The front yard was dry and sandy and covered in dull green islands of couch grass.

It was during one of these fleeting visits, as he stepped out of his car and into his front yard, that the secret police pounced.

A ground squirrel flashed across the front yard and into the woodpile.

In the front yard the pot-bellied officer was scowling and grunting, exclaiming angrily to the monkish gatekeeper.

Her small front yard was bounded by a three-foot wrought-iron fence; on her front step, there was a braided welcome mat.