Rita, I still remember seeing those nice Oak leaves you use for mulch. I use them too but about a month ago the tree man, while trying to be extra nice and thought he would do me a big favor, ground up my whole gigantic pile of Oak leaves--planning to surprize me with his extra clean up when I returned. Because he is so good to me, I just couldn't find a way to tell him what he had just done. Today he used a front end loader to place piles of pine boughs around making it handy for me to put them in place--but I had to resort to few Cottonwood leaves sprinkled around on top--not exactly my favorite because they have a tendancy to pack.
I have voles here, so I have to wait for the ground to freeze a little before I mulch. I missed not seeing your photos this past summer!
