The Leaf Blower

I hate leaf blowers! Do I really need to get more into it? I will anyway. Here is the scenario, I am riding my bike to work and these guys are blowing the debris toward the street. Usually this is done to "clean up" after trimming some plant life or just to annoy me. Now, you know I hate loud noises, these things are loud. They guys, cause you never see a girl use one, are wearing ear protection, which means they cannot hear me buzzing by on my bike. Yeah, I know I am not really suppose to be on the side walk with my bike, but we are talking about leaf blowers and not about crazy bikers.

Let me back track. Guys that operate this equipment are idiots! First off, you have a gas powered motor on your back. This means at anytime the thing can explode. Have you ever seen a 'well kept' leaf blower? No, they are always old, dirty, and greasy with smoke coming out everywhere. Did I mention they are loud? Do not for one second think that you look cool like a Ghostbuster does, no.


Here is the idea of a leaf blower. One uses such a device to "clear away debris from an area". Hey, sounds like a great idea. But here is the problem...it is loud, we got that. It creates fumes of burnt gas and engine oil. Now, already we are in the negative of the cleaning process. While it is "clearing" debris it is also kicking up said debris and dust into the air. I have allergies and one of the things I am allergic to is dust (and noise). This hardly qualifies as cleaning up after one's self.

Okay, here is the kicker. You are just blowing the stuff five feet from where you are standing. The leaves and grass is still there. Get a broom and bag that stuff up. You are hired to clean up, not to spread it around. Do you think the garbage man just takes your trash and moves it down the street every week? No, they take it way and dispose of it properly. At home, do you just blow your trash to an unoccupied corner and call it clean??? I hope you use a broom or a vacuum to clean up. Let me analyse that...vacuum is to clean, as blow is to...NOT CLEAN!!!

Let us recap: leaf blowers explode, waste gas, blow stuff everywhere, smell bad, no where near as cool as Ghostbusters, really do nothing to clean...way too loud.