Does anyone here hate leaf-blowers???
The gardeners come every week and sometimes have four or five going at once.
Drives me crazy.
I guess noise pollution is irrelevant when it comes to these noisy devils. All I
can do is...
and tune out
= new reply since forum marked as read
I mean, God forbid that they should have to actually RAKE the leaves!!!
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/ART02059
I didn't realize they're so bad for the environment (I never researched this) but apparently the NOISE is one of the more benign things about them!!
BAN LEAF-BLOWERS!!!
I just got home from work and there's a whole platoon of landscapers with mowers and blowers as I'm writing this.
Thursday is Leaf Blowing Day around here... 
I still have THAT to look forward to today!!
I still hate them, though!!!!
Glad I'm not alone-- misery loves company
when the tree trimmers make their rounds!! Yow!!
Fortunately, their visits are sporadic
Last edited Thu Sep 3, 2015, 08:38 PM - Edit history (1)
Oh yes... I seem to recall what those are...er, were. 
One fine fellow, with leaf-blower in hand (and it was ON though maybe in neutral), walked through
the lobby of our office building with the thing spewing exhaust fumes and who-knows-what-else. He
was oblivious.
I was apoplectic. Another Darwin Award Winner (that list is getting mighty long). 
What did you do to discourage him?
I had a next door neighbor who was a wackjob-- destructive and devious. He would finish using the
blower on his property, then casually saunter over to ours (very close proximity) and pretend to clean
up our driveway ("like a good neighbor"
. Problem was, he'd do it after I had washed my car and we
watched him using the blower on the area around my car, but every so often he'd aim the thing right
at my car, blowing dirt and debris on it. A real bastard. That's just one of the things he did. As I said,
a real wackjob and probably unbalanced (or is that the same thing?).
I've read stories of neighbors-from-hell and they scared the dickens out of me, so I tried to defuse the
situation by not responding to his mischief. But it was a scary time, I tell you.
I've since moved away (not because of him) and things are OK in my current neighborhood (knock wood)
Sometimes "the look" will do the job. (I know when my mom gave me "the look," it was bad news!)
do not defile the word "gardener." Gardeners are gentle folk who work with the earth to grow beautiful vegetation.
Leaf blowers, on the other hand, are in the category of people who think nature should be controlled. No leaves on the ground. It's called the industrial approach to landscaping.
Real gardeners (I am one) don't use leaf blowers.
Cher
but I couldn't because the way it's structured, it's all minimum wage. My idea was to have an organic gardener bank, but nobody wants to pay.
Instead of using fossil fuels to haul heavy equipment around, like blowers and mowers, the gardener would travel to the person's house and use their equipment. Organic techniques would be used, and as far as equipment, rakes, not blowers.
What I did regarding leaf blowers, though, was get a partial ban on them in my town. They can only be used six weeks in the spring and six weeks in the fall. To get the ban, though, took a grassroots group of 2000 people, which I and my partner formed. Lotta' work. Four years worth, in fact.
Cher
That you were instrumental in getting a partial ban is very impressive! I imagine the opposition was strong.
Wow-- four years?? It's a great start to a perhaps-maybe-someday total ban.
Good bumper sticker: RAKES, NOT BLOWERS!!
Summer - after mowing his lawn - every 2 days
Fall - Daily leave blowing
Winter - For snow moving dontchaknow
Spring - Oak trees drop leaves all year
We should too. I nearly ran one down this morning.
The gardeners I spoke about come EVERY WEEK, even when there are no leaves around and when
the grass isn't growing (in winter). I hate to think I'M paying for this. I should ask the Board of
Directors if these weekly visits are really necessary. How about every OTHER week in the winter?
Sounds reasonable to me. (I guess that's why the board won't entertain the idea)
And our HOA fees keep going up, up, up
Grrrrr....
(at first I didn't know what you meant because you wrote "glass" instead of "grass"
I never heard of a water oak-- in California we have "live oaks" but to me they always look half-dead!
I can understand the necessity of your having to use them for work. This thread is not for people
like you who sound sensible and reasonable.
You ask good questions and I have no answers except to say it's a certain mentality-- like those who
disturb the waters with their JET SKIS and litter
I feel that there are more of them than ever, despite our hatred and wish to ban the damn things.
That unholy droning sound is crazy making!
But I'm in good company-- I thought that if I started this thread, it might incite some sort of
riot. It did all right-- pretty much everyone is on my side!
Leaf blower that should put out about 186 d.b. at 1 meter to combat my neighbor who power sprays and sand blasts auto parts in his drive way
but I feel for folks who work in landscaping. picky ass people who can't have a leaf on a gravel bed for 10 seconds. both my sons do that work on occasion and we have some tension about motorized tools and yardwork. 
It's the all-out drone fests, when a little raking could do the trick, that drive me crazy!!