Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for November 22, 2018

Electronic earmuffs block out most of the sound.

A rake is pretty quiet and it can do a whole forest.

actually, it’s called a rake.

HAPPY TURKEY DAY.

to our neighbours to the south

Actually, a leaf blower, like a weed whacker, is a great way for certain “gardeners” to pretend to work, without ever accomplishing anything.

Make the Earth more habitable by sending those leaf blowers to Mars.

Aerodynamic noise is proportional to the 7th power of the speed. The only way to make those quiet is to turn them off.

I’ve never gotten the point of leaf blowers. If all they do is blow leaves away, won’t the leaves just blow back the next time it’s windy? And where exactly are people blowing the leaves? Neighbors’ yards? Into the street?If the operator is going to run an engine and has to walk over the area, why not run a mower and mulch those suckers?

I have a small battery operated one that my 18month old grandson loves! It’s one of his favorite toys!

I have one, it’s called a rake.

In keeping with the day, blessing to all who are able to enjoy it. RIP to the fallen in CA and elsewhere, and prayers to the survivors and the afflicted.

Odd, that when it is blowing leaves on your property it is not as loud as the awful noise coming from your neighbor’s.

Legislate! Right after we get rid of plastic bags, we’ll ban leaf blowers, tv political ads, presidential press conferences during my favorite programs, …

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all of you in the States ! Enjoy your day.

I have a 20V blower that most of the time I use to clean the barn and garage floors. ;-}

You could have at least gave Thanksgiving a mention. Sad…

What, EXACTLY, is the point of leaf blowers? All I ever see them being used for is blowing leaves out into the street. Did they begin as just a new gadget? And, speaking of new gadgets, anyone peruse the HammacherSchlemmer catalog? or Uncommon Goods? Talk about having more money than sense. . .

Raking is great exercise IF your back is strong. I was in my thirties with a small yard , otherwise strong and healthy, when a day of raking put me in such pain I was walking hunched over for a week. One of the fellas at work said “I know what that walk means!”.

Now I have acreage out in the country where the blower won’t bother anyone. I have many yard features that aren’t suited to raking. I use the blower to move the huge carpet of oak leaves to the areas where I can get them picked up and mulched.

My concern is people that want legislation for their own convenience without ANY consideration for others. “Let’s ban the internal combustion engine!” But John Deere doesn’t make an electric tractor suitable for harvesting food. And battery technology (something I know a little about) may never have a suitable answer.

Makes about as much noise as a lawn mower. What’s the problem?

I live in a condo. The landscaping guys come around every Thursday. One day I watched as the grass crew blew the grass clippings onto the sidewalk. I went out and swept the sidewalk. Two minutes later, the tree clipping guys came around the corner and blew the grass clippings and twigs and leaves back onto the sidewalk. I went out and swept the sidewalk again. I HAD been planning on taking a nap. Thursday’s my day off.

Go with rakes: eliminate the noise, the stink, the pollution, the waste. In the long run hiring a slightly higher number of workers or spending a bit more time on one’s own work (and getting exercise at a cheaper cost than a gym visit) is a cheaper and friendlier solution for the world than leaf blowers are.

But, no, raking Californian (or any western) forests is NOT going to cause them to have rainier and segmented forests crisscrossed with a huge number of rivers, streams, fens, bogs, lakes, and ponds like Finland has.

Let’s see, to make Mars habitable all you have to add is air to breathe, food and water to sustain. Living on Mars is a stupid idea that will never be accomplished.

The leaf blower is usually also a leaf sucker-upper, just switch it into reverse. It crops the leaves into small pieces, which can then be dumped onto the mulch pit where they will rot just enough to save having to buy mulch next spring.

I know a way that’s even quieter than a rake. Don’t blow them, OR rake them. Leave them be. Nature will be thankful.

I use an electric blower. Starts every time and is quieter (although not totally noiseless obviously). The gasoline-powered ones are more powerful, but I get by even on the lower setting.

Where else but in America would we invent a device to make our messes someone else’s problem instead of cleaning them up ourselves?

Our landscapers use the blowers to move the leaves into areas where their mowers can pick them up for disposal.

Some years ago they came up with almost silent vacuum cleaners; in market testing, they discovered people would say louder, less powerful vacuums had more power. o one wanted the quiet vacuum, so they didn’t get sold.

As to the “where” question, here we put them to the curb and the city sends a truck with a big honking vacuum hose (actually quieter than the one i use in the house, BTW) to suck them up.

And while I own an electric leaf blower, I – bad back & all – rake them; the blower (even though it’s electric) is annoyingly loud and not nearly as efficient (I have never gotten a pile of leaves with it; it just rearranges them).

Leaf blower you should see the size of my yard

Give it a caterpillar drive.

I believe that there’s a special hell for the guy that invented leaf blowers.

Leaf blowers were disrupting classes in Toronto so students did a study. It found that blowers only save 20 seconds over rakes and brooms and cost thousands a year more. The school board banned leaf blowers on these results.

“Get your ass to Mars” I’m with Neil. If only to get away from most of “humanity” that ain’t humane at all.

Disallow 2-stroke engines, mandate a muffler and make it a leaf-sucker emptying into a bag.

Vehemently hate these things !

My dad said that I make more noise than the leaf blower.

Another lander is due on Mars come Monday, more research, hopefully no leaf blower on board, just drilling more holes. What if they find more water, and it’s Perrier?

Rakes are a lot quieter and far more environmentally friendly. Also good for preventing forest fires, I hear. ;-)

Yard brooms are a marvelous invention and provide non-deafening jobs for teenagers.

Priceless

A rake. You want a rake.

It’s called a rake, and comes with a companion implement, a broom.

LA County tried that, since people complained about the noise, and the stench of two-cycle engine smoke was pretty bad.Gardeners started modifying their blowers with car batteries and electric motors, and got around the new rules. Those got repealed.Everybody neglected the dust and rodent droppings ejected into neighbors’ windows by the practice. Vacuum it up? Why, no!I call ‘em "Somebody Else’s Problem Machines", cribbing from Douglas Adams’ little device.