# Fucking leaf blowers. I am so sick of this goddam shit **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 15, 2008, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-leaf-blowers-i-am-so-sick-of-this-goddam-shit/463749 "2008-09-15T22:03:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![CuzIcan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@CuzIcan1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CuzIcan1)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2017, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-leaf-blowers-i-am-so-sick-of-this-goddam-shit/463749/121 "2017-11-20T05:42:30Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > I drove past some leaf-blowing dudes the other day at 6:15AM when it was pouring rain. Very odd. I often see them out in parking lots on really windy days too, which seems counter productive. Yeah, 0615 does seem a little extreme. As far as the rain, and wind goes they get paid by the hour so that explains everything, lol. ---
**Author:** ![CuzIcan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@CuzIcan1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CuzIcan1)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2017, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-leaf-blowers-i-am-so-sick-of-this-goddam-shit/463749/122 "2017-11-20T05:56:46Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Yeah, because the SDMB is thriving and healthy and has so many new posters every day that we can afford to flush one down the toilet because some obsessive-compulsive tard is emotionally crippled by the fact that he’s reading _old words_ :eek:! > > In other words, shut up you douchebag. Oh no! It’s old words :eek:. But when you haven’t read them before they are still as funny as the day they were first written. And it feels great to know that others hate the same things that you do. The lawn crews on these houses here are at least pretty fast since they have to run off to make more money somewhere else. It’s the people that take 2 yrs to blow crap around their little front yards when they could be done with it in half the time if they used a rake, and much quieter. Raking was my job when I was a kid, it’s not that hard to do. If they can make silencers for powerful weapons why can’t they do the same for simple, but rackety leaf blowers, etc? Whoever comes up with one will be nominated for the Nobel Peace prize :rolleyes:. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2017, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-leaf-blowers-i-am-so-sick-of-this-goddam-shit/463749/123 "2017-11-20T14:19:43Z")
> [@CuzIcan1](#): > > Finding this thread was easy. I just entered I hate leaf blowers for my search terms, and bingo, there it was. First page too :D. > > I will respond to an old thread if it’s something I’m passionate about, like hating leaf blowers. Ok, let’s make this more relevant and say I hate snow blowers too since it’s getting closer to winter. The yard crews in NC still descend in the afternoon about 1/2 hr after I lay down to take a nap, just like clockwork. Somehow they know, lol. So help set the scene, here. It’s past midnight on a cold North Carolina night. Coldest yet this year, or close to it. You’re bundled up in front of your screen, free associating. Something— we don’t know what, for sure— maybe a gust of wind sends a leaf clattering against the windowpane, or you’re drowsily half-watching an old pirated Betamax copy of _Ghostbusters_— leads you to think of leaf blowers. Oh, how you hate them. Sure, it’s deathly quiet outside now, save maybe for the howl of a distant coyote, owl hoot, or other stock “nature” sound effect, but the spark is lit. Leaf blowers. _Leaf blowers_. You can’t be the only one who hates them. You _know_ there must be others of your kind. So, you ask Jeeves (or tell him, to be more precise) “I hate leaf blowers”. Jump cut to this thread. Your pupils dilate. Your breath quickens. Yes, it was started in 2008 and resurrected more than once over eight-plus years. You don’t care. You’re not even halfway through the first page when you say— you actually speak the words, out loud— “this is my home.” You have a story to tell. Your hands tremble as you click the **Reply** button, only to find a cold, industrial boilerplate message about logging in or registering or some such nonsense. _Yes, yes, yes, I’ll register, of course I’ll register_, you think. _I’ll register a **thousand times** if that’s what it takes!_ You are born, and given a name of your own. You post once, twice, thrice, about leaf blowers. _Leaf blowers_. Your neonatal joy can’t be contained. Here, at the end of your journey, at last, surrounded by hatred like your own. _La haine des souffleurs_. Welcome home. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2017, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-leaf-blowers-i-am-so-sick-of-this-goddam-shit/463749/124 "2017-11-20T14:24:38Z")
Every time we create a “Best 10 posts of list” you make us revise it. Damn you!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2017, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-leaf-blowers-i-am-so-sick-of-this-goddam-shit/463749/125 "2017-11-20T14:33:41Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Every time we create a “Best 10 posts of list” you make us revise it. Damn you!! 😃 Seconded. Maybe **Cuzlcan1** will hang around a while. The voice sounds familiar. I’m hoping he/she’s just a smart ass like the rest of us and not a sock. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2017, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-leaf-blowers-i-am-so-sick-of-this-goddam-shit/463749/126 "2017-11-20T15:50:09Z")
I just want to go on record here that: 1. I am not a rapist. 2. I hate leaf blowers. Happy Thanksgiving!! ---
**Author:** ![CuzIcan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@CuzIcan1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CuzIcan1)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2017, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-leaf-blowers-i-am-so-sick-of-this-goddam-shit/463749/127 "2017-11-20T15:55:19Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > Congratulations. You just said the stupidest thing I’ve read on the internet today. Though I can see, since you have so much trouble reading for comprehension, that you would post something like that. Well now you are just making stuff up to sound cool. But it’s not working :rolleyes:. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2017, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-leaf-blowers-i-am-so-sick-of-this-goddam-shit/463749/128 "2017-11-20T16:03:37Z")
> [@CuzIcan1](#): > > Well now you are just making stuff up to sound cool. But it’s not working :rolleyes:. We’ll just leave you here to chat with 3 year old posts in a 9 year old thread. Please make sure to shut the door when you leave. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2017, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-leaf-blowers-i-am-so-sick-of-this-goddam-shit/463749/129 "2017-11-20T16:06:28Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > We’ll just leave you here to chat with 3 year old posts in a 9 year old thread. > > Please make sure to shut the door when you leave. But don’t slam it. Slamming a door is almost as bad as a leaf blower. ---
**Author:** ![CuzIcan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@CuzIcan1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CuzIcan1)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2017, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-leaf-blowers-i-am-so-sick-of-this-goddam-shit/463749/130 "2017-11-20T16:09:07Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > The only real purpose of a leaf blower is to annoy the hell out of neighbours with noise pollution. That it blows leaves about is just a useless by-product. > > Interestingly enough, the leaf blower was initially designed as a sex toy for women, but it never caught on. Why not? Because it is too damn noisy, duh! IDK about it being too noisy. The average large vibrator sounds like a commercial jet taking off. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2017, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-leaf-blowers-i-am-so-sick-of-this-goddam-shit/463749/131 "2017-11-20T16:13:39Z")
“_My conversations with zombies_” (A Memoir by Cuzlcan1). ---
**Author:** ![CuzIcan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@CuzIcan1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CuzIcan1)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2017, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-leaf-blowers-i-am-so-sick-of-this-goddam-shit/463749/132 "2017-11-20T16:24:24Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > We’ll just leave you here to chat with 3 year old posts in a 9 year old thread. > > Please make sure to shut the door when you leave. Well, it brought you, and several others out of the woodwork didn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2017, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-leaf-blowers-i-am-so-sick-of-this-goddam-shit/463749/133 "2017-11-20T16:38:12Z")
I’m going to go out on a limb and say bounced within a week as a troll or a sock. Definitely not a newbie. ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2017, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-leaf-blowers-i-am-so-sick-of-this-goddam-shit/463749/134 "2017-11-20T16:39:44Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > So help set the scene, here. […] > Welcome home. The imagery in this post cracked me up! Thanks for the laugh 😛 ---
**Author:** ![CuzIcan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@CuzIcan1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CuzIcan1)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2017, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-leaf-blowers-i-am-so-sick-of-this-goddam-shit/463749/135 "2017-11-20T16:49:33Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > So help set the scene, here. It’s past midnight on a cold North Carolina night. Coldest yet this year, or close to it. You’re bundled up in front of your screen, free associating. Something— we don’t know what, for sure— maybe a gust of wind sends a leaf clattering against the windowpane, or you’re drowsily half-watching an old pirated Betamax copy of _Ghostbusters_— leads you to think of leaf blowers. Oh, how you hate them. > > Sure, it’s deathly quiet outside now, save maybe for the howl of a distant coyote, owl hoot, or other stock “nature” sound effect, but the spark is lit. Leaf blowers. _Leaf blowers_. You can’t be the only one who hates them. You _know_ there must be others of your kind. So, you ask Jeeves (or tell him, to be more precise) “I hate leaf blowers”. Jump cut to this thread. > > Your pupils dilate. Your breath quickens. Yes, it was started in 2008 and resurrected more than once over eight-plus years. You don’t care. You’re not even halfway through the first page when you say— you actually speak the words, out loud— “this is my home.” You have a story to tell. Your hands tremble as you click the **Reply** button, only to find a cold, industrial boilerplate message about logging in or registering or some such nonsense. _Yes, yes, yes, I’ll register, of course I’ll register_, you think. _I’ll register a **thousand times** if that’s what it takes!_ > > You are born, and given a name of your own. You post once, twice, thrice, about leaf blowers. _Leaf blowers_. Your neonatal joy can’t be contained. Here, at the end of your journey, at last, surrounded by hatred like your own. _La haine des souffleurs_. > > Welcome home. It was a dark, and stormy night, and me without my cheap beer. What to do 😕. Yes, I had a rough day unsuccessfully ignoring the machines from hell across the street. And I got no sympathy from my grown daughter when I explained about noise pollution, and how I hated the aforementioned leaf blowers. She just looked at me like I was crazy. But she always looks at me like that no matter what I say. I should just give up talking to her, lol. (Maybe that’s what she wants) Oh, how I wish weed was legal in NC. So I had to stay up late anyway, and I thought, on the sperm of the moment, to put google to work to see if anybody else hated them as much as I did. The leaf blowers, not sarcastic daughters. I really didn’t expect there to be any results but was overjoyed that what I had been yearning for was there all along :D. And there I was in the midst of leaf blower haters nirvana. At one with the universe. I was able to sleep soundly knowing that all was right in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-leaf-blowers-i-am-so-sick-of-this-goddam-shit/463749/136 "2017-11-21T03:25:41Z")
Upthread there was mention (trying to avoid zombie quoting) of a lawn getting mowed twice a week, which is something I’ve never heard done before. Quite the Bruce Banner grass. > [@CuzIcan1](#): > > …the sperm of the moment… Yeah jizz in the knick of time, there, spunky guy. > [@CuzIcan1](#): > > If they can make silencers for powerful weapons why can’t they do the same for simple, but rackety leaf blowers, etc?. This gardener uses a Stihl backpack that has a widened chamber on the blow-spout that acts as a muffler and makes shit _scads_ quieter. I’ll use ear protection for my mower, line trimmer, and hedge trimmer, but not for the leaf blower, which doesn’t exceed 65 decibels at full throttle - totally manageable. I totally agree how noisy and irritating ALL OTHER blowers are, and on more than one occasion I’ve gone across a street to tell another gardener, “aw _duuuuuuuuuuuuuude_ - I know they’re a bit more expensive, but the BR500 is, like, _way_ quieter, right?” If they’re not too taken aback by my admonishment, I’ll go on about how city council is considering banning blowers because of the noise, n’shit. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-leaf-blowers-i-am-so-sick-of-this-goddam-shit/463749/137 "2017-11-21T04:51:35Z")
And then there was the high-end stable I briefly boarded my horse at, whose aisles needed daily sweeping of dust, hay scraps, stray wood shavings, bits of dried manure, etc. A peaceful, mundane task – till the owner decided it was so much more efficient to clean the aisles with a leaf blower. With horses in their stalls. Horses trapped, unable to escape the howling roar assaulting their keen hearing, unable to get away from the clouds of dust kicked up by the process, dust which hovered long after the roaring howler had passed, dust to be sucked down into said horses’ lungs. So very, very healthy. Did I mention Ben stayed their only briefly? :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-leaf-blowers-i-am-so-sick-of-this-goddam-shit/463749/138 "2017-11-21T05:34:52Z")
The worst is when it’s raining Tuesday night and you know the guy’s going to be there tomorrow blowing wet leaves for hours. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-leaf-blowers-i-am-so-sick-of-this-goddam-shit/463749/139 "2017-11-21T23:54:12Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Did I mention Ben stayed **their** only briefly? 😕 :eek: :smack: ☹ ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2017, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-leaf-blowers-i-am-so-sick-of-this-goddam-shit/463749/140 "2017-11-22T00:24:50Z")
Where I’m at everybody uses leaf blowers and every other type of outdoor power equipment. Starting at 9:00 AM until 3:00 PM, I used; Leaf Blower Garden Tractor Push Mower Chainsaw Gas Powered Hedge Clippers I live in a heavily wooded neighborhood and it just comes with the territory. BTW, I own approximately 6 rakes. They have their place but not really practical to rake my whole property. I pretty much mulch all my leaves with the mowers but need to blow leaves out from around the house, landscaping, rain gutters and deck to get them with the mowers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-leaf-blowers-i-am-so-sick-of-this-goddam-shit/463749.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-leaf-blowers-i-am-so-sick-of-this-goddam-shit/463749.md?page=8)