of leaf blower addicts...but, to each their own. I had one once (my wife got it for me) - then mistakenly ran over it with my car (yeah, right)....and it was never replaced!

at halloween time it makes short work of teepeeing a tree

... about 3 yrs ago from a co-op on a main drag to get away from the noise I was getting 24/7 from busses and trucks.

The noise from the traffic pales in comparison w. the leafblowers and the other power landscaping paraphernalia.

The only plus: the yard workers can't work at night. Al least they *haven't* so far.

It's not just me. My neighbor was out two weeks ago and spent the entire afternoon blowing leaves around his back yard.

I went out last weekend with my mower and a mulcher blade and did the same job in my yard in under 45 minutes.

The droning sound of his leaf blower was just beginning to enrage me to the point that I was going to go looking for my 25lb sledge hammer so I could help him "finish up". Luckily the sun sets early enough now that he had to stop due to darkness not allowing him to see in which direction his leaves were swirling.

He's a Democrat who supports lots of worthy local causes and has run for mayor & city council, so I'm not zinging him so much as I'm complaining about leaf blowers in general.

I'd be happy to rake the small section of his yard that's relevant, but he seems to enjoy the process, so he has declined my offer.

they're great people.

That's partly why I'm happy I didn't have to use my sledge hammer to help him out.

will be settling for at least the next 9 hours.

He uses it to clean up sawdust in the garage, because (he claims) he can blow the dust out from the little crevices at the bottom of the walls.

The problem is that all that blowing & swirling sawdust settles on everything in the garage. The garage is actually dirtier after he's used it. It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. He has a tendency toward serial obsessions, though. Right now it's the damned leaf blower and microwaving the dishwashing sponge. At first, he was nuking the sponge about once a week to kill germs. Now it's every single time he washes dishes.

And no, it's not dementia. He's going to be completely insufferable when that comes around.

Yep. Luis, the guy my landlady hires to do yard work, showed up and immediately broke out the leaf blower. What is even more ridiculous is we have a gravel drive. Fortunately I was able to stop him before he stirred up too much dust.

the last person left who mulches their leaves, when I moved here it was a social event, we would all be out raking at the same time on weekends, now my neighbors on each side have put up 6 foot solid fences, killing my gardens, and I never see or hear them Except for the kid who plays rap music all summer at the top decibels all summer when I have my windows open and a fan rather than air conditioning or the noise from the professional gardeners (from Mexico). I just don't like people anymore, I miss all my old friendly neighbors. I miss the quiet

I see no reason why leaves have to be raked, even. Leave them where they fall. I mean, what harm are they actually doing? They might actually do some good in that decay of organic material adds nutrients to the soil.

When we bought our current property two years ago, the previous owner hadn't raked the leaves toward the end of the season, and they sort of got mashed down into the grass. After the snow and the spring thaw, the leaves more or less disappeared, leaving big swaths of dead grass and patches of bare mud.

In a different setting that might not be a big deal, but in the long term it would render the yard mostly unusable for our purposes, so I rake.

It's not as though we have a big yard, and I compost as much of the leaves as I can, but we like to have a lawn to look at in the warmer months.

The idea being that it would take the husband longer than raking, made a lot of noise so he would be distracted and out of the way for hours. It is ingenius.

I usually let him have 10 minutes of fun clearing a 1 foot by 1 foot square then I get out a proper snowblower and do his entire sidewalk in 30 seconds.

plus the bonus noise pollution.

I observed the same phenomenon you described among a certain university's grounds crew. Once they had leaf blowers, they went after *EVERY SINGLE LEAF*, even ones that were still clinging to the bushes -- leaves no one would have ever bothered with before. So it still took just as long, if not longer. The only advantage was that a few blisters were prevented, which could have been accomplished with work gloves.

So lovely to hear them at work throughout the entire class.