Well, I finally purchased a garage to story my cars (oh yeah, there's also a house on the lot), and I was reminded of why I put off buying a place for so long: leaves. I've rented a house for several years, but the stress to keep the lawn looking nice wasn't too relevant. Being a renter, and what the neighbors probably considered "rental trash," I was not too concerned with when the leaves were raked as long as it was done by spring. But now that I own a house, the stress is on to keep the leaves out of the yard and the dirty looks away from the neighbors. So when I got my '55 Cadillac back from being tweaked by the shop following an engine rebuild last week, I was torn.

The weather was finally nice last Sunday, and with a yard full of leaves and a dirty Cadillac (and some dirty Chevys), I decided to try working on the yard and cleaning the cars. I started out raking, and after about three hours, I moved on the cars. I can say that I finished washing the '55 Cadillac and the '85 Caprice, but only half of the leaves were cleaned up. When it comes down to it, I'd rather see a dirty stare from the neighbors than a dirty car. Chalk a win up for the cars.

Maybe next spring I'll cut the trees down and pave the yard. More parking, less hassle.