Look who is still choosing to sun bathe, even with plenty of shade 

and easy dog-door access into the nice cool air-conditioned house.

Meanwhile Pokey has been working overtime,

rearranging  the patio furniture.

Arizona's stay-at-home order was rescinded on May 15 (despite the fact that case/death numbers were still rising) and 3 weeks later here's where we are.  Health experts expect another significant rise in numbers once we hit the incubation period following Memorial Day in another week or so.  EVERYONE wants to go forward with their lives - but masks and social distancing would have been smart.... and people weren't!

Alex left for California around 5:30 this morning and stopped in to say goodbye before he left. I was still in bed, though awake; I'd been hoping to fall back asleep since I didn't sleep well last night.  

Alex expects to return around Thursday, and though I don't see much of him when he's here, still it's going to be really quiet for the next several days while Brownie and I hold down the fort.

Yesterday I started trimming parts of the smelly purple "bush" out back since it had totally blocked the flagstone path.   Before it gets too warm today I hope to finish that trimming - and then possibly move on to another overgrown area.  

I just did a search to see if I could figure out what type of tree it is, and this seems a likely candidate.  So far I haven't read anything about its smell, which reminds me of licorice (which I hate.)

Vitex, Texas Lilac, or Chaste Tree

Vitex agnus–castus

Deciduous large shrub or small tree with distinctive palmately compound leaves. Profuse spikes of lavender flowers, blooming heavily in the early summer, and then sporadically throughout the summer and fall. Vitex is heat, drought and pest tolerant.

Exposure: Full sun; partial sun

Size: Height — 10–15 feet tall; width — up to 15 feet wide

Bloom time: May till frost

Care: Vitex is coarse growing and will become a small tree quickly; flowering is more spectacular if the plant is pruned heavily after bloom