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Post by bjd on Nov 30, 2010 18:53:37 GMT
I just read page 1 of this thread where Kerouac says leaf blowers are not used in France. Well, maybe not in downtown Paris, but they certainly are here. The idiots who run our municipality have their workers out at 7am every Wednesday, making a racket. Even in summer, when there are no leaves on the ground.
You see one of these morons blowing a little piece of paper on the street with a huge leaf blower.
Some of my neighbours have one too -- the kind that make mulch out of the leaves.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2010 15:33:35 GMT
A kindred spirit amongst us....
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Post by Kimby on Dec 1, 2010 16:14:54 GMT
We just returned from Florida, where we used both a weed whacker and a leaf blower to spruce up the place for the renters. We did try to choose times of day that would not be as disturbing to our neighbors.
But there really is no other way to remove the tiny leaves and seeds fthat fall into the gravel driveway from the overhanging trees. A rake would remove all the gravel along with the debris.
I forgot to take pictures for Casi. ;-(
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Post by Kimby on Feb 26, 2012 4:45:01 GMT
Well, it's been a long time, but I'm bored and I'm bumping this thread cuz I'm in the mood to stir some sh*t . Mr. Kimby is shopping for a new leaf blower, gas powered instead of electric. (200 feet of extension cord is needed to clear off our driveway.) Do you have any recommendations casi? ;D
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Post by onlymark on Feb 26, 2012 5:15:26 GMT
I don't have any, but it has to have a loud exhaust.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2012 18:07:03 GMT
Well, it's been a long time, but I'm bored and I'm bumping this thread cuz I'm in the mood to stir some sh*t . Mr. Kimby is shopping for a new leaf blower, gas powered instead of electric. (200 feet of extension cord is needed to clear off our driveway.) Do you have any recommendations casi? ;D #52 looks like it's a gas powered one!!! I think you ought to go for it!!
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Post by Kimby on Feb 27, 2012 1:13:53 GMT
Tired of snowblowing, looking forward to leaf blowing!
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Post by mich64 on Feb 27, 2012 2:08:27 GMT
Here we use the snow blower and the leaf blower. When it is really cold and it snows, the leaf blower usually works best. My husband just starts it up in the garage and walks down the 57 stairs blowing the snow off to the sides. It works well and does not annoy anyone really because everyone has their windows closed. When it is warmer and snowing, the snow is more sticky and that is when the snow blower comes out.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 29, 2012 20:12:32 GMT
At last, a Parisian leaf blower!
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 9, 2015 22:46:44 GMT
This post is a cross between shameful confession and bragging.
There is a guava tree in my patio that sheds copiously this time of year. The leaves don't break down easily unless they're tread upon, which creates more mess to get tracked into the house.
I reversed the hose on the vacuum cleaner & used it as a leaf blower in the patio, behind & between my zillions of pots to get the accumulated leaves out where I could gather them up. Then I used it on the succulent table to blow out all the leaves trapped between the spiny plants. It was noisy but worth it.
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Post by lola on Apr 10, 2015 2:44:03 GMT
Love it!
We forgive you and are impressed at your ingenuity.
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 10, 2015 4:11:42 GMT
*curtseys modestly* I am soooooo domestic!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2015 18:39:27 GMT
Simply ingenious Bixa. Bravo!!!
Early this a.m. I was out walking the dog going to the local coffee shop. I was wearing a freshly ironed light colored linen sun dress as I had an appointment downtown As I approach my corner (mind you, I already had heard "them" from my open window) I encounter not one, not two, not three, but FOUR
f'n leafblowers all blowing simultaneously!!!!!
A HUGE cloud of dust, and, the f'ers see me coming and don't even attempt to stop.
I wish somebody had a video of the rant that ensued from my out of my mind furor.
Standing in the middle of the street, I screamed and yelled "who the F uses 4 f'n leafblowers at once!!!" People were coming out of their houses. They then stopped and I continued. Soon I heard applause from my neighbors. (not the people whose house was being "blown", a postage stamp sized yard).
They got in their truck and left, their leafblowers held between their legs.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2015 20:00:15 GMT
Even though I have shown that Paris has some leaf blowers, the most common similar item is the water blaster, which is used on each and every street every day to clean away some of the grime and nastier things. But luckily, the water blasters don't make nearly as much noise.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2015 22:12:21 GMT
I don't think that qualifies for this thread K2. Water is good, it cleans,it drains. They are not very noisy. Leafblowers are evil,agents of the devil incarnate and will one day be banned if I have anything to do with it.
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Post by Kimby on May 29, 2015 1:18:54 GMT
In Florida, the yard guys who use leaf blowers almost always pause to allow us to pass on the bike path, a courtesy you might not expect from a leaf-blowin' cretin!
Clever, clever Bixa,. Not only did she get her patio and plants cleaned up, she even earned the admiration of a renowned hater of leafblowers for devising what is essentially a leaf blower!
Did y'all know that many leaf blowers can be reversed and used to vacuum up leaves and dirt into an attached bag?
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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2015 2:27:28 GMT
Bixa is innocent. She would never stoop to the lengths that others on here do...you know who you are... Anyway, as synchronicity would have it, I was in my local cafe where on Thursday mornings a type of "salon" has emerged. A group of people, totally disparate backgrounds and ages but all very interesting and intelligent. The conversations that evolve take some wild turns, some of them over my head but I always leave there having learned something or at the very least, in a upbeat mood. No cell phones, computers etc. Just plain old impromptu banter. Mind you, this is no Starbucks. Anyway, one of the many topics that arose today was about noise pollution and of course I had to get into my well accumulated discourse and rant regarding the evil machine of this OP. All agreed and had separate stories along with statistics etc. I felt much vindicated. As I was departing the cafe, I see coming toward me on the sidewalk, an elderly gentleman pushing a lawnmower that had attached to it with a bungie cord, a rake and a broom!!!!! The doors to the cafe were open because their AC was on the fritz. I asked the gentleman would he mind stopping for a second in front of the cafe. He was agreeable if not maybe just a wee bit wary. So, there I am, standing with this man and his apparatus and call inot the cafe, "Gentleman, please give this man a round of applause based on our earlier discussion". Well, they all did, the barrista came out and offered him a cold drink and this man, admittedly baffled at this reception was grinning from ear to ear. I had thought to have someone take a picture of me with him but thought better of it as he did seem a bit curious and didn't want to "push it". It was one of those moments that do occur when you least expect them to. Priceless.
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Post by Kimby on May 29, 2015 15:43:24 GMT
One of those N'awlins moments?
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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2015 16:23:36 GMT
One of those N'awlins moments? It truly was Kimby, in every sense. Blew my mind that it would occur when it did...no explanation needed, simply synchronicity.
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Post by Kimby on May 29, 2015 16:49:16 GMT
Just watched the conclusion of Treme in which Davis gives Janette a final day of "N'awlins moments" before she emigrates to the Big Apple. Whatever you think of the show, it seems its creators probably LOVE the Crescent City. (Did I get the nickname right?)
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2015 16:40:30 GMT
Yes, I have always preferred Crescent City to the other terms (Big Easy, Nola, etc.). It rolls off the tongue with total elegance.
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Post by Kimby on Jun 4, 2015 22:32:18 GMT
So yesterday I mowed the lawn (about 5000 square feet of bluegrass), used the string trimmer on the edges, and, yes, fired up Mr. Kimby's gas-powered leaf-blower to clean off the driveway.
I maybe could have used a broom for the grass clippings, but this time of year everything is covered with a fine dusting of pine pollen, and sweeping it only makes a pattern of lines in the yellow coating on the driveway.
So I apologize to anyone who was offended, but the blower only ran for about 10 minutes in the early afternoon. And I didn't blow nothin' onto anyone else's property.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2015 18:42:43 GMT
It sounds as though you are seeking redemption or vindication Kimby.
Btw, during the cafe discussion mentioned a few posts prior, all of the people participating agreed that they had never seen a woman using a leafblower. I told them I knew of "one" but that she lived in Montana.
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Post by Kimby on Jun 5, 2015 20:26:02 GMT
It's not my favorite gas-powered tool, being more of a mower and weed-whacker kind of girl.
But I think I'd rank leafblower over snowblower for lots of reasons, particularly operating conditions.
And yes I was seeking absolution.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2015 22:40:40 GMT
Love you dearly Kimby but, should I ever be in a position to have any power over the eradication of this abomination, absolution on my part could come up and ruin my chances. I don't know if acts of contrition ever really work but, you may want to try and say a few "Hail Mary's" while raking or sweeping.
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Post by Kimby on Jun 6, 2015 0:46:24 GMT
:-)
(You'll never rid the world of this abomination. It's like the atomic bomb. That genie is out of the bottle.)
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2015 13:50:26 GMT
"Oh ye of little faith" my friend, at least in my world anyway,,,
I managed by a stroke of luck to be absent this week when the 3-4 aforementioned offenders showed up at my neighborhood. I had a late breakfast date with an investor regarding a "green market" nearby. Anyway, I was a bit "spiifed up" for this meeting so when they saw me they didn't immediately recognize me. Then, one did and I saw him gesticulate to one of his partners in crime likely saying "uh oh, there's the whack job...." Then I was gone. Perfect timing.
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Post by lola on Jun 6, 2015 21:19:23 GMT
My brother and his friend Galen used to fantacize about becoming eco-terrorists (before the word was coined, I think): to be named Ozarks Green World Avengers (OGWA). They'd lurk along clear spring-fed rivers with bow and arrows, waiting for partying floaters to throw trash into the water. Galen's fantasy involved shooting an arrow that would impale a tossed beer can to the tosser's chest. As a warning to others. My brother was never so bloodthirsty.
I prefer Casimira's old method of sitting by the same river playing her flute, and mystifying the floaters-by.
On a walk the other day I saw a lawncare worker leaf-blowing grass clippings off himself at the end of a job before getting into the truck.
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Post by Kimby on Jun 7, 2015 0:04:41 GMT
We use our "shop-vac" to clean up after yard work. But I have used a blower to "dust" the car.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 7, 2015 14:05:33 GMT
Thanks for reminding me of that lovely memory Lola. JEEZ, that was 40 years ago...
Had I gone to the reunion in Saint Louis I likely would have met up with the woman I played flutes with up on that cliff.
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