NOTHING more annoying. Like a plague of locusts, landscaping has become 6 Mexicans with weed whackers and leaf blowers...Swarming in with a fury, blowing up dust and dirt and rocks and the occasional blade of grass and making all sorts of hellish noise while doing it. And then they disappear, leaving the place worse than before they came. F—k ‘em.
Once a week the leaf blower workman at my condo association comes by and makes a noisy ruckus with his machine, causing me to close my door to avoid the noise pollution outside it. However, the guy blows off all the twigs and branches on the walkways that lead to the parking lots where we all park our vehicles, hence allowing us to get back and forth to our cars without playing dodge-um with the debris littering the walkways.
As I am older now with a bad hip, and use a rollator (a walker on wheels) to get to and from my car in the parking lot, I am forever thankful that the walkway is cleared of twigs and branches that create an obstacle course for me with my rollator on the way to the lot. Leaf blowers have their virtues, as well as their noisy vices. I weigh in on the side of virtues, as my life is made more miserable trying to maneuver my rollator while zigzagging down the walkway to avoid the pieces of tree branches obstructing my way. I err on the side of leaf blowers as much as I hate the noise they make, as ultimately they make my life easier.
Having escaped from my prior life living in IL by moving down to FL, I am so glad to be away from the liberal nanny State it has become that is driving out any sane person living there who has the ability to escape it. And as IL during the winter is subject to blizzards and piles of snow (are snow blowers going to be the next target for extinction by the control freak Dems in that State) I daily thank my lucky stars that I have escaped its environs for wonderful FL weather (with the exception of the occasional hurricane).
Right now it is beautiful outside whereas my friends still stuck in IL are suffering from a series of cold spells with periodic lake affect snow. Cold and lousy weather can often occur even in April up to May some years. I can’t imagine Illinoisans existing without snow blowers, but mark my words, they are probably on some Dem enviro-whacko State legislators’ hit list up North for extinction.
Bottom line, leaf blowers are my friends, in spite of their noise pollution. Sometimes you just can’t have it all, but from my point of view, the benefits far outweigh the negatives. My two cents worth.