We met with the contractor early this morning, as well as talking with him last night to give him a heads-up about the wrong tree being planted. Today he brought some plants for us to pick the ones we like.

The trees got moved. The large tree is in shock, but is guaranteed and will be replaced if it doesn't "come back."

Lawn is in. Sprinklers are in for the grass, but not for the plants or for around the pool area. Grass isn't finished, because we are still waiting for the other tree.

We drove around the Phoenix area to three rock places to pick out the rock that will be in what's left of the dirt. We picked out 7/8" white marble. We wanted some colorful river rock like we found online, but nobody had it here. Our second choice was white, to reflect some of the valley heat. It's quite lovely and I think we'll be happy with what we chose.

One thing: On the way home, we got to drive into a dust storm. Not a pretty sight--and at one point visibility was about ten feet. The wind was rugged enough to blow the Jeep around a bit and to down trees. As we were coming out of the worst part of the dust, it began to rain. When water hit the windshield, it brought dirt with it.

Another: When we got here, I was very pleased that everything seemed to be intact. However, a half hour later when I went out front to take photos of the daily progress, I found one of the new trees on Conan's car.

Anyway, we're making progress, but there's still a ton to do and the landscape contractor will be out of town this week.