Our town does leaf collection - get your leaves in the street at the curb and they get vacuumed up on certain days.

Today I was driving home on one of the main streets in our area, about a block from the train station, and noticed a huge pile of leaves in the street at the curb. To my shock and horror, as I neared the pile, two boys popped their heads up. They had totally buried themselves in the leaves and, I guess, were trying to scare drivers. Believe me, it worked!!

I found a place to turn around, went back, and parked around the corner. I stormed up to the boys (I would guess somewhere between 9 and 12) and told them in no uncertain terms how stupid and dangerous this was. I then rang the doorbell of the house there, and the father came to the door. I think I was pretty tactful, I said, "Are these your boys?" and when he said yes, I said "I don't know if you know what they were doing?" And proceeded to tell him just what they were doing. He was, thankfully, upset and angry with the boys, yelled at them and told them to get in the house.

My heart is still pounding, 20 minutes later.

By Emily7 on Sunday, October 29, 2006 - 04:08 pm:

I am so glad that you had the turned around & made the dad aware of what they were doing. How scary for you & how dangerous for them!

By Jewlz on Sunday, October 29, 2006 - 05:06 pm:

Im glad u stopped Ginny and that they had a carring father that got after them. sometimes kids dont think and with halloween around the cornor they are in the spooky mood. Im glad u didnt or anyone didnt wreck when they saw the boys ... or worse yet parked to close to the pile and hit one of them.

By Dawnk777 on Sunday, October 29, 2006 - 06:04 pm:

Holy cow. That had to have been scary.

By Breann on Sunday, October 29, 2006 - 06:11 pm:

That is scary.

Last year, a little girl in our state died because she was playing in a pile of leaves and got run over with an ATV or something...I can't remember all the details. But, she was hiding in a huge pile of leaves. You just never know. I'm glad you went back.

By Luvn29 on Sunday, October 29, 2006 - 06:43 pm:

I'm a little unclear here... I know what you are talking about, because they did this in Ohio where I grew up and I remember loving to watch them vacuum them up!

Were these leaves in the yard still, just near the curb, or were they out of the yard, and on the edge of the street?

By Amecmom on Sunday, October 29, 2006 - 06:49 pm:

Ginny, that is scary. It was really good of you to go back and talk to the boys and their father. You may have saved a life (or two0 tonight.
Ame

By Ginny~moderator on Sunday, October 29, 2006 - 06:51 pm:

Adena, the pile of leaves was in the street, from the curb to about 2 feet into the street, ran the entire front of the property, and was at least two feet high. The boys were burying themselves entirely in the leaves and popping up as cars or pedestrians passed by.

For some reason, people mostly pile their leaves in the street for leaf pickup in our township, rather than piling them up on the sidewalk side of the curb. I wish they wouldn't, because sometimes the piles can extend some distance into the street and it can make driving "interesting". Not nearly as interesting as those boys made it, though.

I think what happened - because I saw a couple of rakes and a leaf blower in the driveway, was that the boys were set to cleaning up the leaves from the yard and just had a "bright idea" of how they could scare people.

I went back because I was scared and I was angry. My imagination told me what could happen to those boys, and I was so angry that they thought it was fun to scare people driving by. They simply had no sense of how dangerous it is to scare drivers.

By Luvn29 on Sunday, October 29, 2006 - 08:24 pm:

Wow! That is just insane! It is definitely a good thing you went back. I was curious, because we always piled our leaves at the edge of our yard on the street side of the sidewalk. I can't imagine the problems it can cause piling them on the edge of the street. Anything could be hidden under them.

If they would have scared a driver and the driver lost control of the vehicle, it could have been very tragic. Thank Goodness you came along when you did because most people would have driven on.

By Shann on Sunday, October 29, 2006 - 08:52 pm:

last year our town had 2 little girls that was killed there Dad had pulled the truck up in the yard and ran over both of them and killing them. It was devistating. you did a good thing Ginny those 2 boys are very lucky.

By Dawnk777 on Monday, October 30, 2006 - 12:27 am:

We're supposed to put our leaves, in the street, for the big vacuum to pick up!

Leaf Pickup in Sheboygan

Yesterday, there were more leaves, than we could have possibly just mulched, into the lawn! Today, when I finished mowing the lawn, there weren't as many leaves, and I just mulched.

By Ginny~moderator on Monday, October 30, 2006 - 06:24 am:

I used to mulch, when I was actively gardening. What I did (and do) is just mow the lawn, using the catcher bag on the mower. When I was mulching, I'd pile them on the mulch pile and throw in some mulch assisting stuff I got at my nearby garden shop. Now I just bag them and put them out for pickup.

One year I did do the raking and piling at the curb (sidewalk side) thing, but I found it is a lot faster to use the mower.

If you are gardening, mulching your grass clippings and chopped up leaves is great. It gives you wonderful mulch the next year. Find an out of the way spot to make a mulch pile. You can use the frames that are sold for the purpose, but I put up some chicken wire on 6 foot tomato stakes, and piled the clippings in between. All you have to do is turn it over every month (except in winter), and water during very dry periods, being sure to get water into the middle as well as on top. You can add your vegetable kitchen wastes also (but no meat products).

By Cocoabutter on Monday, October 30, 2006 - 08:27 am:

In our city, there is a particular neighborhood where leaves in the street has become a problem, so much so that the residents were sent letter from the city warning them that if they moved their leaves into the street, they would be fined up to $3500.

Apparently, it's too difficult for the street sweeping machines to pick up when all the residents do is blow them out to the street and leave them there.

By Sandysmom on Monday, October 30, 2006 - 09:18 am:

Ginny, my heart almost stopped while I was reading your post. I'm glad you stopped. You probably saved their lives.

By Dawnk777 on Monday, October 30, 2006 - 11:35 am:

We have a big vacuum truck that comes by. They push all the leaves into a big pile, and then the vacuum comes to suck them up.

By Wandilu on Monday, October 30, 2006 - 11:48 am:

Ginny,you truely were an instrument of God in saving those boys lives !! I'm sure he directed your path and timing to go down that street at that exact moment in time...and He knew you ,being the person that you are ( not one bit afraid to march right up to the kids/ Dad ) would do the right thing,and not just simply drive on by . Thanks for being you ,and caring for them !!