After a hearty breakfast of oatmeal and a chat with Mom, I decided to do 'a little more' raking out front.  Of course I got carried away, and here's just one pile of what I gathered just from the small area out in the open on the east 'half' of our front yard.  

You do not want to know how deep the leaf litter is under/behind all the foliage in the corner!  

Think I might see if a couple of Summer's little guys want to crawl back in there and rake it for me one of these days.  Not sure what their price rate is <g>, but it'd sure be a lot easier for them to get back in there than for me.