Whereas back home in Massachusetts May can be a dicey month filled with weather extremes, for us here in the Valley of the Sun, May is the first summer month. The pool hit 80 last week, and were it not for the serious mix of chemicals I threw into it this past weekend, I would have taken my first serious swim on Sunday when our outdoor thermometer hit 100 for the first time this year.

The front and back yards are ready for the serious heat. The queen palms have been given their magnesium feedings and are now getting a pail of water poured into their bowls every 2-3 days. Carmelo and I have our bushes trimmed and cleaned up so there’s not much more for anyone to do between now and October except cut the grass. I’ve also rearranged some of the whimsical Margaritaville signs and wind chimes out back to give it a bit of a fresher look. Pictures to come as soon as I figure out how to take and upload photos from our new LG phones.

The only thing left to do is recapture the Tiki bar area for recreational pleasure. I’ve had a tarp covering the area for the past few weeks as a way to inform the neighborhood cat we’re no longer open for business (and I do mean business!), and we’ve seen no sight of him since that time. In another couple of weeks or so I’ll remove the tarp and the top layer of sand in the areas where the cat was using, and then seriously water down the area to drain whatever urine smell that remains into the ground beneath. After that, I’ll replace the area with a fresh coating of sand, lay down on top of that some screen material, then cover that with a light coating of sand. I don’t think the cat will be very happy with that arrangement, even if he were to return.

All that’s left after that is to wait for the monsoon season.