The heat is still very oppressive here in the Valley of the Sun and it looks like we’ll be deep into a hit-or-miss monsoon kind of a week. All around it feels like late summer – even the locals start complaining about the heat and everyone’s counting the days until the second week of October when the heat usually breaks. But even with all the summer heat around there are still signs that the seasons are beginning to change. Had to go into a Petsmart today for some rabbit food and the place was decked out in Halloween black and orange. Nothing like putting little doggykins in a costume to show the other dog owners whose pooch is the cutest.

It’s an odd year, so Carmelo gave me the heads up that he’ll be mowing down the grass the first week of October and re-planting winter rye on the front, side, and back lawns. The front yard looks fantastic as is, but the back and side yards are ready for a good recycle. The heat of the past month really did them in and they’re looking awfully sparse in most places. In the back, the mesquite tree keeps much of it in the shade for a good portion of the day, so this year we’re going to try a winter rye / shade blend to see how that goes. The sprinklers all need to be adjusted as well. For the side yard we’re going to do the same thing, but with more shade seed than rye, since the lemon and lime trees and the house give it far more shade than sun.

Not sure where all the mourning doves have gone, but we’ve only got a few hardy stragglers from earlier in the year when they were all over the place. Same thing with the foo-foo birds. I’m thinking they’ve all headed over to the water-collection lake about a mile east of here. At least that’s where I’d be.

In the back there’s quite a bit of rock-clearing to be done so I can pull up the irrigation lines to check for leaks. Our water bill is still abnormally high, and we lost one of nice queen palms due to water rot, so it doesn’t take a genius to put 2+2 together and figure out that’s where the leak is.

And, it being an off-year it’s also the year to wash down and re-stain the tiki bar and our tiki statue.

Once the heat breaks I’m gonna try and find something other than petunias to place in the front pots and the large pot on our patio table. I’m open to suggestions. Although, I’ll have to admit, the hydrangeas I planted have really done well, even with the heat and the dust. Course, they’re silk, so they ought to look nice!