Gutter Ball™ — Just out from the bookofjoe skunkworks

Well, it's that time again, when a frisson of creativity pulses through my seventeen remaining neurons and generates a great idea that's sure to make a fortune for the joehead who decides she's had enough of the same old same old and wants to rent Mick Jagger's house on Mustique for her next vacation.

I call it the Gutter Ball™ but you might prefer something else — a rose by any other name, after all....

But I digress.

The other day I was up on a ladder clearing the leaves from my front gutter and once again wishing there were some way to do the same in the back of my house, where the gutter is above the second story, some twenty–five feet above the concrete patio.

No way am I going up on the roof and my ladder doesn't go that high and even if it did I wouldn't.

Then the penny dropped.

A waterproof ball, made from plastic, rubber, metal, ceramic, carbon fiber or whatever material works best, with mincing teeth, solar–powered, that you simply drop in your gutter and forget about.

It slowly makes its way up and down the gutter, chewing away at the leaves and debris, unattended and unwatched, keeping your gutters clear and flowing forever.

Such a good idea.

I'd buy one in a flash and so would millions of other people.

There it is: take it.