I had forgotten how dark the day can get during the Fall season!
Until about mid-day, I actually had to run on some lights before the the cloud cover broke, ushering in a bright and relatively warm, sunny afternoon.
Looks like I’ll have stock up on the vitamin-D supplements and dust off the exercise equipment to keep the season affected disorder away.
The trees in the neighborhood only just started to turn recently and the tree in our front yard is now shades of yellow, orange and mostly red. That means it’s almost time to break out the rakes.
This season is going to be different! I recently picked up a Toro Ultra Leaf Blower/Vac, which garnered a Consumer Reports ‘Best Buy’ rating for convenience, durability and performance.
Besides the Consumer Report rating, the major selling point for me was the Ultra’s impeller. The impeller is basically the propeller-like device which provides the suction and also mulches the leaves as they’re sucked in. The Ultra utilizes a metal impeller. To my surprise, not all blower units use a metal impeller.
I just assumed that metal impellers are the standard, for the sake of durability. But apparently plastic impellers are used too. And while that would do the job for leaves, chances are you might suck in twigs and other bits of debris (like various kinds of litter) that might be hard enough to damage a plastic impeller.
I used to view leaf blowers as a luxury item, used by lazy gardeners who don’t want to get their hands dirty. But there are practical reasons in having one.
In our case, we have quite a few trees on our property. Collecting and disposing of the leaves can be a big job. A single raking session can take 6-8 garbage can loads and all three of our composters (two bin, one open square) are completely filled before making a dent in the leaf load.
Our trees also drop quite a few dead twigs and branches. I usually have to walk around collecting them before I rake, or else I’m forever untangling them from the tines of the rake which slows down the job.
The blower/vac solves two problems: 1) It makes it easier to collect the leaves into a pile so twigs and hard-to-rake areas aren’t a problem. 2) It mulches the leaves, reducing the volume, allowing our composters to take all the leaves and the mulched leaves will decompose much more quickly.
It’s a win-win situation. Can’t wait to try it!
…yes, I live such an exciting life. 
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