It seems like we’ve gotten out of what we here in the Valley of the Sun call “winter” when, all of a sudden, it’s time to prepare The Great White Shank hacienda for summer. When Carmelo the landscaper shows up with four people instead of the customary two, and all are carrying every kind of landscaping tool and machine imaginable, you know the time has come.

All the flowering bushes and ornamental grasses get a severe buzz, and all the winter’s die-off are removed.

The palm tree in the back corner that has always struggled – it was planted too close to the other two, which ultimately crowded it out – finally died in the last freeze and has been cut down – to be replaced, BTW, with a Tiki statue promising good health and good fortune (the need for which cannot be taken too lightly).

The watering system is turned back on after a four-month hiatus.

The back lawn is swept of mesquite tree sheddings.

Preparations for the new bushes that will add a little color and character to the left side of the driveway are completed – a couple of red yuccas to balance off the right side should be a nice touch.

Remember that, unlike in my old New England home, spring here is quite short. The temps are already headed to the ’80s next week and we’ll see our first flirtation with 90 in a matter of weeks, with the first 100s due by mid-May.

And then, it’s hold your breath time and hope the A/C unit goes another year without the call of “Red Alert!!”