I friggin hate leaf blowers

[tridim]

I HATE THEM. I HATE THEM. I HATE THEM!

Why repeat myself three times? Well, that's once for each leaf blower guy outside my window. They're annoying enough when just one is running. You know how leaf blowers have a musical frequency? Well, when three are going at the same time with slightly different frequencies it produces the ugliest sounding, grating "chord" sound in the world. I wouldn't complain, except they've been blowing our street and parking area for the past two hours, non-stop. I'm ripping my hair out. Music doesn't mask it at all.

Leaf blowers are the only thing I hate about Springtime.

[Maat]

1. Me, too!

I was going to hire a guy to weed -- that's all I need -- but they gotta' bring their leafblower and make noise -- and my hubby and I need quiet -- we work out of the house, as do our neighbors. The gardeners insist they help - I don't think they help -- they just want to goof around, and they don't want to just use a rake or a broom!

[YellowRubberDuckie]

12. Help?!

They just blow shit around...how is that helpful!?
Duckie

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Every time I hear a leafblower I think...

target practice.

[NJCher]

3. I hate them too

I even got an ordinance against them in my town.


Cher

[shance]

4. Ditto - the worst and most unecessary of noise pollution.

I guess we dont rake any more, not to mention just leaving the leaves and grass to do their thing??

America is sooo much about appearances and becoming sooo little about principle and substance.

[Earth_First]

5. Agreed n/t

n/t

[BlackVelvetElvis]

6. My next door neighbor used to use his every evening

when the leaves would drop. He was very anal about his yard and that leafblower drove me crazy. I also have a vacant lot across the street and the neighborhood kids would drive go carts for hours. It used to be very noisy here.

[BiggJawn]

7. I like 'em!

Cuts about 4 hours off the time needed to gather and shred the leaves in the fall. We can't afford to have people come in with rakes and haul them away, so we need to deal with them in the fastest most efficient manner possible.

I must have lived in the city too long. I just "tune out" everyone else's noise.

[NJCher]

8. actually, it doesn't

There was a test done with leafblowers up against a grandmother in her 60s. She beat the leafblowers--she cleaned up the leaves with a rake faster than they could with their blowers.

Leafblowers are for people who would rather stand around breathing exhaust fumes than doing a little work.


Cher

[BiggJawn]

11. Yeah, OK, like I didn't time myself both ways, too.

Shame on them, putting a little old 60-y-o Granny on Black Beauties like that!

"Little" work... OK, Where do you need my moccasins shipped to for your mile walk?

[NJCher]

14. my property is my gym

I actually bought my property because I wanted to use it as a daily workout. I go out every day from 4-6 and work on it unless it's raining or below 20 degrees. Everyone needs exercise is this is a great, practical way to get it.

Brings a sense of satisfaction and I don't have to pay a gym.


Cher

[BiggJawn]

15. That's why I bought a bicycle.

Yard work is drudgery. It's dirty, back-breaking and totally spiritually unsatisfying. I fucking HATE it, and anything that gets it done faster is A-OK to me.

I'd rather have a root canal.

Agree to disagree?

[camero]

9. That's cause they blow

They don't suck. :silly:

[theoceansnerves]

10. have you seen the electric ones?

someone was using one on a sidewalk i was walking down, and i didn't even know it was running until i was right on top of it! it reminded me of when i lived in germany and we had an electric (plug-in) lawnmower!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. If I could un-invent any contraption, it would be leaf blowers!

I work at home, too, and in my last apartment, I lived on the 9th floor.

When the groundskeepers came with their leaf blowers, the noise would be so loud that it would permeate my brain even with the windows closed and music on the stereo. AAARRRGGGH!

What's wrong with rakes and brooms? I'm convinced that using a leaf blower is only a variant on having a car or truck with big bass speakers and driving around at full volume with the windows open.

[GCP]

16. They are the most stupid "invention" ever

All they do is blow shit from one pile to another, and if the wind happens to be blowing, the pile gets blown back all over the place anyway. The guys that you often see blowing dust around on the sidewalk are the worst culprits. They blow a pile of dust onto the roadway and leave it to get blown back on the sidewalk by the wind, it's moronic and pointless.

[Tracer]

17. I LOVE leaf blowers!!!!

They are one of the best inventions EVER, and I'm NOT kidding.

In addition to all the oaks in my yard, my house is so situated that ALL my neighbor's leaves blow into my yard. I can stand knee-deep in leaves and look across the street at my neighbor's BARE yards.

It used to be agony to rake up the leaves. One year, just for amusement, we raked 1/4 of the yard's leaves onto the driveway (instead of raking each pile onto a tarp before dragging it into the woods). The pile was 60 feet long and HIP DEEP!!!

I'm probably still alive today due to the WONDERFUL leaf blower!

[Don_G]

18. They May Be "Good"

But not outside my bedroom at 7 AM on a Sunday Morning.

Fuel a "leaf-blower" and I'll chamber a round in my .45 if we're not friends.

[Justpat]

19. Oh yeah

I'm suffering through the noise of one even as we speak.

[Xithras]

20. I've never understood gas powered leaf blowers...mine's electric

Black & Decker Leaf Hog...the best invention ever. It's also VERY quiet. Unless you have an extremely large yard (which would make cord maneuvering difficult) there is no reason for anyone to use a smelly, polluting, LOUD, two stroke leaf blower. IMO, two stroke lawn equipment should be banned for general use, and heavily regulated for professional use.