Pickleball Video

I am very remiss about checking on the other Palm Creek blogs that are available at:  www.palmcreek.blogspot.com

 

I was just surfing over there and saw this video from the March 2011 tournament.  It is awesome!  Congrats to whoever did the video and editing.  Check it out at:  Pickleball Tournament    Actually, I saw Rosemary Reese this morning as we were both in the Activities Room to get our new cookbooks and she asked if I had seen the video.

Once the season gets in full swing, I won’t be writing very often because I’ll finally be OUTSIDE playing instead of hibernating indoors in my AC.  Be sure to watch the blogs from all the active clubs because that is where the action will be.  If there are any clubs that want to start a blog on that site, I’ll be glad to help you get set up.    

 

Lots of Pickle People

Another Monday morning brings the pickleball people onto the courts.  Their numbers seem to be growing even in this hot weather.  Eight courts were filled with activity!

Meanwhile, Eddie from the maintenance staff is driving the water truck along Cole Circle to flush all the sewer lines.  I think we could call him ‘Sweaty Eddie” today because he looked like he was sweltering in the heat.  Palm Creek is still working closely with the city to monitor sewer odor along Henness Road and Sandy Desert Drive. 

Now that the village home area has expanded to the north and more homes are added, they’ve also extended the sprinkler system down that way.  Looks like a rather extensive project.

We’re still under an excessive heat warning according to the weatherman and the local police.  Temps will remain over 110 for a couple days yet making this the hottest month of August in history.  Ugh.  With a little luck, they say we may cool down to 103 by the weekend.  Never thought I’d look forward to a COOL 103.  It keeps life interesting.

Thursday night storm

Connie and I rode my golf cart over to Lynne Rogers’ for dinner and cards Thursday night.  Nice clear HOT evening but no hint of a storm in sight.  While we were playing cards, we could hear the wind start to blow so peeked out the front door.  Slammed it shut right away because of all the DIRT flying around out there.  A few minutes later we heard RAIN and lots of it.  Tried to stand out on Lynne’s patio to watch but found ourselves getting too wet as the wind was howling with lots of loud thunder and streaks of lightning.  It actually rained sideways for a while giving my golf cart a thorough wash.  The whole storm only lasted about 20 minutes and we had about a quarter inch of rain.  Finally!  I won’t complain about the soggy cart seats for driving home later that evening as it was so nice to have had some rain even if it was fleeting.

 

Friday morning I had to get up early to help serve at the pancake breakfast up at the club house.  There was only one report of damage from the previous night’s storm and that occurred right in the over-night parking area where one of the trash dumpsters actually got blown across the parking lot and rammed into a big 5th wheel that was parked in the lot.  There had to have been a small microburst in the area to generate that much force!  The dumpster was 2/3 full so was heavy by itself.  It blew across the gravel, down the curb, across the paved parking lot and still had the force to ram into the parked 5th wheel so hard that it actually broke through the side of the rig. 

  OUCH!!

With wind gusts that strong, it is amazing that we didn’t have more damage.  Just found two houses with loose skirting and a tipped over BBQ grill. 

The pancake breakfast was great…………thank you Linda and Diane.  We had some good laughs during our time in the hot kitchen with ovens going and the 400 degree grill emanating heat waves over us kitchen staff.  Big dollars were spent this summer upgrading the air conditioning in the ballroom.  We will ALL benefit from that! 

My camera stayed in my pocket for the rest of the morning so I didn’t get photos of the people in attendance.  Sorry about that…………..but you’ve seen them eating before. 

Not much else happening this week other than some beautiful cactus blooms in front of 1703 (Les and Betty Jacobsen).

September Newsletter

Today is another Thursday so Don and I drove down to Chick-Fil-A for our weekly breakfast.  We not only had a great FREE breakfast, but had fun chatting with the other Palm Creekers that were there enjoying their meal.  We also met the young good-looking man who owns the restaurant (Nathan Vickroy) and got a chance to thank him for such a generous promotion.  When you return to us this season, put Chick-Fil-A on your calendar so you stop in and thank Nathan for his generosity…..and let’s be sure to BUY an occasional meal too.

 

       

Here is a chance to support Casa Grande local schools.  Start saving now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you golfers stroll around the course this coming season and you spot those nice looking yardage markers, you can thank Bill Wrightson for his painstaking care of painting and touching up the paint colors.  Bill volunteers endless time at helping to keep our golf course looking its best.

Speaking of endless tasks, there are all the small maintenance chores that happen all summer…..and when you come back you’ll never know how hard folks had to work to get it done.  We stopped to chat with Neil while he was replacing a broken stop sign post broken off from one of our recent dust storms.

I’ve watched this gentleman shovel gravel into a wheelbarrow ALL DAY and spread it out around driveways and homes in the area.  Then he takes the time to sweep away any dust he may have left behind.  It is 111 degrees out there!  I think he could work circles around any other 10 people!

Hot Hot Hot–Internet Access—8th Fairway cleanup—pickleball courts

This excessive heat warning just came in through the email I have set for the local police watch.  The weatherman warns us regularly and now the police are doing the same.  Looks like we’ll definitely have a hot week ahead.  Connie Morin and I head up to the swimming pool in the evenings but it is like bath water now.  Anyone have a few tons of ice to donate?  The Channel 12 weatherman said we are having the hottest month of August on record.  How did the pioneers ever survive out here????????  Must have been some tough people!

AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 10 AM THIS MORNING TO 8 PM MST THURSDAY. 

TEMPERATURE: RECORD OR NEAR RECORD DAILY HIGHS...MAINLY 110 TO 115 DEGREES. WELL ABOVE NORMAL NIGHTTIME LOWS...MAINLY MID 80S TO LOWER 90S.

 

We have exciting news today. 

Internet Access

Crews are digging up the trenches to bring in the fiber optic cable for faster internet throughout the park.  The fiber optic cable will increase the bandwidth into the park and it will then go out to the individual sites through T1 lines.  Should make everyone a lot happier this year.  This is a huge investment for the Dish network folks and shows their dedication to servicing Palm Creek.

8th Fairway Improvement

Fernando and crew were out on the 8th fairway this week taking care of some of your complaints about the tree being in the way.  Complain no more….as it is gone.  We can brag about Fernando’s skill with the track hoe………………He is sharper with a track hoe than Wyatt Earp was with a gun.  (That’s a quote from Will Updyke! )

Next … all the trees along the course are thinned and pruned by hand.

Thanks again to Fernando and crew for all they do to keep the park beautiful.

New Pickleball Courts???  Sewing Center???

Rumor has it that we’re going to get 20-24 new pickleball courts built over near the softball field.  I haven’t seen any action over there yet but sources here seem quite adamant that it is supposed to happen.  Existing courts will all then return to the tennis players. 

That modular building to contain the sewing center is still in the planning stages and awaiting permit approvals from the city.  Again….that is rumor sources only.  Haven’t seen or heard directly from any staff members. 

I probably shouldn’t put this here yet, but lots of folks keep asking so this is all I can supply.

 

Great Website

This is such a nice website for do-it-yourselfers or anyone doing repairs.  Very informative.

Do It Yourself Network

 

Another Poem from the Fromms

 

A POEM FOR MY GETTING OLDER FRIENDS
A row of bottles on my shelf
Caused me to analyze myself.
One yellow pill I have to pop
Goes to my heart so it won't stop.
A little white one that I take
Goes to my hands so they won't shake.
The blue ones that I use a lot
Tell me I'm happy when I'm not.
The purple pill goes to my brain
And tells me that I have no pain.
The capsules tell me not to wheeze
Or cough or choke or even sneeze..
The red ones, smallest of them all
Go to my blood so I won't fall.
The orange ones, very big and bright
Prevent my leg cramps in the night.
Such an array of brilliant pills
Helping to cure all kinds of ills.
But what I'd really like to know.............
Is what tells each one where to go!

Guestbook Entries

To all readers – and especially those of you who write on the guestbook page:
Writing this blog has brought huge rewards and has been my salvation for getting through these long HOT summers when outdoor activities are extremely limited.  My keyboard and I are very good friends by now as we spend many hours together.  Don and I frequently get asked why we stay here in the heat instead of heading off to cooler climates.  Our answer is the same:  “Because we like it here.”  After four years of being full-time RVers, we’ve seen all the sites we want to see and have done all the traveling we care to do.  We’ve been settled in here for six years so far and haven’t gotten bored yet.


Living full time in Palm Creek is like living in two different worlds because of the extreme difference between “season” and “off season”.  We don’t have a spring and fall or summer & winter.  Our year is divided between the time when we’re surrounded by friends and bountiful activities with a full calendar of events and then the other months when it is rare to even see a golf cart or car drive down the street (other than our busy maintenance and landscape crews of course).  The view from our kitchen window changes drastically also.  The three blocks north of us are wide open during summer (off season) with a nice view of the mountains in the distance.  During season those three blocks are filled with beautiful expensive motor homes and RVs and are bursting with activity as people come and go for their daily playground adventures and happy hours.  We thoroughly enjoy meeting new people and revisiting with established friends.  If you should see us sitting out on our patio, please stop by and say howdy.  We don’t plan formal ‘get togethers’ but just enjoy it when folks stop by and the crowd grows.  We can always find more chairs.

Besides that…..we can’t leave now as we’re obligated to stay and watch over many of your homes while you are away.  Our little housewatch program has grown and keeps us delightfully  busy.  There is always the occasional home we find where the AC unit quit, the sprinkler system died or springs a leak, antifreeze evaporates and fills the home with lovely sewer odor, water buckets to refill, wind damage to get repaired, blown off car covers to retrieve, occasional scorpions to elude, spider webs to weave through, and this year drain fly mysteries to solve.  Don and I both carry our cameras everywhere and enjoy sending photos after each house tour and hearing comments back from the owners.  Life is good.

Obviously, readers enjoy visiting the blog to see what’s happening in your home away from home and we enjoy hearing what you are doing too.  The guestbook page is designed exactly for that purpose.  Take a moment to write a note and say hello.

I really enjoyed hearing from Al Roussy this week when he saw the ‘snake’ photo on the blog. 
“We live at site 673 and sorry if our snake gave you a fright. The wind must have blown it off the gravel. We have been a resident of PC for 6 years now and we spend from mid October to the end of March at PC. Betty leads the PC Chorus and also is a Host on Saturday. I am a Ranger on Saturday and play lots of golf. Thank you for this blog....it's always great to read and see the pictures.  Al and Betty Roussy  Vancouver BC”
My friend, Gerry Daniels, leaves a note quite frequently:  I have my Laptop set up to AZ and saw the warnings and then checked the radar.  It did not look good. I checked your blog this morning glad to hear that it was not as bad as the earlier one but I guess other areas were not as lucky.
Kris Riedel from Ohio writes: 
LOL! Thanks for pix of "our palm tree" coming down--when we bought Lot 10
I went out to pick up a frond  barehanded not knowing the trees had
thorns! Needless to say I dropped it really fast.
Enjoying the pix of places going in on Shimmering Sands too.
And I enjoy reading what your weather is like.  Bobbi and Lee Seebolt from Baltimore wrote:  We are really enjoying the blog, the updates and all of the pictures of Palm Creek-thanks so much for doing that! Just wanted you all to know that it was 108 degrees here in Baltimore last week, with about 70% humidity. We broke every record since 1877, when Baltimore started keeping records, it was 106 at the airport. It is like a sauna out there. today is the big cool down to 91!

Photos sent in to Phoenix weather station from Thursday’s storm