We're at the home of those I fondly referred to as "The Three Amigos".
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| Shiloh on the left, Jake on the right, Zeena below |
Unfortunately Zeena passed away since our previous visit.
Zeena had a collection of soft toys, and she particularly liked to carry around the sheep you see in this photo. I wasn't fond of her having a sheep as a toy, but she was oh-so-gentle with it and lovingly carried it around from place to place. Rest in peace, Zeena.
Greg always asks these homeowners for a honey-do list, and they're happy to oblige. Although Greg always checks in with them before he does anything, they are happy to give him the freedom to do whatever he thinks is needed. He's definitely proven himself over the previous visits, so it's easy to see why they put their faith in him.
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| Yep, that's a chainsaw near Greg's feet! |
Although he did some things indoors, this time most of his jobs were outside. He usually says he'll romance me by taking me to a hardware store, but this time it was two trips to the (swimming) pool store for parts. He's happy with the results of his work though as the pump, filter, and Willy - he named the pool vacuum - are all in top form again now.
It was also time for a trim for trees and bushes. He'd worked on the larger trees on our January visit, but wanted to tackle the rest this time. I took care of the bushes, and he tackled the trees. I then helped with clean up as there were lots of branches.
Here's the grapefruit tree , before its pruning.
It's difficult to see from this photo, but it was actually heavy with fruit, but no light could get in to ripen them properly. Here's a photo I took from under the tree, looking out.
Here's the tree now, after its pruning. Greg also took a large branch off the tree in the background, a palo verde, as it was crowding out the grapefruit tree. The grapefruit tree currently leans to one side because of that, but hopefully with more space it'll now be able to right itself over time.
Although lots of grapefruit had to come down with the branches, there are still lots left. Now the sunlight will also be able to ripen them.
Last year when we were here there was what looked like a dead tree behind the grapefruit tree. It had no life showing on it the whole year, with just dark, dried out hollows that were supposed to be pomegranates. You'll see the remnants of one in the top left corner of the photo below. This year, the tree has miraculously greened up and has beautiful flowers on it. At first we thought we were looking at red seed pods as they were so shiny (middle left photo), but as we walked around the tree we saw the evolution of the flower. It's beautiful, but we won't get to see the fruit to know if they're healthy this year.
The trees aren't the only things that were overdue for a "haircut". We've now been travelling for more than three months, which means I was well overdue for one. However, I panic at the thought of someone unfamiliar cutting my hair. Today I gave in and had it cut, as I just couldn't see myself lasting until the end of April. I was a little sneaky though, as our homeowner went for a cut last week. I waited until she came home, checked it out, and then decided I'd take a chance. All went well and I'll be fine again now until I get back to Canada. Phew!
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Location: Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Weather: High 75ºF (24ºC) low 53ºF (12ºC),
a drop of 20ºF since the weekend!
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