Rake

Nothing motivates me to rake leaves quite like having a neighbor who has already done it. The juxtaposition of his bright-green lawn with my leaf-carpeted one highlights the fact that my turf needs to breathe; this sodden leaf layer must be suffocating poor Blade O'Grass and the rest of his family. So I assembled the tools - garden gloves, rake and trash bags - and attacked the yard with gusto last week. Initially, it was almost a meditative activity; the gentle scrape-scrape of the rake matched my breathing.

On the streets, where illegal drugs are still easy to get at affordable prices, Maryland police chiefs are losing the decades-long drug war. But many departments have come to depend on drug raids to increase their operating budgets. While the drug trade still enriches the bad guys, police chiefs now also get a piece of the action. Many states, wary of overzealous police departments, require that the proceeds from seized assets be used for education or other non-police purposes. But the 1984 federal Comprehensive Crime Control Act, a turning point in America's war on drugs, is a way to get around these state laws.

Toes feel a chill in the tile this morning? It is more autumnal now after four days in the 80s last week. Trees are showing some color, and it's almost time to find the rake. They were preparing for a freeze overnight in the western counties, and there may be some morning readings in the 30s north and west of Baltimore. Average first frost for Annapolis is Oct. 11. For Baltimore, it's Oct. 29.

Dear Machine Man, I'm the woman who lives across the wide creek in Annapolis. You already know who you are. You are the man of all things loud - the Almighty Macho Machine Man. You have never met a two-cycle engine you didn't like. "The more noise, the better" is your motto. You begin your onslaught with a little leaf-blowing at the mind-boggling hour of 7:30 a.m. Not your regular, steady ear-splitting whine, mind you. No. Instead of a constant "WWWWWWWAAAAAAAAA- AAAAAAAA," you choose the much more annoying form of a pulsing on and off: "WWWAAA" ... blessed second of silence ... "WWWAAA" ... and on and on, ad infinitum.

The timing might be right for Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, a tale of a plucky young Cincinnati lass (Abigail Breslin) who triumphs as a girl reporter during the Great Depression. It's inspirational to see any movie about a grade-school girl who has some wits to keep about her. And Kit's attempt to maintain honor and high spirits while her dad (Chris O'Donnell) leaves Cincinnati to find work in Chicago should resonate with youngsters whose mother and father are searching for jobs while canceling or cutting short vacations and road trips.

So stunning were the lush roses, the camellia and a single yellow-berried holly flanking the Guilford Tudor that Faye Coscia, a transplant from Dallas, bought the home late last year. Through the doldrums of winter, Coscia watched her beds of perennials, bushes and a vast vegetable garden lie dormant, all the while longing to muddy her hands in preparation for an abundant flowering come spring. "I actually bought the house for the garden," said Coscia, who was searching at a garden store yesterday for a sturdy pair of shears.

It was all an illusion, in retrospect - a theatrical moment that thrilled us while it lasted but then was done. And gone. October in Maryland used to mean fall, but in 2007 October was as warm as September and as dry as Nevada. It was an extended holiday for rakers; the leaves stayed put and stayed green, or at least greenish. The audience - that was us - began to grow restless. A few brave actors came out in front of the curtain to do a turn before the long-delayed show could begin, but come Halloween, who didn't think that fall this year was destined to flop?

So, your body never quite got ready for bathing suit season. Be glad for second chances: Fall yardwork has arrived. Lurking in every overstuffed gutter, stranglehold of weeds, mountain of leaves and unwinterized swimming pool may be the keys to a buffer bod. Richard Johnson of Center Moriches, N.Y., knows something about this kind of seasonal shape-up. "I have a new home, so I've been working since spring, trying to get this place presentable on the outside," he said. But Johnson, 54, is not your average hose-heaving homeowner.

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Immense and dangerous Hurricane Dean slammed into Jamaica's southern shore yesterday evening, ripping roofs from buildings, flattening trees and flooding coastal areas. Although there were no early reports of deaths, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller said she was "very concerned" about the storm's impact, especially about the eastern parish of St. Thomas, with which the national disaster preparedness office lost contact. The hurricane, the most powerful Caribbean storm this season, remained on a course that could take it to Mexico's busiest tourist zone, the Yucatan Peninsula, by late today or early tomorrow.