Then, the same afternoon, the gardener comes to the building I live in. For another twenty or thirty minutes, it’s: dnnhhhdddhNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNHHHHHH…NNNNNNHHHHhhnnnnnnn…
pttt…pttt…ptttnnnnnnnnnNNNNNHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHNNNNN…pttt…pttt. dnnhhhdddh[/size=35]NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNHHHHHH…NNNNNNHHHHhh[/size]nnnnnnn…
pttt…pttt…ptttnnnnnnnnn[/size=35]NNNNNHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH[/SIZE]NNNNN…pttt…pttt.
I wish to set forth the following:
[ul]
[li]Your lawn is not more important than my peace and quiet.[/li][li]The absolute absence of any leaf or leaf-like object from your lawn or pavement is not more important than my peace and quiet.[/li][li]The time your gardener would need to use other methods is of no concern to me.[/li][li]The amount of additional money you would have to pay him to use a rake is absolutely unimportant to me.[/li][/ul]
I cannot fathom how these hell-machines became so totally acceptable that attempts to ban them usually fail. There was a time when if some outlaw bikers moved in next door and were constantly revving their cycles, you’d be annoyed, but probably afraid to report it.
Now the peace of virtually every residential neighborhood is shattered to smithereens every other day because of thiese things.
Eh, I don’t like them either–they are quite loud. I have Mr Really Overweight Beer Gut Neighbor who lives for his riding mower and leaf blower. It’s just what he does. He mows his lawn twice a week, followed by blowing the clippings around (god knows what he thinks he’s doing with blowing the clippings around).
I figure since he’s in pretty bad shape and smokes to boot, he’ll keel over someday doing this.
I am so with you. I’m tempted to move into the 178th floor of an apartment building so that I can nap and work without dealing with other people’s god damned lawns in my head.
I’m reminded of Ken Jennings’ famous answer on Jeopardy, looking for a term for someone of questionable morality towards the opposite sex, also a gardening instrument.
“What is a hoe?”
No, I’m sorry, we were looking for “What is a rake?”
You know, Wal Mart carries a very good selection of foam ear plugs that might be your salvation. The best ones I’ve found are off-white, around 1/2" long and cylindrical, not tapered. I think they cost about $3 for a pack of ten.
You roll them between your fingertips till they’re small enought to fit in your ear canal, and when you insert them they expand back to fit your ear and are very comfortable. The sensation is similar to the way sound is deadened when you’re head is under water.
I’m often up late and sleep well into the day, and if I’m wearing them I can sleep with garbage trucks outside, the next door neighbor’s dog barking ten feet from my window, or another neighbor mowing his lawn.
ETA: eleanor, your neighbor is probably blowing the clippings from his driveway and the street back onto the lawn so everything looks nice and neat.
I live in an apartment building and every Wednesday landscapers spend the whole day leaf-blowing, weed-whacking, and whatever else they can think of that’s powered by a gas engine. I can totally block the whole racket out, except that my 2 year old is TERRIFIED of the noise. As soon as it starts up, he screams, covers his ears, and practically climbs up my body trying to get away(“Man going to get me! Man going to get me!”). I pretty much have to hold him the entire time it’s going on. I try to just plan to be away, but there are some Wednesdays that I need to be home. I wonder if they make little, teeny earplugs. I wonder if he would keep them on.
You might want to try the ones I recommended above. They squish down really far, and if they’re still too big you could probably cut them in half length wise and then roll 'em down to size. Might be worth a shot.
Having lived in Michigan my whole life, I just automatically filter out the sound of leaf blowers. I can’t remember the last time I actually noticed one.
I sometimes do this with my kids when workers are landscaping the park across the street but instead of the soft earplugs I used a pair of over-the-ear types; the same ones the landscapers use actually. Blocks out the sound and I don’t have to worry about them pushing the other ones deep into their ears (trust me, it’ll happen). Another advantage of the headphones is they pretend they’re spaceship commanders or Rollie-Poly-Ollie or something and keep playing.
No, he’s not–well, he does blow the clippings off his driveway. I do know what he’s up to: He actually blows the clippings off the mulch (wood) on his foundation beds. :eek: The clippings are not exactly visible, seeing as how he mows twice a week. He also spends his time sitting in his garage, smoking, since his wife won’t let him smoke in the house. I wish he’d weed his flower beds instead of obsessing on the lawn…
Like most residents of apartment complexes, I get subjected to this noise once a week. I hate it.
This is Phoenix. This is a desert. I wish there weren’t trees here. But, the idiots that planted them decided otherwise.
My life won’t end if I see a leaf.
Voice of experience: Leave the very end unrolled, so they can’t go in too deep. If you get them too deep they can be really painful.
**HongKongFooey: ** Make sure the kids are hyper aware of thier increased voulnerability to traffic when wearing hearing protection. It is not for nothing that they put up those “Deaf Child” signs.
As soon as my neighbors decide to stop mowing beginning at 8:30 am on weekdays or weekends I may comply. Until then, the leaf blower blasts off at 9:00 am. Or the weed eater or the lawn mower. I make it a point, tit for tat. And I have louder garden appliances.
I’m really not a jerk but most of my neighbors know I work nights often. You can’t wait until 10:00 ?
You can’t rake snow. And leafblowers were how they cleared the snow on my university campus. Usually at 6:00 a.m. After a late-night kegger. Argh, I hate leafblowers.
