The New Riding Lawnmower!

Okay, okay, so I actually got this in a joke from a friend of mine about a husband who's wife wanted a riding lawnmower, so he made her one. He seemed surprised that she didn't hug him and squeel for joy. But if someone made ME one of these, I would! It's awesome! Maybe we can start a new bike-mower fad and sweep the nation. I would maybe stop bitching so much about people watering their lawns if they used this kind of 'riding' mower. Maybe.

Also on my mind today, new cars. Chrysler is coming out with an awesome looking line of electrics, featuring a sports model, a luxury sedan, and my fave, the Jeep Wrangler. I have a wonderful vision in my head of a quaint little garage with my little electric jeep sitting out front, and a windturbine on the end of the roof where the old fashioned tv antennae used to be. Ah, a picture of America, as I'd like it to be. I'd wash my jeep in the yard so the grass would get watered and use only biodegradable soap. And hey, by the time these cars hit the market, proposed in 2010, I might be able to afford one. Of course Dodge said the Charger was coming out for YEARS before it happened...only time will tell.

At the other end of the spectrum I was appalled by a Cadillac commercial the other day touting the fact that their new Escalade Hybrid got a whole friggin' 20 mpgs! Wow. Twenty. You guys seriously need to step it up. It hurts me every day to drive my gas-guzzler. Help me get away from the pain, people.

'Green' lawns, not green?

Here is a fascinating article I found on WorldChanging.com which I discovered through the Sierra Club magazine. Its about how the American ideal of that perfect, crabgrass-free lawn is more unsustainable than first apparent.

Kill Your Lawn!

Personally, I lived in Arizona for many years and we never had any grass, and I never wanted any grass. I come from a family of farmers, gardeners, and landscapers, and both my Grandfather and my Mother managed golf courses at some point in their lives. I used to go to work with my mom on the golf course in AZ, and it was a little appalling to see all that water pouring out of sprinklers onto green green grass, when there was a dry river bed not 100 yards away. Here in Maryland, much of what I remember as crops and dairy farms as a kid is now part of a huge network of sod farms that covers Frederick and Montgomery counties. I have to wonder what good growing all that grass does for anyone, except the guy (Coughahem, Chuck Wade) who is selling all that sod. And the guys he pays to mow it, maybe.
Anyway, my mom's house in AZ is all native plants that were growing there before the house was built (you can't remove some of them anyway, because they are protected. Go Saguaros!) and a couple of really nice fruit trees, oranges, apricots, and a large garden. Of course in AZ, growing food requires actual watering more than it would here in MD, but still, its better than 2.5 acres of useless grass! I live in a townhouse and have a postage stamp sized lawn that never requires watering due to our geographic location, and I wouldn't water it anyway, even if it all shriveled up and died. I really would like a veggie garden, but the topography of my postage stamp would require a lot of leveling and terracing to make that work, and then there'd be no where for the dog to do her business. So I'll just stick with my low maintenance lawn care for now.