blowers

Diane:
While I understand that your quiet was disturbed, I feel the need to defend the concept of the blower.  There is so much moral outrage concerning leaf blowers these days, it seems we would put them on a par with clear-cutting old growth forests!  I take a turn at keeping the grounds at our church, and with two large parking areas surrounded by trees, and being situated next to a park, we have our share of leaves and petals.  Before the blower it took a minimum of four hours to do this job.  Because the only time I had to do it was Saturday mornings, I would faithfully head over there armed with a blower and work away for at least an hour or an hour and a half.  One morning around 9:00 a woman from across the street came over and in a very irritated tone insisted that I blow the leaves some other time, as Saturday was her only morning to sleep in, and I was ruining it for her.  I was stunned!  I have had many naps ruined by my neighbors' lawn mowers or the kids behind us joyfully playing in their pool.  I have never asked them to rearrange their lives for me.  The only time we have complained of noise was a persistent dog barking each morning at 5:30-6:00 am, or partying teenagers after midnight on work days.  I complied with this woman's unreasonable request, but only because I was at the church!  Had I been at home, I would have informed the woman that I never got to sleep in, and had she ever heard of ear plugs?
 
Oh well, I just think it is unrealistic to think that all gardeners are going to see some simplistic joy in the chores of sweeping and raking, and for commercial gardeners, time is money.
That's life!
 
Karrie Reid
Folsom Foothill Gardener
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