On Friday, March 30, 2001 9:01:36 AM UTC-7, Carol Riseing wrote:
IMO leaf blowers are a noisy nuisance. Unless you are disabled why not
rake the leaves. If there are too many of them for you then hire some
neighbourhood kids to rake them for you. I have a chronic illness and
am extremely sensitive to noise and when my neighbours power up their
leaf blowers in the fall I find it extremely unpleasant. I feel that I
have a right to be comfortable in my own home and that noise pollution
is making this more and more difficult all the time

Ken Johnson wrote:

Hi, after getting swamped with leaves last fall, I am desperately in
need of a new more powerful leaf blower. I was thinking about getting
the blower/vac combo. Can anybody tell me if these are effective? Does
the vacuum/mulching operation really work or will a lot of leaves simply
overwhelm it? Any recommendations on brands/size?

Thanks very much in advance.

KJ

I REALLY REALLY HATE THE NOISE!!!!!!!!!!!!BUT I Am disabled and I can't get my neighbor to cut down the friggn' maple that is south of me and all the leaves blow up into my garage and house...so I may join the crowd of Noisy....at least I can do it while they are at work....they don't show me that courtesy...;-)

In ,
belched:
On Friday, March 30, 2001 9:01:36 AM UTC-7, Carol Riseing wrote:
IMO leaf blowers are a noisy nuisance. Unless you are disabled why
not rake the leaves. If there are too many of them for you then
hire some neighbourhood kids to rake them for you. I have a chronic
illness and am extremely sensitive to noise and when my neighbours
power up their leaf blowers in the fall I find it extremely
unpleasant. I feel that I have a right to be comfortable in my own
home and that noise pollution is making this more and more difficult
all the time

Ken Johnson wrote:

Hi, after getting swamped with leaves last fall, I am desperately in
need of a new more powerful leaf blower. I was thinking about
getting the blower/vac combo. Can anybody tell me if these are
effective? Does the vacuum/mulching operation really work or will
a lot of leaves simply overwhelm it? Any recommendations on
brands/size?

Thanks very much in advance.

KJ

I REALLY REALLY HATE THE NOISE!!!!!!!!!!!!BUT I Am disabled and I
can't get my neighbor to cut down the friggn' maple that is south of
me and all the leaves blow up into my garage and house...so I may
join the crowd of Noisy...at least I can do it while they are at
work....they don't show me that courtesy...;-)

after 12 years, I'm sure the noise has dissipated

IMO leaf blowers are a noisy nuisance. Unless you are disabled why not
rake the leaves. If there are too many of them for you then hire some
neighbourhood kids to rake them for you.

I have a blower, but only use it sparingly - to herd some of the leaves
on to the main part of the lawn.

From there, I just run the mower over them and they get ground up and
fall down in between the blades of grass.

I'm always amazed when I start with not being able to see any grass at
all and finish up with not seeing any leaves at all. If they're really
heavy, I might have to make 3-4 passes but mostly it's all done in a
single pass.
--
Pete Cresswell

On Sun, 17 Nov 2013 14:31:12 -0600, "ChairMan"
wrote:

In ,
belched:
On Friday, March 30, 2001 9:01:36 AM UTC-7, Carol Riseing wrote:
IMO leaf blowers are a noisy nuisance. Unless you are disabled why
not rake the leaves.

Why bother with that? I just wait until almost all have fallen and
then I mow the lawn with a mulcher attachment on my lawn mower. If
you don't have a mulcher, tape a heavy duty business size envelope
over the output chute.

The leaves just disappear. Their little pieces fall between the
leaves of grass and you can't see them. Some leaves may escape the
mower but not many, and a few more will fall, but they won't hurt the
yard, and they look charming.

I just did this today. Over 60 degrees in Baltimore but 99% of the
leaves have fallen, maybe more.

If there are too many of them for you then
hire some neighbourhood kids to rake them for you. I have a chronic
illness and am extremely sensitive to noise and when my neighbours
power up their leaf blowers in the fall I find it extremely
unpleasant.

I think they're stupid and a waste of time. Especially when they
blow stuff off of sidewalks. Brooms work almost as well, and there is
no rule that sidewalks have to be spotless.

I feel that I have a right to be comfortable in my own

Legal or moral right? People have a legal right to use these devices
between 9AM and 9PM (maybe 10 but it's dark by 9) everywhere afaik.

As to moral right, that may depend on your religion, and if your
neighbor(s) have the same religion, and how you each look at it.
When God gave the Law at Sinai, he didn't specifically mention leaf
blowers. He did say "Love your neighbor as yourself" but your
neighbor may feel he's covered if he wouldn't mind if you used a
blower. And that assumes he cares what God revealed at Sinai. Is
there a regularly scheduled time when you are away from home and your
neighbor isn't at work. Maybe you could nicely ask him if he could
do his blowing then. Maybe you could buy him an electric blower
-- although that is only a good idea
if they work and
if his yard is conducive to using electric.

As to the first, I actually have one, B&D that I got out of the junk.
I have the attachments too, the bag and the tube, but I've never used
it. I used it for about 45 seconds to see if it would such up leaves,
chop them up and put them in the bag, and it wasn't spectacular so I
lost interest. But how well it blows -- you have to connect the long
tube to the other end, where the bag goes -- I do't know. I can
imagine that electric could be too weak, especially for someone who
has used gasoline.

As to the second, it's probably easier to maneuver around bushes and
trees with a blower than with a mower. If you ask nice, he might use
electric.

But all in all, why don't you just buy some ear plugs. Get the foam
rubber kind, either the ones shaped like a cyclinder or like a
rocket-ship, the kind you roll between your fingers, then push into
your ears a bit, then wait while they expand and fill the canal.
They sell them anyplace that sells guns or ammunition, and at drug
stores I'm sure. Last I looked they were about 2 pair for a dollar.
The wax plugs are probably no good.


More below.

home and that noise pollution is making this more and more difficult
all the time

Ken Johnson wrote:

Hi, after getting swamped with leaves last fall, I am desperately in
need of a new more powerful leaf blower. I was thinking about
getting the blower/vac combo. Can anybody tell me if these are
effective? Does the vacuum/mulching operation really work or will
a lot of leaves simply overwhelm it? Any recommendations on
brands/size?

Thanks very much in advance.

KJ

I REALLY REALLY HATE THE NOISE!!!!!!!!!!!!BUT I Am disabled and I
can't get my neighbor to cut down the friggn' maple that is south of
me and all the leaves blow up into my garage and house...so I may

I consider myself a nice guy and a good neighbor, but I would never
cut down a maple tree so the leaves wouldn't blow into your garage or
home. I like my trees.

There are leaves around here too, but none have ever blown into my
house and when I had a garage, none blew into it either. Just let
them stay in the garage and turn to dust, or use a broom to get them
out.


join the crowd of Noisy...at least I can do it while they are at
work....they don't show me that courtesy...;-)

after 12 years, I'm sure the noise has dissipated

On Sun, 17 Nov 2013 16:45:39 -0500, "(PeteCresswell)"
wrote:

IMO leaf blowers are a noisy nuisance. Unless you are disabled why not
rake the leaves. If there are too many of them for you then hire some
neighbourhood kids to rake them for you.

I have a blower, but only use it sparingly - to herd some of the leaves
on to the main part of the lawn.

From there, I just run the mower over them and they get ground up and
fall down in between the blades of grass.

I'm always amazed when I start with not being able to see any grass at
all and finish up with not seeing any leaves at all. If they're really
heavy, I might have to make 3-4 passes but mostly it's all done in a
single pass.

Around here, the grass is still growing a bit when the last leaves
have fallen. So I have to mow the whole lawn. I think it 's 1/20th
of an acre Well, that's the lot, including the house. So about
1/40th of an acre. I forget how much that is in hectares.

And you're right. The leaves just disappear. It's amazing. I wonder
if I could get on Jay Leno with this act. Or at least Inside
Edition.

micky wrote:
On Sun, 17 Nov 2013 16:45:39 -0500, "(PeteCresswell)"
wrote:

IMO leaf blowers are a noisy nuisance. Unless you are disabled why not
rake the leaves. If there are too many of them for you then hire some
neighbourhood kids to rake them for you.

I have a blower, but only use it sparingly - to herd some of the leaves
on to the main part of the lawn.

From there, I just run the mower over them and they get ground up and
fall down in between the blades of grass.

I'm always amazed when I start with not being able to see any grass at
all and finish up with not seeing any leaves at all. If they're really
heavy, I might have to make 3-4 passes but mostly it's all done in a
single pass.

Around here, the grass is still growing a bit when the last leaves
have fallen. So I have to mow the whole lawn. I think it 's 1/20th
of an acre Well, that's the lot, including the house. So about
1/40th of an acre. I forget how much that is in hectares.

And you're right. The leaves just disappear. It's amazing. I wonder
if I could get on Jay Leno with this act. Or at least Inside
Edition.

Since it appears that this 12 YO topic has gotten some new legs, I'll toss
this out...

Just like most things related to real estate, how leaves are handled is
based on location, location, location.

My house is surrounded by trees. Some are mine, some are the neighbors,
some are in the public domain, so to speak. My house is near the east end
of my street, at the beginning of a curve that causes it to T into the road
that runs along the woods above a bay. With a consistent westerly wind, a
lot of the leaves from the trees west of my house end up on my front lawn.
They blow freely up the street and, because of the curve, get hung up on my
lawn.

I clean up my leaves at least once a week. Early in the fall season, I can
mow them down or mow them into the bag, but once the fall season begins in
earnest, there are just too many leaves to mow with my Honda walk behind.

I have a hand held Ryobi gas blower that I use when I am in a hurry or need
to blow leaves out from SWMBO's many planting beds. When there a lot of
leaves on the lawn, I'll blow them into a big long pile in the center of
the lawn and then either rake them onto a tarp or put them in a rolling
garbage can. I have the advantage of not having to bag anything, since the
woods across the street are on a steep hill. I either drag the tarp over or
roll the can and then just let them slide down the hill.

For the final clean up in the fall, and sometimes for the initial cleanup
in the spring, I'll break out my 16 gallon wet/dry vac and vacuum the last
of the leaves from all the nooks and crannies around my lot - SWMBO's
planting beds, behind the AC, behind the shed, under the bushes, etc.
Basically any place where blowing out the remainder of the leaves makes
more of mess than it's worth. There's a Y fitting inside the vac's inlet
that is supposed the throw the debris around the filter. I remove that Y
because it gets clogged with leaves if I leave it in.

I've used a back pack blower, but I don't really like them. I'm rarely
blowing for a long enough time to make it convenient. Since the ones I've
used you have to take off to start, I always found them to be more of a
pain than they are worth, but again, that's based on my location, location,
location. For others, they might be the best tool for the job. For me, the
hand held blower is much more convenient.

Per DerbyDad03:
that's based on my location, location,
location. For others, they might be the best tool for the job.

I was out riding a couple days ago and passed a guy raking up the leaves
in his yard. He was almost knee deep in the things - and that was where
they had not been raked or piled up.

I like trees and all that... but I was glad I didn't live where this guy
lived.

A few years back there was somebody with a walk-behind bailer doing some
of the yards in our area. Did not see the thing in action, but it left
a nice neat trail of compressed/bailed leaves.
--
Pete Cresswell

On 11/18/2013 1:44 PM, micky wrote:
On Sun, 17 Nov 2013 14:31:12 -0600, "ChairMan"
wrote:

In ,
belched:
On Friday, March 30, 2001 9:01:36 AM UTC-7, Carol Riseing wrote:
IMO leaf blowers are a noisy nuisance. Unless you are disabled why
not rake the leaves.

Why bother with that? I just wait until almost all have fallen and
then I mow the lawn with a mulcher attachment on my lawn mower. If
you don't have a mulcher, tape a heavy duty business size envelope
over the output chute.

The leaves just disappear. Their little pieces fall between the
leaves of grass and you can't see them. Some leaves may escape the
mower but not many, and a few more will fall, but they won't hurt the
yard, and they look charming.

I just did this today. Over 60 degrees in Baltimore but 99% of the
leaves have fallen, maybe more.

If there are too many of them for you then
hire some neighbourhood kids to rake them for you. I have a chronic
illness and am extremely sensitive to noise and when my neighbours
power up their leaf blowers in the fall I find it extremely
unpleasant.

I think they're stupid and a waste of time. Especially when they
blow stuff off of sidewalks. Brooms work almost as well, and there is
no rule that sidewalks have to be spotless.

I feel that I have a right to be comfortable in my own

Legal or moral right? People have a legal right to use these devices
between 9AM and 9PM (maybe 10 but it's dark by 9) everywhere afaik.

7AM

On 11/18/2013 8:54 PM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:

I like trees and all that... but I was glad I didn't live where this guy
lived.

A few years back there was somebody with a walk-behind bailer doing some
of the yards in our area. Did not see the thing in action, but it left
a nice neat trail of compressed/bailed leaves.

A friend of mine has a mulching lawn mower. Walk
behind unit. He really loves it. Says it cuts the
volume down, a lot.

--
..
Christopher A. Young
Learn about Jesus
www.lds.org
..