You get to March here in the Valley of the Sun and suddenly you’re scrambling to get stuff done before the serious heat comes in. Heck, even yesterday while staining the Tiki bar it was mighty warm reaching all those hard-to-reach places under the Tahitian thatch with stain and brush. Sadly, the heat seasons have taken their toll on the thatch roof, which is now in dire need of some replacement material. I found this cool website that has exactly what I’m going to need, but who would have thought thatch would cost so much? Ah, the cost of whimsy and the love of tropical places!

I also realized yesterday that I’ve also still got some painting to do on the patio. The coral paint on those surfaces most exposed to the heat and sun have really faded, it will definitely not last another summer. So a day of painting next weekend looks to definitely be in order there. So much for working on my golf game!

The swimming pool is definitely not ready-for-prime-time; it’s been cloudy for the better part of three weeks now and I’ve tried everything I can think of chemical-wise to get it clear. I’m guessing the water temp will hit 70 sometime this week, so we’re only weeks away from opening day. As much as I’ve been putting it off, a call to the local pool techs to come out and check the filtering and vacuum systems out is on the to-do list.

And finally, there is the Big Kahuna of Valley of the Sun summer preparation – the A/C system annual check-up. It goes without saying that the one thing you definitely don’t want to have go on the fritz during the summer is your A/C. I still remember that night in August one of the first few years we were here realizing that the A/C unit had stopped working. In just a couple of hours the inside had already hit the 90s and we were rigging up a “cool room” to keep the rabbits from getting heat sick.

At least this is all just minor stuff. We’ve put big dollars into the house the past few years to keep the maintenance costs and effort fairly minimal, and while there are still areas that need upgrading – things like the kitchen countertops, remodeling the second bath, and resurfacing the patio area around the pool, to name a few – we’re into a nice little stretch of low-cost maintenance. Not a bad thing.