Baffling

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Every once in a while the things I see happening around me are absolutely baffling to me. I have to admit ~ recently more so than say a decade or even longer ago. Back then things seemed to make a lot more sense. They seemed to have a certain order to them, a certain predictability. And looking back I have come to realize that I liked that...

In those days when in the Fall the leaves first colored in reds and yellows, and then fell from the trees ~ that was part and parcel of Autumn. And while they would be swept away from the streets to prevent  a slippery layer to be formed ~ in parks and gardens, and of course in the forest plenty fallen leaves were left for the kids to play in and for all kinds of small critters to seek shelter from Winter’s cold.
Throughout Winter the grass would stop growing and turn brown or even disappear completely ~ only to return again as soon as the warmer days of Spring would come.

Nowadays, as soon as the first leaves start falling off the trees, city workers appear with hearing protection and leaf blowers ~ not just on the streets, but also in the parks. And yes, even clearing the leafs off the shoulders of roads well away from the city center. Leaving every nook and cranny of town immaculately leafless...

And yes, this is one of those things that baffle me.
In this time of economic hardship in which the City Fathers are tightening their belts kicking and screaming ~ they have still managed to allocate the money for each and every last leaf to be picked up in Fall.
Perhaps even more baffling ~ in this day and age in which so many people feel it is so important to do the ‘right thing’ for our environment, without a second thought all the little life-saving hiding places  for little critters like the field mouse and the hedge hog are cleared out. Taken away. Gone...
And pretty soon so are the hedge hogs... And the field mice...

Without the leaves, the kids really do need to go to the forest to find any to play in.
Without the leaves the grass stays green a little longer. Only to turn brownish anyway when it gets colder. And having taken the leaves, the natural fertilizer, away in the Fall, come Spring I’m sure those city workers will re-appear to spread some artificial fertilizer...

It just doesn’t make sense to me at all.
Truly baffling.
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