“14 Seasons”

Fall is here. So too are the no longer green leaves that have lost their proper place and are now gathering on lawns everywhere.

Pictured above is the Husqvarna  150BT leaf blower. When we moved into our current home fifteen years ago the backyard was about thirty feet from the woods. Many different types of trees, many different types of leaves. As I had previously lived in a home with a much smaller yard my leaf blower at that time was a handheld electric model. It was no match for the first Fall in the house.

It was time for a more powerful model. I initially bought a handheld gas unit but it couldn’t keep up the the sheer volume of leaves  falling on a weekly basis. Enter the 150BT. Problem solved.

The 150BT has served me well for the past 14 Fall seasons. However its beginning to show its age. It has occasional gas leaks and burns through spark plugs more frequently than expected. It takes a little more muscle to start and it coughs and hiccups while drinking the required gas/oil fuel mix. All in all though, it still works. And I’m grateful for that.

Yesterday I attempted to start the leaf lower without success. I did the obligatory spark plug and air filter check, cleaned all connections and tried again. After about fifty string pulls it fired up. YES!  To be safe I left it running between uses as I was finishing up. And then it just stopped running. Luckily I was almost done. Fortunately for me I grew up at a time when using a  broom to sweep was a required household skill (and I didn’t need GPS to find a location to get one if needed….).

Hopefully the 150BT will last through  Fall  number 14 and be around for Fall 15.  I’ll find out soon as the leaves are back just 24 hours later.