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I don't like the leaves!

That's why I want to get rid of 'em. I between the Oaks and the dog I have no grass in the back yard, and precious little in front. We've taken out 8 trees already. I told the Missus I wanted 'em all to go, but she doesn't like that idea. HOWEVER, she also don't rake the leaves...so I'm going for astroturf...

If they ever dry out, I just chop up my leaves with the lawnmower. I don't rake!

I am with your wife... I love the shade of the trees... and since moving here and getting horses, I am no longer particularly concerned about my lawn. I used to obsess on the lawn in a prior life... I block off and re-seed the frequent dog-paths that become mud in winter, but I don't care if it is weeds or grass that come in, as long as it is green and covers the dirt. I only fear and loathe my trees during our infrequent severe winds or occasional Ice storms where I fear they will break. There are limbs on some of the surrounding firs that are big enough to go through my roof. But I would not give them up in summer when they keep me cool!

My dad and I would joke about you... A marriage of the "tree hater" and the "tree lover". ;~D Our neighbor where we grew up was a tree hater. He systematically cut down every tree on his property, and then started trying to get us to cut down the ones on our property that were too close to him. We refused. He had attorneys write us letters. We chuckled. He cut every limb from our trees that crossed his property line. We gasped at how ugly the trees were from his side after that, and how pretty they were from our side.

When we put that house up for sale, we carefully screened the buyers in the hope that whoever bought the property would continue our fight. The buyer that bought it loved the big cedar tree and vowed to never let it fall in his lifetime! ;~D