If you're desperate to fill the void between trick-or-treating and touring the neighbor's holiday light displays, you might want to consider taking in leaf pick-up in Stamford. It may not sound like much of a draw, but the entertainment value is on par with a good construction site. And it only happens once a year.

First, the city rolls out big earth-movers to shove the leaves into massive piles along the curb. Thanks to another unusually verdant growing season, there are tons of them in Stamford. So, if this year is anything like 2008, some of the side streets will have mountains that reach up to the second floor of the surrounding homes. That makes driving around them sort of like maneuvering through switchbacks in the Swiss Alps.

The fun part comes when a fleet of Vac-All trucks rumbles around town sucking the leaves up into their dump boxes through hoses big enough swallow a small pet. Next, they're whisked away to an undisclosed location for composting. And for a brief few weeks, that giant sucking sound being generated by our local government officials is one that we can all enjoy.

Operations are scheduled to begin in North Stamford near the New York border on Nov. 12, then move below the Merritt Parkway by Nov. 16 and finish in the neighborhoods below I-95 on Nov. 30. The Department of Operations Leaf Pick-Up Schedule and Map can be found at www.cityofstamford.org.

Oh, and if you do go out, watch for falling acorns. We've got a helluva lot of them, too.