Any suggestions for cool lawnmowers?

Looking for alternatives to stinky petrol powered mowers and (for us) ineffective reel mowers.

goat see
Creative Commons License photo credit: maessive

First, let’s set the stage:

  • I really don’t like the traditional suburban lawn. Tons of chemical, energy, and effort to create and maintain a biologically unstable mono culture so that I can … putt … or something. So, so silly.
  • I’m also a big non-fan of petrol powered lawnmowers. They’re noisy, smelly, polluting beasts that beat the crap out of the grass, ripping it instead of actually cutting it.

As a consequence we’ve explored a bunch of alternatives, but none have really worked terribly well. We really liked the idea of reel mowers, but our experience with several of them makes it clear that our lawn is way too uneven and bumpy for a reel mower. Sigh.

What would be perfect would be a solar powered Roomba-like robot mower. WeatherGirl correctly pointed out that this is frequently known as a “goat”; sadly, the city classifies goats as livestock rather than lawn tools, and we aren’t allowed keep livestock in town. Damn.

So, anyone have any ideas for an interesting alternative to buying a stinky petrol powered monster?

Thanks in advance!

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Maybe some science would be useful in this situation?

Hmmm… Applying vaunted American know-how to find new solutions to the problem of energy independence? What an odd, odd thought, especially when McCain supports a tiny, slow band-aid that … well … won’t really help at all.

We were in Fargo a few days ago buying a car. We sold our one and only car when we went abroad, and are currently on borrowed wheels. There was serious discussion of not even getting a car, or perhaps leasing a car for the winter months while going without a petrol powered vehicle in the summer when we can bike around town. In the end, though, we decided to go ahead and buy a shiny blue Honda Fit. (This is the second time we’ve bought the exact same car as my sister a year or two after she bought hers. We’re not very original, I’m afraid. That, and my sister rocks!)

The Honda dealer said that the demand for Civics, hybrids, and Fits has been really high, and they’ve had periods where they haven’t had any Civics to show people, including used ones! (And this is North Dakota, where I suspect trucks have long out-numbered compacts.) Given that most people won’t keep a car for all of the 7 years it will be before we see any of the off-shore oil from McCain’s proposal, Obama’s plan seems to be much more in touch with the mood of the populace.

What I’d really like is for the U.S. people (and government) to realize that there’s real value in basic scientific research, and understand that kind of research is going to have to be an important part of any solution to the current energy and climate problems.

While in Fargo we also bought Sub-Evil a new bike, and will probably buy a new bike for WeatherGirl in the next week or two. This, combined with the fact that mine is getting a substantial tune-up at the moment, means we’ll all be on two spiffy wheels as much as possible, at least when the weather allows.

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