OTTUMWA — Did “leafing” happen at your place last Friday? It did at mine.

You already know about raining — we know way too much about it in southeast Iowa — and its cold-weather cousins, sleeting and snowing.

Although I haven’t found a dictionary with this definition, I believe leafing is an autumn phenomenon that marks the arrival of the right minute of darkness. That means all the leaves on your tree will jump off.

If there’s a strong wind, the leaves will blow away to the neighbor’s yard. If there’s no wind or just a gentle breeze, the leaves will stay in your yard.

When I looked out my kitchen window Friday morning, my car was wearing a leaf blanket. So were the yard and the sidewalk to the driveway. And the darned trees still weren’t naked.

Leafing can go on for a few days. Some leaves are tougher than others, or perhaps they’re tough in different ways. Some hang on to their tree, no matter what, and others do the same with your windshield wipers. (You’ll have to park your car, get out and take the leaf off the wiper to stop that blurring streak.)

Sure glad I picked up debris in the backyard and mowed it a few days before. I let the mower run out of gas and didn’t want to use it some more.

But it’s tough to pick up a leaf blanket and move it for mowing. I like Janice Bain’s idea. She runs the Recycling Center and plans to let her leaves lay in the yard this year. She’ll mulch them with the mower next spring.

I may have to check the front yard to see if that tree has dumped all its leaves. I don’t want them to land in the street and head for the sewer.

Please, folks, if you’ve got a sewer near your property, check it for leaves. If it’s clogged, free up the grate at least. I’m going to check mine and if there are leaves piled along the gutter, I’ll rake them onto my parking.

Depending on the weather, most leaves may be down by Halloween, also called All Hallows Eve. For all the Celts in the audience, Halloween (which the Celts called Samhain) is “one of the two great doorways of the Celtic year,” according to Mara Freeman’s Web site (www.chalicecentre.net). She’s from Britain and has been a leading teacher of Celtic spirituality for over 20 years.

Freeman also said “in the country year” Samhain marked the first day of winter when herders led cattle and sheep down from their summer hillside pastures to the shelter of the stable.

“The hay that would feed them during the winter must be stored in sturdy thatched ricks, tied down securely against storms,” Freeman noted. “Those destined for the table were slaughtered. All the harvest must be gathered in — barley, oats, wheat, turnips and apples — for come November” any crops left were usually ruined.

Peat and wood for winter fires were stacked high by the hearth and it “was a joyous time of family reunion, when all members of the household worked together baking, salting meat, and making preserves for the winter feasts to come,” she added.

Western Christianity has designated two special days in November — All Saints Day is Nov. 1, a day to honor all saints, known and unknown; and All Souls Day is Nov. 2, a day to offer prayers on behalf of faithful church members who have passed on.