THESE PICTURES WERE TAKEN IN MAY

The lovely flowers Neal & The Six-Pack sent to the motel.

That's a gerbera daisy in front

Each of the tiger lilies did bloom, in sequence

The front of the house . . .

The Natal Plum under the windows were affected by the killing frost;
I did a bit of clearing out, but they have THORNS
two of which I had to dig out of my fingers.
They'll eventually have to be replaced; same with those agaves.

The stone chimney will have to be tuckpointed.

There is such an emphasis on walls and gates in AZ;
I always have to remember to unlock both the front door AND its gate,
and every house has at least one wall around it.

The yellow sign on the front door gate is from Hospice,
telling anyone going in NOT to call 911, but Hospice,
if the client/patient needs help.

That is the corner of 13 Place and 22 Avenue;
13 Place is the only road into the subdivision,
which makes it nice & quiet.
The Avenue deadends at this house, so it is EXTRA quiet.

Before my Dad "took over" the yardwork
(because it was something my Mom enjoyed doing),
this was green and full of gerbera daisies, which I intend to restore . . .
not the green part, but the daisies and LOTS of other flowers, cacti & small palms,
with gravel & rock; it will look better than it sounds.

Methinks a new mailbox is required, too.
Maybe a Green Bay Packers one?

Ficus tree on the right; the brown is from the killing frost this winter,
and the dead branches will be taken out on 30 May.

Yes, there is a gate in front of the driveway, too, which does close & lock.
Very big on privacy, my Dad is . . .

The view from the garage . . .

This ficus tree is at the end of its life, altho I love the exposed root structure;
it reminds me of a boabob tree in Africa.
I suppose it will have to come out, but not yet.

The flowering bushes are (very poisonous) oleanders,
which can be cut down to about four feet high every year;
they grow up like weeds, the white more so than the red, unfortunately.
You see them all over the city. I wonder if everyone knows how poisonous they are?
So long as the dogs are never allowed to be in the front yard
long enough to chew on them, they'll be safe.

This area of the yard will have to have completely new landscaping, too.

This used to be open and you could walk to the empty area and then down to the canal.
Oh yes, there are canals all over Yuma . . . water here comes from the Colorado River
which is only a few blocks away and marks the border with California.
Until he retired, my Dad would kayak on the river.

When my parents moved here, theirs was the only subdivision in the area;
roadrunners still ran freely along their walls, roof and thru the scrub.
A date palm orchard & store were located across the street from the subdivision.

Then the subdivision next door was built - lovely houses, on very small lots -
and the city wanted to pull 22 Avenue through.
The developer wanted a million dineri for the two lots needed;
the City of Yuma instead built the wall and made this a dead-end street. Luckily.

My Dad planted these oleanders;
one of the folks on the other side was emptying his pool water over the wall;
the chlorine killed some of the oleanders.
Words were exchanged; pool is no longer emptied over the wall.

My Dad also put down the gravel to decrease the dust;
I will have this area redone also . . . if we have to look at it, it may as well look nice.

The view across the street, where Sue & Kenny live.

The Canal is located behind their house.

That is an olive tree; unfortunately, fruit is not edible by man or beast,
altho there is a lovely bird nest in it, with baby birds.

The agaves appear to have been struck dead by the frost this winter,
but Brian the Landscape Guy says not,
so I will let them be for the time being. I doubt they will flower this year, tho.

I walked to the end of this street; what a lot of garbage!
Turns out that the government bought several houses there,
and rents them to military families, who don't take care of them.
Luckily, they never come to this end of the street,
so I don't have to deal with them.
It would be nice if they were again privately-owned,
as that area is a blight; the rest of the subdivision is quite nice.