I've said it before...and I say it again: The salad bar at our Ballroom Cafe is second to none. So many goodies available to pile on top of fresh greens. It only costs $10 and it's all you can eat! Bar is always so neat and clean and fresh. Thank you to Chef and crew for providing this for our summer.
Another tip from this avid bird watcher:
In this hot weather, we notice many birds rest with their beak open to cool off. I "googled" them this week to learn more. (from Google:) Likely, they are trying to keep cool. Birds cool by “gular flutter” which is similar to panting but requires less energy. Birds’ high metabolism actually makes it EASIER to keep cool. What matters is not the absolute temperature but the relationship between body temperature and ambient temperature. Because birds are hotter inside than we are, the air around them feels cooler to them than it does to us. They can still lose heat to the air by simple radiation when we no longer can.
Most birds also have other methods of cooling off, such as flattening their feathers so there is no insulating layer of trapped air (on a hot day, birds’ legs look longer because the feathers lie closer to the body). And they can and do seek shade and rest on really hot days.
But in general, birds are better than mammals at staying cool, and less vulnerable to dehydration as well because their urine and feces contain little to no water—they lose less water than we do. Many birds do not need to drink. Birds do very well in hot deserts.
The acorn woodpeckers like to hang outside the windows at the Adobe Room & attack their reflections.
We had an old fashioned Haboob the other night....just lots of wind and dirt. It took down some tree branches and sadly tore down one of the sun sails over by the softball area.
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| Photo copied from Nextdoor |
We were treated to our monthly Chef Special on Thursday. Yummy shrimp scampi. I copied Bill's excellent summary from Nextdoor.
Next month will be chicken alfredo. Hurray!
We had a real monsoon storm last night!! First drops of rain since March 30. We witnessed LOTS of thunder and lightning with a "little" rain. Rain gauge this morning shows .01 inch. That's not much! It was WONDERFUL to sit on the patio for morning coffee at 75 degrees. What a welcomed relief! It won't last long but it was certainly appreciated.
With the temperature being so high for so long, our pools have warmed up also. Water aerators have recently been installed at the main pool. It feels great to stand under them for the cooler water and it feels like standing our in the cool rain.
We watched the tree trimmers working in close quarters this morning.
I want to know how they get the ropes up there.
Remember when the Fire Department was here and talked about aging smoke detectors? Well, Tita showed up at our house this morning with ladder in hand to help us.
She confirmed that we need to buy new alarms because ours were installed with the house in 2005. Marc is a volunteer who comes along with a ladder to do installation. Talk about service!!
