Arrived at home at last, splendid weather. All in good order except the smoke alarm was beeping. Had to borrow a ladder, and this was for the lowest one. Now a bit peeved that 2 others have been set at 10' heights. I guess I'll have to buy a giant ladder after all, drat. What were they thinking? It's not like you put them up once and then don't have to climb up there any more.

And garden tools ,asap. The aloe survived but its big old terracotta pot finally cracked in half. The prickly pears have white stuff on them, fungus? Lots of green stuff growing all over (tumbleweed etc), which means they had a great monsoon season, but apparently I have to rip out a bunch of the spreading plants that make 'goatheads', and trim back suckers on the stump of a desert willow some idiot whacked down years ago, try to get one or two viable stems to flourish.

Meanwhile the birds have a few spots on the veranda where they like to poop. What's the best method for dealing with this stuff? I would scrape and bleach, but reckon that would screw up the concrete.

And the welcome mat! Got encrusted with crud and feathers, then blown around and folded in half. I live in a place where the welcome mat needs paperweights!