Bright blue skies. A strong breeze from the northeast. Feeling you better put a hat on while you’re skimming the pool.

All signs that winter is over here in the Valley of the Sun. Today was in the 80s, and it wasn’t just the temp but the strength of the sun behind it that provides ample evidence that we’re just a hop, skip, and a jump away from summer. Not summer as the folks around here know it, summer as I as a New Englander know it. I mean, warm days like this constitute summer as a New Englander knows it, but it’s just spring for folks who occupy the great Desert Southwest.

I’m staining the Tiki Bar and our protective health / wealth / happiness protector Tiki this weekend and it feels like I’m getting to it not a moment too soon. I wish I was hitting golf balls, but this is the kind of stuff that absolutely needs to get done – and pronto – before the heat really rolls in. We’ve got another six weeks of warm weather before the summer heat kicks in, but you don’t want to leave yourself in a position of positively having to work outside once the temps get into the 90s.