Sucker

I have been waiting to share this all week. This is one of my favorite neighborhood events in the fall. Twice during the season residents rake their leaves to the curb and the city comes with a truck and sucks them up. Since I grew up mostly in regions without many trees I find this process really exciting. I have always loved raking leaves but hated puting them in bags for removal. These guys with their leaf vacuuming truck have just made my day.

In the west we might not have leaf sucking trucks but we do have something similar. Across the plains we have praire dogs. They live in large colonies and burrow under the ground. The rodents can be the bain of farmers and ranchers because they destroy the ground and leave holes that can cause injury to livestock and humans. Some people shoot them and others try to poision them but one couple came up with an innovative solution. They retrofitted a sewage removal truck with soft padding inside. For a small fee they will come and suck your prarie dogs out of their holes and remove them from your property. They say it is a humane solution. That would be an exciting day for the prarie dog. Here's a link if you want to check it out. http://www.cnn.com/EARTH/9612/16/sucking.dogs/