Now that the Tiki bar deck is done I don’t know what to do with myself. There’s this welcome feeling of emptiness that comes when a project you’ve been intensely involved in comes to an end, and I’ve got a little over a week before I’ll be heading back east for Goodboys week. Oh, it’s not that there isn’t still work to be done – lots of house cleaning, for certain. And there’s still work outside to be done – consulting with Carmelo on what to with my vanishing lawns on the east side and in the back, for instance. But most likely we’ll use this year as a building block for the seeding of winter rye in three months and just put topsoil down in the bad areas and adjust the sprinklers accordingly.

Or…my neighbor John says he’s going to try artificial turf in his back yard, says it’s incredible how natural the phony grass surfaces they’re now creating are, so I’m having Arizona Luxury Lawns come out and estimate what it would cost to replace my back lawn. Not only would it reduce our water usage and be good for the environment, but the Tiki bar deck wouldn’t be getting wet whenever the sprinklers come on.

For now? I think I’ll be washing floors since the Tiki deck work tracked a lot of dirt into the house. And, ahead of my planned final round of Arizona golf coming Friday, there are golf clubs to clean and watch the sky for any monsoon season activity. Sure beats sawing, drilling, and pounding nails into wood!