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Driving through Westchester on my way to work this morning, I saw something you rarely see anymore: a man clearing leaves from his lawn with -- gasp -- a RAKE!

I wished I pulled over and thanked him. Usually what you see is someone wielding an obnoxious leaf blower stirring up a mini dust storm in the process.

Leaf blowers are used year-round but they've been especially prevalent in recent weeks. Maybe that's why I've heard so many people complaining about them lately.

While interviewing Bakersfield resident Trudi Williams on the phone last week regarding her annoyance at not being able to use her fireplace during a recent string of no-burn days, she noted that "as we speak another leaf blower is going in my neighbor's yard."

Why, she wondered, was burning prohibited when these things were spewing dust all over the place?

She made a good point, too. Most of the time, they just push crap from someone else's property onto your own.

"I'm sorry, I know this isn't what we're talking about," she told, " but they a personal peeve."

We know she's not alone in that.

I, too, have a special disdain for these buggers. One day, the entire rack of washed dishes in my apartment was doused in dirt when the landscaper passed by an open window with blowing away at full power. A couple months ago, I had to dash through a swirling cloud of dust when The Californian's landscapers were using one to blow dirt and garbage out of the parking lot.

I'm sure leaf blowers make life easier for landscapers but are they truly necessary? Have the broom and the rake really become antiques when it comes to lawn care?

Recently, I asked the head of the San Joaquin Valley Air District, Seyed Sadredin, why leaf blowers aren't considered polluters, and therefore regulated in some fashion.

Sadredin said the district had studied the issue but determined the gas-powered engines aren't a significant source of emissions and the dust clouds contain large particulates that settle rather quickly.

But he acknowledged leaf blowers are "nuisances" that are "ripe" for city or county ordinances.

"People always bring it up at public meetings," he said. "Our advice has been that cities and counties have to look at local ordinances."

So what do you say ... would banning leaf blowers be a ridiculous intrusion by government into our personal lives or does it sound like a reasonable idea?