Posted on 11/13/2004 9:23:44 AM PST by Rakkasan1
A year ago, Stephen Rueff was sitting in his south Minneapolis back yard, reading a book and savoring one of those last, lovely autumn days.
"Ah yes," Rueff was saying to himself. "This is why we live in Minnesota."
But suddenly, serenity was blown away. One neighbor had fired up a leaf blower. Then, another. Noise, ear-piercing, peace-robbing noise, was all around him.
Sad, disgusted and perplexed, Rueff retreated inside his home.
"I asked myself, 'Why is it that people are in love with loud machines?' " he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
more bans attempted by self-righteous environmental wackos.
What are we talking here, one hour once a year?
Niziolek points out that not only is state law being drowned out by leaf blower noise, there are huge noise double standards. For example, in Minneapolis, if you can hear -- just hear -- music within 50 feet of a car, the driver can be ticketed. Perhaps the difference, my liberal twit, is that someone using a machine to get work done is in pursuance of a constructive endeavor. A person with music that loud is just an ass and should be shot on the spot.
And by what percentage would you increase heart attack rates by banning these things?
big fences make good neighbors.
the only thing better is large distances...
Is MN a Blue state?
Ive got no problem with the leafblowers. The operaters however can be real sh*ts.
Ive been watching some union dufus at work blowing the same leaves around for 2 weeks now. the son of a so and so would never think of disposing of the damned things after getting them in one spot.
That would put him out of a job and would rob him of the opportunity to be an obnoxious jerk
/rant
Here's the deal ~ read the Second Amendment.
I've built a fence (or bought property with) at every house since. I am a responsible citizen now and channel all my rage through FR.
Getting Americans to exercise more will reduce the heart attack rate.
Yes, I believe it is.
If he wants it to be THAT quiet, he could move to the country. Typical liberal socialist, a party of one trying to control the actions of many. "It's all about MEEEEEEE!"
I grew up raking, piling and eventually burning huge batches of leaves. We had lots of red and white oaks on the property. My brother, cousins and I would jump wrestle and fight in them till we got bored and then the burning would begin. Not environmentally sound but enjoyable as a kid. Even now I occasionally get that nosalgic urge but am too dignified to act on it!
I work at home and the noise from these things drives me nuts. If it's the noise that's a problem, pass an ordinance that controls that instead of trying to engineer a ban. I know it's not as much fun as imposing your view of utopia on the rest of us, but it would address the problem, not just the instrumentality.
must have blown his copy of "Earth in the Balance"
right out of his hands.
problem is, as soon as these types move to the suburbs, then they demand people build them a choo-choo to transport them to the city because they don't want to own a car because they require maintenance.
Hmmmm. The author must have a different definition of a "lovely autumn day".
According to the National Weather Service, the temperature for the Twin Cities on November 13, 2003 was a high of 36 degrees and a low of 22.
True, but people should still be able to use gas powered machines to do work for them if they want to.
Every year, I read at least one article about a 70 year old man having a heart attack while shoveling snow and if this idiot is successful, he will guarantee that there are more of them.
simple ban on sunday morning leaf blowing and requiring an operator to contain all leaves to his yard.
I have to listen to leaf blowers all weekend (there is one going now). I would be for limiting the allowable dBs for all lawn equipment. It would also help if we could burn leaves, too. I envy all you country dwellers.
And it should apply to Harley-Davidson's products, dimwit kids with a thousand dbA stereo in the car which rattles the windows as it goes down the highway, etc.---
American Communist idiots in MN on parade...
You mean, of course, the Godless Commie ba$tard$ manning the leaf blowers, right?!
There is also the independence that these machines give to older people. My 75 year old neighbor is able to do all of his own yardwork because he owns some of these machines. If he didn't, he'd have to have his son do it or he'd have to hire someone.
LOL!
People....
No, I mean the pathetic bastards that harp about lawnmowers and leaf blowers, initiating bans, etc.
A ban on "Mexican bagpipes", huh?
Instead, we put the burden of all the additional noise and pollution on our elderly neighbors!
What kind of Conservative would do that?
I really can't figure out what you are saying. Is it bad for someone to get out and do some work? My next door neighbor born in 1919 does it and it keeps him going.
We still burn our leaves here and all the driftwood that washes up at least four times every summer. The kids make huge piles of it and we through diesel fuel on it and let it roar. The lakeshore is all shale so there's no danger of torching the boat dock or any buildings.
The bonus part is if one can be patient about wind direction. Then, we get to smoke out and blow ash all over our obnoxious neighbor's yard, deck and boat. He cuts his grass at seven am on Sunday and let's his dog bark round the clock.
In my opinion leaf blowers DON'T advance the cause of work. They just move leaves around. Use a mower with a mulching blade. It'll knock down the greater mass of the leaves. The worms in your lawn will then eat the leaves ~ provided, of course, that you haven't killed all the worms off with insecticides!
We have people in this neighborhood who provide escort service for heads of state for various foreign countries. They have machineguns. Only guy around here with a leafblower is this Afghan ~ fortunately he only uses it for a few minutes.
This business of overuse of gasoline powered engines to do meaningless activities (blowing leaves around) plays into the hands of the international terrorists. We should save all that petroleum for the purpose of manufacturing MOAB grade weapons.
It's a bit hard for my brother and I to take turns mowing our folks grass since they live in California and we are in Texas and Oklahoma.
Time for Grandpa and Grandma to take a trip, eh?
What are you implying?
Leafblowers are generally useless, IMO. Two weekends ago, I finally got around to raking the last of the leaves on my front yard. My next door neighbor, who has the same huge silver maple in his yard that I do in mine came to the same decision about the same time.
I used a rake. He used a leaf blower. I finished WAY ahead of him, had all the leaves bagged and loaded into my truck, while he was still blowing the darned things around, trying to make piles.
Since I was finished, I went over and helped him, using my rake to actually assemble decent piles that could be bagged easily.
He was more tired than I was. Swinging a leaf blower around is harder on your back and shoulders than dragging a rake across a yard.
Now, that said, I own a big-ass snowblower. It's noisy, but it'll clear a driveway in no time. In Minnesota, that's almost an essential tool, seems to me, at least from my perspective as a 59-year-old new arrival to this frosty state. My neighbor does not own a snowblower. We have a deal. We share a driveway. I'm going to clear his side of the driveway, as well as mine. In exchange, I have free use of his ice-house for fishing anytime I want...all winter.
The neighbor on the other side of my house is 89 years old. I'm going to clear her driveway, too, along with the sidewalks at her house. The exchange? She's a nice lady, and doesn't have any relatives here. No exchange.
BWAAAAAAA HAAAAAAAAA HAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!
LOL I knew you would see it my way!
Living out in the country I'd b hard pressed to complain about noise, considering all the farming that goes on around me!!!!
My new 20something neighbors informed me of a party they were having Halloween weekend and to please let them know if they were too oud or bothering us and they would tone it down. I saw one of the 2 days after the party and commented that if that was all the noise they were going to generate, I wouldn't' mind them having parties every weekend..........and they had a live band out back!!!
They are 2 brothers who have obviously been brought up correctly.
will be back a little later - hubby has to cut pwer to the kitchen and we're not sure if my computer is on the same breaker - so to be safe I need to shut down - talk to you in a bit!!
Ah, the neighborhood malcontent. He should live on my street, where one of the widow ladies (in her 70s) pulls the rope starter on her new Toro mower with enough vigor to make a lumberjack proud. She's a big Scandinavian gal, and could probably whomp Niziolek in a fair fight. Don't even think about getting between some of these retirees and their power lawn equipment!
A few months ago, I had an admiring crowd on my front lawn when I unloaded my new Lawn-Boy (last year for the 2-cycle engines in the U.S. mower market, y'know). Nice to know I have the approval of the people who keep an eye on my place while I'm away at the office. Guess they're secretly coveting my mean green machine, huh? ;-P
Show me a leafblower and i'll show you a gay arborist.
For messing with *leaves*, yeah, I concur. If you use the things like the commercial lawn care guys do, they save lots of time.
If you have a paved sidewalk and/or driveway, you edge the lawn first. Then, you use the blower to hose the dirt, grass clippings and leaves off of the concrete and up on the lawn. Lastly, you run the mower (either with a bagging attachment or a mulching plug). Done.
If you really want to deal only with leaves, a lawn vacuum (e.g.: "Billy Goat") is a better rig by far.
Blowing sh*t from one side of the street to the other is pretty damn lame. Leaf blowers just plain suck. Told my neighbor the damn things are crap and I didn't want to hear it. He kicked started the damn thing up anyway. When he was done I told my kid to jump on his two-stroke dirt bike and cruise back and forth in front of this place for about an hour and a half. Aint never seen the stinking leaf blower since. Hehehe
"If you really want to deal only with leaves, a lawn vacuum (e.g.: "Billy Goat") is a better rig by far."
Too expensive for my taste. I spend a total of about 6 hours raking and bagging leaves this fall. It was good exercise for me. Seems like spending all that money to replace 6 hours of good exercise is a waste.
Now...the snowblower is more than worthwhile. I have no interest in shoveling snow, especially after a big storm, in the freezing air. That's not really all that good for anyone, and especially at my age. So, I have the snowblower all set up. Electric start and everything. I should be able to clear all the places I have to clear in less than an hour, and I won't have to worry about having a heart attack or something.
But raking leaves? That's just fun work. A little stretching and lifting. Good for you.
I generally agree with you. The one thing that pisses me off though are ice cream trucks. Where I live they can ticket kids for loud car stereos, but someone can drive around in an ice cream truck playing some insipid music at 110 dB and you can't do anything about it. Sometimes you have to listen to them for 1/2 an hour or more as they wind their way through every cul de sac in the neighborhood.
It's true though that they're not much good for making nice little piles of leaves. Basically, so long as you accept a leafblowers purpose as being to move a mess from one location to another location you'll find they work wonderfully. They don't make the mess go away though.
Build that extra room and move them in. That way you won't have to go so far to mow their grass in the future.
You know what opinions are like. Leave my leaf blower and machineguns alone. Move into my house and try tho mulch all the leaves into your grass. I mulch early fall and late fall but when the leaves really come down from the 15 oak trees in or within 70 feet of my yard mulching is useless.
If leaf blowers really bother you that much move out in the country.
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