Inspired by two other Walletpop bloggers who wrote; Mad about gas prices? Light your car on fire! and Mad about gas prices? Go to a dunking booth, I thought I'd weigh in on the subject with my idea. If you're mad about gas prices, stop mowing your lawn!

Although your local municipality might take exception to your sparing the blade, in addition to making a passive gas pricing protest, not cutting your lawn could save you a bundle of money. Consumer Reports states that lawn maintenance costs about $700 per acre, per year. Your grass roots protest might put some green back in your pocket.

If sowing your seeds of discontent puts furrows into the brows of your neighbors, when your grass gets too long you could just get a goat. Although they smell bad, attract flies, and have little regard for what vegetation they eat or don't eat, I can tell you personally that goats manicure a lawn very nicely. The biggest problem with goats though, is that they tend to roam if not well fenced. Be prepared to replace your neighbor's rhododendrons often. Hence the reason our household is now goat-less.

Smartware products, a division of F&M Tool and Plastics Inc., is in the business of recycling discarded industrial and consumer waste into useful and beautiful new products.

Utilizing everything from computer monitor cases to discarded water jugs and running shoes, Smartware products reclaims waste plastics and returns them to the product cycle in the form of items such as landscape timbers, speed bumps and landscape containers. Possibly the best part of the whole proposition is that they do it all right here in America, reducing our need for landfill capacity and creating much needed economic stimulation.

For an overview of Smartware products, distributor locations and sales team contacts, please check out the company website. A purchase from this company may prove to be not only an exercise in environmental responsibility but also a show of commitment to national pride. Who knows, your old running shoes may now be someone's patio Rhododendron pot.

The Daily Deal for February 24, 2008

You've waited for him and he's here at last. A garden gnome in realistic full color is shooting the moon. As if the pose isn't great enough by itself, this little pointy capped pixie can be had for the astounding price of just $12.95 plus $5.95 for UPS ground delivery shipping. If you purchase eight of the little buggers, you can have them shipped for free! (limited time free shipping offer).

I found this whimsical gnome at Perpetual Kid by comparison shopping via the amazing NexTag website. If a booty bearing woodland citizen isn't quite what you had in mind for a garden pal, NexTag has comparison prices on thousands of other home and garden items.

This feisty garden gnome will be the talk of your garden. Your ceramic bunnies and wooden twirling cardinals will just love him. Your neighbors will probably turn green with envy. Even the mail carrier should get a chuckle. You can also take him to work and place him in your cubicle, but you might want to stash him when your boss's humorless lumbering footsteps approach your work station.

He's the perfect gift for your green thumbed friends who have everything and he can serve as a gardening reminder also. Remember that old gardening rule: Plant above ground crops by the full moon.