Okay, if you can use a leafblower that I can’t hear for the next ten hours, and doesn’t fill the neighborhood and the atmosphere with CO2 and the smell of exhaust, fine. I am surrounded by the RRRR.RRRR…RRRR…RRRR…RRR unevenly intermittent sound of gas-guzzling “leaf”-blowers all summer and all fall.
That’s why (and I am sure you’re quite aware that most blower-users (blowhards?) don’t use your silent, energy-efficient machine.)
And I’m guessing the decibel level is just a smidge louder than rakes.
I have a leaf blower and I hate them too. But mine is small and light, runs on a battery and it relatively quiet. The charge doesn’t last very long so I can’t annoy anyone too much! And what fun to blast the leaves out of the gutter.
My neighbors hire a lawn service that starts around 7:03 AM (just after “daytime” in the noise ordinance) and uses loud and smelly gas powered leaf blowers. THOSE are the tools of the devil.
I mow and grind the leaves into mulch to reduce my workload at this time of the year. One of the best things I have bought is a small snowblower that is light but effective in clearing my driveway in a short period of time. I can’t shovel any longer so it is a necessity here where we average 70 inches of snow per year. The old snowblowers are big, heavy, and difficult to steer.
We used to have a fellow plow our driveway but he came whenever there was one inch of snow on the driveway and charged us $20 for five minutes of work. We get lake effect snow almost daily so this was very expensive.
I hate cleaning my rain gutters. Leaves, dirt, and unknown particles are packed inside them. If I can have a family member clean them out then I’m happy.
The problem with some of those small engine machines is that the emissions standards have been historically lax and horrible for them. That changed when California instituted tougher rules about a decade ago. Manufacturers will at least have cleaner models available since they need to have them if they want to sell in CA.
I have a lawn service that mows and rakes (we have a lot of trees and a lot of leaves). I have always loved to shovel - was my job even when I was a little girl! When we get a huge storm (maybe once a year or so), I pay a teen neighbor to snow blow for me.
Lots of women on my street used o mow so I decided Id give it a go. First time out I went over a tree root and broke mover. But before I realized it, it chewed up huge section of my front lawn. That was the last time I mowed.
We have a lot of very big trees and a gazillion leaves. We always did our own moving (H) and raking (both of us) but H’s job is just to demanding and all our free time was always taken up by these chores, so we finally hired it out.
H still shovels but we are going in on a slow blower with our neighbors. Now just have to get the guys to go to the store and buy it.
From my ears’ experience, leaf-blowing goes on much longer than mowing. And it’s a more irregular sound–mowing is lower and steadier, on the average. Plus, two loud machines instead of one is two loud machines. It’s much less likely that anyone will go back to hand mowing, but leaf-blowers are a relatively more recent phenomenon, so it’s easier to imagine people could do without. I have a neighbor that can not have a stray leaf or blade of grass on his lawn. He can spend a whole Sunday between lawnmower, weed-whacker, and leaf-blower.
I forgot that for a couple of seasons I, too, mowed the leaves, aimed the mower so the blown bits went off into the space under bushes, to mulch. Thought I was pretty smart.
So in late 2014, bought a light snow blower, with a two year warranty, (figuring that that would cover 2 seasons.) Didn’t use it last winter. (I had a kid come shovel, when he showed up.) Never bought the cord. This year, hoping to get the lawn guy to plow.
We live on a larger property in the country. When we moved here my husband bought a larger commercial zero turn mower. I was really intimidated by it and thought I wouldn’t dare try to use it.
After a few lessons -I love it. Now my husband and I fight over who is going to mow. It is so much fun.
Alas I have never lived anywhere that I needed to shovel snow. Sometimes I think it would be nice to experience one true winter.
I’d be plenty happy to never again experience a true winter! We mow…a lot…2 zero turns, older riding mower with bagger, and a tractor with a bush hog and a finish mower. I don’t hate mowing, but we have too much. Laying a perfectly striped yard is pretty satisfying to me.
H does all the plowing with the tractor and a blade. I have clients who come to my in-home office, and I wouldn’t want to have to depend on someone else to show up timely.
Our old house had tons of trees. We have a lot here too, but the wind takes care of most of them and I mow and bag the others. Don’t miss the endless month of raking heavy, often wet, leaves.
My favorite activity now is skimming the palm tree debris from the pool and hot tub.
DH mows the much smaller amount of lawn; he insisted on a house with a yard. We sold our snow blower to the neighbor when we moved. I know DH does not miss climbing the ladder up to the flat roof whenever there was more than an inch of snow.
I got rid of the lawn this year, so no more mowing. I like mowing though… I designate sections of the lawn by name and then say “off with their heads!” as I mow. Now that I weed-whack instead (with my electric 40V weed whacker), I think of certain sections of the yard the same way. “This is for YOU, candidate for national office” I say to myself, as I chop it to shreds. That may be the only thing that has kept me from a complete breakdown this election season. Thank heavens it’s only a week until the election.
We have a screened in pool/lanai. Bald cypress are so named because they go bald- loose their needles starting about now. Some of those things get through the screening, yuck. Everywhere has its pros and cons. I miss the crisp fall weather when it is invigorating to do outdoor exercise. Xeriscaping here would create a jungle…
