Yesterday, as I was leaving the grocery store, I heard a familiar, ire-raising, motorzied whine from in front of the Zellers next door. It was a leaf blower.
I know I'm not the first to write about leaf blowers and how offensive they are with their gasoline-consuming, greenhouse gas-emitting, and VERY LOUD motors. (I once read that running a gas lawnmower on an average sized yard emits about the same greenhouse gases as driving a car for 500 km -- how horrifying is that?) But somehow leaf blowers seem like the biggest practical joke on their users.
I know the type. I once had an old landlord with an anger management problem who used his pellet gun for stress relief. He also used his leaf blower. This is a man who barged into our apartment at 7 in the morning in a rage, swearing at me with bulging eyes and calling me the c-word. Not nice. But very concerned about the state of his property. And so he blew leaves around with a very loud machine.
No wonder he was angry, really. Can you get any more Sisyphian than blowing leaves around? Given the great big leaf blower in the sky, more powerful AND quieter that those noisy little beasts, known as, you know, wind. I could see if you were going to be fastidious about leaves on your property, maybe using a leaf vacuum to get rid of them if you just couldn't bring yourself to use something so mundane and unmotorized as a rake. But a leaf blower? Don't these people realize that they're just blowing the leaves around?
Hello 2024
10 months ago
11 comments:
I hate leaf blowers. Can you say compost, people? Can you say mulch? Can you say waste of time, energy, resources and natural insulation for your lawn? Smarten up, stupids.
(phew. I'm done.)
Yes. yes. yes.
Hahaha. So true.
I use to love it when my leaf blow-hard neighbour would blow all his leaves onto the street and the wind would come up suddenly and blow all the leaves BACK on his lawn. HAHAHAHA!
Sisyphian.
exactly. loved that image.
What's wrong with a rake? I like rakes. The Boy likes rakes. It's all good.
Rakes are fun. ANd it's also an excellent word for a certain type of foxy but no good man.
"Leaf blowers", however, just sound like mid-70s groupies for Leif Garrett. Who wants to be that?
One day, when future civilizations unearth our remains, they'll note in their history books that leaf blowers were the beginning of our end. Of this, I'm sure.
My neighbour has a third the lawn that I have and he uses a gas mower. I have a push mower. I also have a rake and so do my kids. We rake leaves into a pile and jump in them. No power tools required.
Camus much?
Seriously!
I could not agree more.
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