How does one green up their lawn while being true to keeping their carbon footprint small? We've got the push mower but it just doesn't leave the grass quite long enough and is tough to keep the blades sharp for really clean cutting. There have been times we've thought about going the lawn service route, but the noise, exhaust and annoyance factor is quite high.

Enter Solar Green Lawn Care. We recently signed up with this great new service. What's so different? Solar Green uses battery powered equipment that is charged from their solar-powered trailer. A few times a year they plug in to the house to run the edger, the one piece of non-battery powered equipment they have. It's a terrific concept and I'm quite happy to have such a service here in Boise.

On top of all that they have very reasonable rates and should be able to keep them reasonable even when the price of gas continues to spiral upwards.

Singing Phil Vassar's song Tim McGraw tells us:

I think I'll take a moment, celebrate my age
The ending of an era and the turning of a page
Now it's time to focus in on where I go from here
Lord have mercy on my next thirty years

I'm measuring not in 30-year spans but in a third of life spans. Having just put up the score card on the first third it is time to turn to the second third. My family was very nice and procured some long-desired toys that will help focus my next third on staying in better shape. The Cannondale parking area now has another member. Sadly, it is also the first Cannondale that I have owned which does not bear the "Made in USA" label. The last Cannondales I purchased came with a manual declaring their proud factory and a video telling the company's tale. Granted the video was a VHS tape which I would have to hunt for a way to play now days but it remains a sad marker on the changing of the times and I contributed to it. Cannondale and Trek among others do still make bikes in the USA but they are the higher end bikes.  Read more »