dry patchy grass

Grab the turf and pull on it, if it comes up like carpet keep pulling it back and look for little white grubs as seen in the middle of the picture.

These are Bill Bugs - they eat the grass root off just below the stem.

You can use Grub killer from the local store. Be sure and water it in. The retail products are slow to kill the larvea - if it is a serious infestation call a professional and ask for Areana.

Watering at this point is very important. Remember the grass root is very short so it has to have water constantly to try and recover.

Here comes the heat

Mowing Too Low

One of the biggest mistakes homeowners make is to mow their lawn too low. Residential mowers are set up to mow 1.5 to 3 inches high with the thought that customers want to make lawns look like carpet. But as the heat hits it becomes brown carpet.

The truth is:
the blade helps support the root base

grass that is high enough to shade the roots helps keep the water from evaporating

You should raise your mower deck at least one if not two notches as the heat hits

White stuff on my Trees

If you see what looks like puffs of white Cotton on your Maple trees this is a sign of an insect called Scale.
Scale is an insect that overwinters in a hard cover which erupts into that white puff you see in the picture. Unsightly but the real problem is the insect sucks on the plant much like a parasite which weakens your tree.
The best preventative is a systemic drench in the fall or spring but it can be sprayed at the time of outbreak.