I used to own a high quality gas-powered Honda lawnmower, which I used to mow our front yard in Wayland - after "mow and blow" crews repeatedly infested our lawn with crabgrass.   I had to drain the gas out every fall, then try to get it started again in the spring.  The Honda was also heavy and tough to wrestle around the curves in our yard - show in the photo above.

All of my battery powered construction tools are Ryobi One+, so I was intrigued when I saw Ryobi's new range of 40 volt lawn care tools at Home Depot.  I bought the 40 volt string trimmer first, which worked great.  Then the 40 volt mower.  It weighed less than half as much as my big Honda, and also worked great -- no "startup" challenges!  I was concerned about battery life with the mower, however.  How many batteries would I need to finish both sides of our front yard?  It turned out that one 5aH 40 volt battery lasted the entire time - even with thick grass - and still had 50% left!  I used the same battery with the string trimmer to finish the job.

So I bought the 40 volt blower too, which gare me a complete set.   They all use the same 40 volt batteries, so I can swap them out an put one back on the charger for big spring and fall cleanups.

I would never go back to gas powered lawn equipment.  Battery power is much easier to use.

One important tip with these and all lithium batteries:  Immediately recharge them after they are depleted.  If you leave a lithium battery in a discharged state for more than a day or two, this can damage the battery.  Also store batteries on a charger over the winter.   

We purchased a used 2014 Prius V in 2017 which we recently transferred to our son who lives in NYC, he loves the car.  Recently we purchased another used Prius, a 2013 with relatively low mileage which we love..  Our plan is to make our next car purchase electric.

Something that often prevents me from eating vegetarian is that I don't know how to cook as well without meat. All the recipes I learned from my parents are meat-centric, but this winter I learned an awesome recipe from my friend who is a fantastic vegetarian cook. •Coconut Milk •Cauliflower •Carrots •Onions •Garlic •Ginger •Lime zest and juice •Brown sugar •Fish sauce •Thai Curry Paste Steam veggies in big covered pan for 5 min, then uncover and brown on pretty high heat for 10. Meanwhile, whisk together a can of coconut milk, about a tablespoon of fishsauce and thai red or green curry paste and however much red pepper you want When the veggies are done sauté three cloves of garlic and a tbs of shredded ginger root in the center of the pan for a minute and then pour in the sauce. Simmer for 5 minutes and taste test it. You can add paprika, curry powder or chili powder if you'd like to. Also you can add cilantro to pretty much any meal and it will taste good. Sometimes I put a scoop of greek yogurt on the side as a sort of creamy sauce and protein boost. Enjoy!

As part of our decarbonization plan, we recently replaced our gas hot water heater with a heat pump alternative. The new water does a great job, water is hot and plentiful. We went with a Rheem and a slightly bigger tank as it can take the water a bit longer to heat up than the gas option. Coming in 2023 there will be robust $2,000 federal tax credit for heat pump appliances. Don't wait until the water heater fails, plan for it and proactively replace it. We had a scare with brown water and issues that made us take the plunge for our 12 year old heater.  We loved our plumber DH MacLeod, office@dhmplumbing.com ; (617) 828-6126‬. They offered competitive prices, transparency about the state rebate, and a referral to an electrician, we needed to update the electrical service. 

Our insulation project was great. We took advantage of MassSave incentives resulting in a warmer house. And the attic insulation solved an ice dam problem, along with some roof repairs that had been a chronic issue.