was pretty ridiculous as the home had everything else we wanted and the rest of the landscaping was absolutely beautiful. It was just those two darned trees...
The first thing I had planned on doing was having those trees taken down right after we settled on the purchase. "I'll plant anything else in their place, I don't care." I thought to myself. I don't "dislike" trees. I just dislike these trees. Years have gone by since then, and other home improvement projects nudged their way into our lives. We never got around to taking these trees down. "Oh, we have time," I thought to myself. Even though the squirrels that gather in the yard because of those trees eventually made their way into our attic, I still didn't get around to taking those trees down.
So, here I was today, in January, raking leaves. At least the weather was beautiful and it felt like an autumn day. And the dogs had fun jumping in the piles, so the day wasn't totally lost.
And all the while as I was raking, I was thinking of the poem below by Joyce Kilmer.
Then, I'd feel guilty for wanting to cut them down.
So, I guess I'll keep them for now.
But, they'd better stop throwing acorns at me, or they're mulch.
Whether you would like a home with trees, or one without, contact your Lancaster Real Estate professional, Jeannie Kontis, at 717-330-5137 or visit Lancaster Real Estate .
