Tuesday, June 28, 2016

It rained!

 We actually had a real thunderstorm last night.  It was the first good rain in months!

It was timed perfectly as Diane, Nancy, Connie, and I just got home from playing bingo at the American Legion.  (None of us won but we still had a pleasant evening with dinner at Firehouse Subs again.)



The post-storm sky was beautiful this morning!


No other news to report but at least I posted something so you readers can't complain.  




I think I'll just put an "Out of Order" sticker on my forehead and call it a day.



Monday, June 27, 2016

New General Manaager



Dear Residents,

Please join me in welcoming your  new General Manager at Palm Creek, Kevin Flynn.
We are very excited for him to join our Palm Creek team.
  Kevin comes to us with over 30 years of resort hospitality management experience.  Most recently, Kevin managed the marinas at Lake Pleasant and Lake Powell. 


Kevin has lived in Arizona for the past 25 years and will be living between Palm Creek and Glendale for the time being. Kevin will be getting extensive training over the next few weeks and he looks forward to meeting all of our wonderful residents soon!

Sincerely,

Lisa Harold, Regional Vice President

Quiet


Sometimes its hard to find something exciting enough to post but a topic always seems to surface.  Suzette Taylor bailed me out today by sending some nice photos for you to enjoy.  Sunsets and sunrises are always pretty in Arizona. 

Suzette Taylor


Suzette Taylor

Suzette was lucky enough to have a roadrunner visit her on the patio!  We don't seem to see many of these birds lately so its always a treat to find them around.

Suzette Taylor
 Bill and Sue Leeson will be thrilled to get this photo we took at their house this morning.  Mama dove is determined to nest at their house in spite of the deterrent spikes placed on this beam.  That takes dedication!  


Here's a photo going down Putter Place where the palm trees haven't been pruned yet.  We call all the white debris from the blossoms our Arizona snow.



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More Golf Cartoons


















Saturday, June 25, 2016

Correction about digging

Uh Oh................I made a booboo in my post yesterday.  I showed these photos and said the digging was for new irrigation lines.  I was WRONG.  These are for the fiber optic cable to make our TV and internet service better!  Yahoo!!


·         TV will be upgraded to all digital.  Some channels will be in HD, but the details of that are yet to be determined. More channels will be available than we have now, but again, we don’t know the details.

·         Internet… Putting in Fiber optic lines will greatly improve the reliability of the system. Resort will be sliced into 10 sections. A noise problem (Commonly seen as a severe slow-down in service) will be much more isolated, impacting the section it is located in and not affecting the other sections. This reduces the problem resort wide, and also makes it a whole lot easier to find.  The overall bandwidth available to the system will also increase to allow for the faster service.  We're anxious for an announcement later this summer.




The whole project is under construction and negotiation so details aren't available but it all looks very promising.  


I stopped up at the office yesterday to pick up a package so had to say howdy to folks along the way.  Bill Strauchon seems very pleased with the new flooring in the billiards room as it makes the room much quieter.



Ed Brown just strolled through to check out the action.


Monday is the last day to buy your tickets for the upcoming July 1 BBQ in the ballroom.  Barbie Rasmussen will be glad to sell you some.


Christy was busy on the phone as I walked past.


Say hello to the Mahjong players.  We see them in the Adobe Room several days a week.


I love to listen as they call out the names of the tiles.....one bam, two birdie, six sticks, .....or whatever the names are.  I've not learned this game yet but they love to play.



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I received some cute golf jokes this week:















Friday, June 24, 2016

Heat and Rootbeer Floats

The forecast looks promising to cool down below 110.  It might be psychological, but anything over 110 really feels HOT.  When you drive down the street in a golf cart, the wind against your skin actually feels like its burning and your eyeballs dry out.  All the jokes you read about needing a hot pad to buckle your seat belt or touch the steering wheel are TRUE.


Soooo.....with all that heat outdoors, we'd better cool down with some rootbeer floats.  Thank you again to MaryAnn Brown and crew for rustling up our treat.


For some reason, my photos today were a tad blurry.  Maybe my camera lens was melting?....or I was just anxious to get at my rootbeer float before it melted.


We were happy to see Fred and Cheryl DeHart able to join us today!  All our poker players send best wishes to Fred.




The fun part of these events is the opportunity to meet newcomers.


Say hello and welcome to Carl Collette and Jane Gray who just bought a new home on Mulligan Lane.  I was sooooo very flattered to hear their story as they said my blog played a major role in their decision to visit Palm Creek.  They are full-time RVers looking for a place to settle.  While researching sites, they found my blog so headed our direction.  When they drove in the gate, they said it felt like they already knew all about the resort.  It certainly didn't take them long to pick out a new house here.  Their comments will certainly bolster my motivation to keep writing.






Speaking of thank yous, I'll send out another one about the kind gifts we receive from others who say thanks for the blog and for our house watch program.  We LOVE the restaurant gift cards we receive.  Its like a special treat!

This one was compliments of Ron and Lois Paul at Ihop.  It made for a GREAT morning!


While we hide from the heat, other Arizonians are not as fortunate as they work outdoors.  Work hours in the summer are 5:00 a.m. to about 1:00 in the afternoon. as the afternoons are just tooooo hot.  I complain about driving a golf cart through the heat but how would you like to be digging a trench in the full sunshine?


Yards and yards of irrigation lines are being replaced this summer.



The new homes on Shimmering Desert are receiving their palm trees today.

Fernando says he tries to get in four trees per day.


A crew works daily on trimming the palm trees.  I can only imagine how tiring it would be to handle that chain saw up there reaching out around the tree.  My arms and back ache just watching.


Then a crew follows along to pick up all the debris.


We call these palm blossoms our "Arizona snow" as this white stuff falls all over.


All this debris will go to our recycling piles.


Before..........


After.


Ahoy!  Here comes another house just entering through the north gate.


It was a tight corner without much clearance.


It was a woman driving the rig!  Yes!  Good job!!  We gave her the thumbs up signal and she looks proud.


Later, we found the house neatly installed at 1092 on Cole Circle.


Other devotees still brave the cooler morning temps.


We tried to give Dave Hebert a tough time while he teed off.


He was just a tad short of the green with a lovely shot despite our harrassment.


Some of you may recognize Dave better when he is aboard his mighty go cart.  Way to go Dave!

Wave hello to MaryAnn as Ed drives her off to work at the Activities office.


Cactus flowers continue to bloom despite the heat.  These were spotted at Barry and Nancy Smith's home along Sandy Desert Drive.


Watermelon makes a wonderful treat in the hot weather.  Don made short work of cutting up this gem.  He watched a demo on You Tube and decided this was the fastest most efficient carving method.  After watching him, I have to agree.  It does require a sharp knife though to easily cut off all the rind.  Then its easy to cut into any shape and size desired. 

Since it's too hot outdoors, we play indoors.  Here's our usual gang to play Pegs & Jokers in the afternoon.


We're into official Monsoon season now....and sure enough, here comes the first afternoon dust storm.  The wind suddenly picked up and brought a cloud of hazy dust over the scene.


The weather station had some good pictures.



Okay.............that's enough for today.  I have to get showered and take a nap before I head up to play cards.  It's a rough life, eh??

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An elderly couple had dinner at another couple's house, and after eating, the wives left the table and went into the kitchen. 
The two gentlemen were talking, and one said, 'Last night we went out to a new restaurant and it was really great.
.. I would recommend it very highly.' 
The other man said, 'What is the name of the restaurant?'
 
The first man thought and thought and finally said, 'What is the name of that flower you give to someone you love?
 
You know... The one that's red and has thorns.'
 
'Do you mean a rose?'
 
'Yes, that's the one,' replied the man. He then turned towards the kitchen and yelled, 'Rose, what's the name of that restaurant we went to last night?

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An elderly gentleman...
Had serious hearing problems for a number of years. He went to the doctor and the doctor was able to have him fitted for a set of hearing aids that allowed the gentleman to hear 100%.
    The elderly gentleman went back in a month to the doctor and the doctor said, 'Your hearing is perfect.  Your family must be really pleased that you can hear again.'   The gentleman replied, 'Oh, I haven't told my family yet.   I just sit around and listen to the conversations.  I've changed my will three times!'