You got me in my soft spot, telluride. This is my particular pet peeve and I start my rant about this time every year. Here's my hypothesis:
It's indicative of a bad marriage. Not only is it phallic and toxic but these guys down the street do it in the most inefficient way possible - they make it take six hours. I'm not exaggerating. Trust me. Six hours to blow a bunch of wet leaves around? What would make someone wanna do that? Avoiding conversation inside the house perhaps? And they're ALWAYS overweight men.
You know about how household appliances/lawn care don't have pollution standards right? It's such bs. I can smell that stuff down the street. I've thought about calling the city over noise and air pollution but - I don't think they care!