Winter has fallen hard and fast on my little town - so much so that most of us homeowners were caught with our pants down when the snow came.

Well, actually, it wasn't our pants, but our leaves. Autumn had been so gentle that most of the trees hadn't yet shed their leaves until after we had two inches of snow on our lawns. So, what's a body to do? Leave the damp, rotting foliage on the ground until spring and be stuck with a gruesome cleanup task then?

Nope. I opted for a different plan. This weekend saw some nice warm weather, but not enough to melt all the snow, but enough to leave 90% of the leaves exposed. With a good inch or so of white crunchy coating on my front and back yard, I'm sure that I amused neighbors and passers-by alike by pushing my lawnmower back and forth through my front and back yard. I ended up with almost six bags of damp leaf/snow mulch.

Glad I got that over with.