We're vey fortunate in that we don't have to haul leaves or branches anywhere. We've got woods in back of us (with a highway just beyond). We're praying that family never chooses to sell. So we usually push the leaves back there. But there's so dang many of 'em.
Got most of 'em up. Got the front yard mowed.
We're going to be doing very little in the way of lawn care this year. All our efforts are going to be on the addition and the landscaping necessary for that. We're going to create a driveway from the asphalt driveway to go along the side of the house and curve it around at the back of the yard so that it will meet one angle of the new basement. We're going to use some mesh that you can put down on a base of crushed stone, then fill with soil so that grass grows up through it, and you can mow right over it, but it can also be driven on!
To accomplish this, we have to build a retaining wall, level out one area of the yard, then build it up in some other places, which will held in place by the retaining wall. It will be a HUGH job.