Thanksgiving 2006

Okay....that had to be one of the best Thanksgiving events ever to be held at Palm Creek!! First of all, the meal was absolutely delicious!! I can't imagine how the cooks and volunteers managed to cook up that much food for so many people and have it turn out that scrumptuous. We had tender moist turkey all finely carved, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, creamed corn, dressing, gravy, cranberries, and fresh dinner rolls followed by awesome pumpkin or pecan pie. Every one of the dishes was just as delicious as home cooking. Most puzzling of all was how they managed to serve each table so fast and keep the food hot. My heartiest congratulations to the cooking staff. That was a fantastic meal. Thank you ever so much from all of us. Every attendee was delighted with the dinner. I must mention that the decorations and table settings were very nice too.

The event was well coordinated and organized so everyone had a reserved table that was clearly marked for easy seating. There was plenty of room between tables which allowed us to mingle and socialize with other guests before dinner. We had access to the tables an hour before serving time so we had the opportunity to have a glass of wine and chat before the meal. Diane did a fantastic job as hostess to the event and kept us entertained and on time. I believe her specific title is "Special Events Coordinator" and she does a terrific job. Thank you, Diane. Your friendship and enthusiasm is appreciated by all.

After dinner we had an option of watching football with the big screen TV or playing games or bingo. Quite a few people did opt to stay for more social time which proved to be a lot of fun. Those of us who stayed for bingo and managed to win got to take home one of the nice table decorations or potted plants. They made for some very nice prizes. After bingo some of us stayed to play a fun round of Mad Gab. What a crazy game! It was really fun and I may have to go out and buy a game to keep around for some hilarious happy hours.

Thanks again to Palm Creek for a great day of beautiful sunshine, great food, fun entertainment, and most of all for the warm friendships.

Fantastic Weather

To my children back in Ohio....I send my sympathies for your cold chilling weather as we here in sunny Arizona are enjoying beautiful sunny skies and warm 80 degree temps every day this month. It's awesome!! I spent yesterday afternoon at the pool just basking in the sunshine, reading a good book, and occasionally taking a quick swim to cool off from the warm sun. It was just wonderful. Sometimes I actually feel guilty for having such a great time day after day. Life is pretty darn good right now.

Today Don and I drove up to Sun City to visit Donna and Larry Kraft. I put up some darling photos of their new puppy on my "Hepler Journal" website for you to view if you're interested. The puppy is just adorable at the ripe old age of 6 weeks and she's a full two pounds of pure love. It was so good to see the Kraft's with smiling faces once again.

As we approached Interstate 10 coming from Casa Grande, I snapped a few quick photos of the beginning of the new mall. There are scads of bulldozers, tractors, and various digging machines out there in the field. The ground is all plowed up and is being prepped for the new mall. How exciting! I'll try to get a picture every few weeks so you can watch the progress. New stores anticipated are Dillards, Target, Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond, a 14 theater complex, Applebees, Michaels, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, etc etc etc. It will be awesome! All you can see in these pics is open dirt so the progress will be great to watch.

A Family Visit

Bob and Bev Carte had a great visit with their daughter, Susan, who flew down to see them for a few days this week. It was wonderful to meet the daughter that they brag about so frequently. Have a safe trip back home, Susan. It was a pleasure to meet you!!

Busy Busy Busy

It is now November and "the season" seems to be in full swing. The calendar is full of times, dates, events, and the days pass ever so quickly. Each week is just a blur of activity. Monday night was Bingo (no, I haven't won YET but I'm usually quite lucky), and today was our first craft fair of the season. There were lots of Palm Creek people who had booths to display and sell some of their handicrafts and many other vendors peddling their wares. It's always fun to go shopping for "stuff". I stocked up on several new sun visors to ward off that bright, beautiful, glowing, warm Arizona sunshine. Folks back east.....eat your heart out! The weather has been fantastic with lots of sunshine and temps in the 80s by day and cool clear nights for great sleeping. Winter is almost upon us, however, as when the sun goes down it turns cool in a hurry and we scurry to put on a light jacket.

Saturday was the first "patio sale" day of the season where everyone can put out those white elephants for sale, clean out the closets, or sell those no longer needed items. Since Don and I are planning to sell our new Class C RV, we cleaned out a lot of items. I even put out some of my beaded jewelry items I've been making as I seem to have created more than I'll ever wear. While George got stuck staffing our booth, Bev, Jan and I scurried about the resort visiting everyone's patio sale to see if we could find new goodies or great bargains. See the next photo for our great results! Folks said we looked like the Beverly Hillbillies with our cart full of junk as we drove around. One family was even handing out free Mimosa drinks (orange juice and champagne) in fancy fluted glasses to anyone who bought something from their booth. Couldn't pass up that offer so I purchased a box of nails as my contribution. How fun!

A Tribute to Chi

Someone please help me with the words to describe our sorrow at the loss of a very dear, sweet, cute, lovable, cuddly, adorable little dog. Chi was the four-year old cherished long-hair Chihuahua owned by Larry and Donna Kraft. It was one of those freaky things of nature when Chi somehow managed to sneak outdoors to play and perhaps chase a furry rabbit but wandered too close to a neighboring golf course. A coyote sprung out of nowhere and ended Chi’s life instantly. People on the golf course saw the attack and chased after the coyote in an attempt to save the little dog, but it was too late. By the time the coyote dropped Chi, she was already gone. From the golfer’s description, she never knew what happened and never even had time to be frightened. I’m sure she never dreamed anything or anyone would hurt her since she lived such a warm and well-loved life.
Larry and Donna bought a lovely home and moved to Sun City this fall, leaving Palm Creek after five seasons here. They are conveniently located in a beautiful subdivision near several golf courses which, unfortunately, are occasionally frequented by wild coyotes.

Chi was very popular here at our resort. Many may remember last February when Chi won the award for the cutest dog at our first annual dog show. She was cute as a button and would perform tricks on command. One of our favorite memories is when she would come to our house and eat Hiway’s cat food. She was such a dainty little dog that she would carry two little pieces of cat food over to the carpet and munch it away, then return for two more pieces at a time. Little pieces of chicken were her favorite treat which we always tried to keep in the frig should Chi come for a visit. She was a real sweetheart and will be missed by one and all. Our hearts reach out to Larry and Donna for their loss of a very dear pet.

Dove Story

We have a cute Dove story to share. Everyone who has ever stayed at Palm Creek knows we are inundated with Mourning Doves. In spite of the fact that their "leavings" can be a nuisance, they're still a pretty bird and are very entertaining to watch. Don and I went to get our RV out of storage and discovered that mama dove had made a nest on the top of our awning. Our first intent was just to pull down the nest and throw it away, but lo and behold, the nest contained a baby. Drat! Can't just throw away a baby bird!!! What do we do??

We left the nest in its spot and VERY slowly drove the RV over to our park model so we could get it loaded for our trip to Mexico. When we got here, mama was gone but baby was still in the nest so we very gently took baby and nest and placed them behind a tree across the street where it would be somewhat protected. We anxiously watched from the kitchen window and sure enough, about a half hour later, mama showed up and took care of her baby. Later that day, they both flew away with baby fluttering his best to soar. We don't know for certain that he survived, but our conscience was clear in that we did what we could under the circumstances. End of story.


Speaking of bird stories: Our burrowing owls across the street from the park entrance are still there, alive and doing well. The construction has edged even closer to their burrow, but no one has harmed them or scared them away yet. Linda Balzan and I have been in touch with a Wildlife Foundation that will be in charge of moving the owls should someone buy the land for improvements. The Foundation promises to let us know when moving day comes so we can be there to take pictures. Before the owls can be moved, there is a mountain of paperwork and expenses to be paid by whoever owns the land. It will be interesting to watch and see how things develop. Will keep you posted with any updates.

The Season Begins

More and more people are returning daily to our little acreage of heaven on earth at Palm Creek. The RV rigs roll in every day and the streets are more occupied with people greeting old friends with warm embrace. It's fun to watch all the new activity.

The village homes are still the highlight of conversation since so many of them are being installed. Folks are anxious to move in and I hear that sales are strong.

Happy hours abound for furry friends as well as humans. Here are a few shots from yesterday. Don and I sat out on our patio to have a happy hour drink. The fun part of living here is that everyone is out and active at this time of day and it's great when folks stop by to say hello. Good thing we have a lot of extra chairs.
































Halloween is in the air and there are some nicely decorated houses for the holiday.




The golf course is in the process of being reseeded and beautiful colored flowers are being planted. It's amazing to watch how the new green grass springs back to life. Golf is closed for now as the new lawn emerges. Sure makes for a pretty sight.































We had a short rain storm a couple weeks back that brought out a beautiful double rainbow for our enjoyment. Unfortunately, the photos sat in my camera as I've been lax at my updates again, but they're still worth posting.

We have more news about the coming mall construction. We're going to have a 14 theater complex, Olive Garden, Applebees, Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy....and I can't remember the other stores that were listed but it sounds exciting. Anticipated completion is for late fall of 2007. That remains to be seen, of course, as we all know how construction plans can get delayed along the way, but we'll be waiting with open arms. Especially for that theater!!

Casa Grande Sad News

Sad news for Italian food lovers....the very popular Johnny Carino's restaurant has closed. This was a chain of six outlets in the southern Arizona area and the major holding company went bankrupt. Hopefully, someone from the group will purchase the Casa Grande outlet and restart it under another name. This was a very popular eatery and will definitely be missed.

Casa Grande Good News

Good news for all Casa Grande residents and snowbirds! This article appeared in yesterday's Casa Grande Dispatch. Finally we get news about the big shopping mall heading our way.
_____________

Work set on mall next week
Staff Reports, Casa Grande Dispatch
October 21, 2006


The first turning of dirt for The Promenade at Casa Grande regional shopping center should begin next week, one of the developers said.

The million-plus-square-foot center will be at the northeast corner of Florence Boulevard and Interstate 10. It is being constructed as a partnership between The Pederson Group and Westcor Development Partners.

"Our contractor is preparing to pre-water the site and is mobilizing to start moving dirt next week," Gary Pederson, vice president of The Pederson Group, said Friday.

Pederson said a WDP representative would have more details next week.

The initial fact sheet for the project said, "The developer is currently attempting to keep the project on an aggressive schedule to commence construction in the summer of 2006 and open the project in the fall of 2007."

A major portion of the work was widening the Florence/I-10 overpass, which city officials said may have caused some delay because of its complexity.

Shortly before the Pederson/WDP announcement of the major center, a group known as Palm Creek Development said it would build a 264,000-square-foot center along Florence Boulevard in front of Palm Creek Golf & RV Resort.

In February 2005, shortly after the Pederson/WDP announcement, Rick Horwitch, principal partner of Palm Creek Development, said his group was not afraid of the competition from a larger project.

"By the time they're ready to operate, we're going to be up and out of the ground and full," Horwitch said.

More than a year and a half later, dirt has not been turned for the Palm Creek project. City officials said they had not heard from Horwitch's group and presume the project is dead.

Slow Update is Donna's Fault

Okay...I got the hint from friends and family that it's time to get back to this blog and post an update. Folks are complaining about the lack of news. To set the record straight, it's not that I'm lazy....it's all Donna Kraft's fault cause since she has been back in the park, we're having too much fun and there's no time to sit down at the computer!

The monsoon season is officially over so the weather is back to absolute perfection in the 60s at night and high 80s or 90s during the day with clear beautiful sky and very low humidity. The windows are now open and the overworked air conditioners are at rest.

The biggest news in the park is, of course, all the construction of park models and village homes. I heard from a reliable source that they'll be bringing in 30-35 new models. The holes are already being dug and 2-3 homes are arriving daily. About 8 village homes have been sold and there are quite a few smaller two-section park models coming in as spec homes. Folks won't have to wait for construction of add-on rooms cause these models come in two parts and will fit on most RV sites. We're all anxious to see what they look like once the concrete gets poured and awnings go up. I'll be sure to post photos as soon as one is completed. Right now they're all in various stages of basic installation as you can see from photos posted below. Statistics as of today: There are 5 of the smaller two-part park models installed with three more holes dug. There are 16 village homes installed with 26 more holes dug for village homes!! Wow!

At first we thought these new homes were pretty small, but once you go inside and look around, they're really a nice size and very pleasant. Some have two bedrooms or at least one bedroom and a good sized office of spare room.

Here is half of a park model being set in place.

These three spec two-piece park models are new spec homes. Each has a slightly different layout inside. It will be fun to watch the concrete get poured and awnings put in place.

Here is another style with a built-on shed/laundry room.


Look at this!! A whole long street full of village homes! The area will really look nice when all construction is done and owners come down to add the finishing touches. It's really exciting!

Of course...there is a LOT of construction underway and the bulldozers are busy digging holes for more homes every day so some of the area looks like a war zone. Big piles of dirt and gravel abound. The place is buzzing with activity during a work day. Some of the neighbors get kind of crabby about all the noise...especially the early morning beeping of the bulldozer at work every time he backs up but that's the sound of progress and we know it's only temporary.


Here is another recent arrival waiting to be put together. There's lots of work to be done once they arrive as they have to fit together the house itself, the plumbing, wiring, sewer, etc etc.


Here is a model in progress.

Here's a couple village homes with concrete and patio.


I believe some of you saw the very first two village home models that were installed. The house on the left is the first home that was put in as a spec model. Whoops....someone really liked it, bought it, and has already moved in. They installed some sunscreen shading along side their driveway and it looks very nice. These corner lots are really nice with all the pretty landscaping the park installed along Cole Circle. The most activity seems to be centered along Shadow Rock Lane and Mountain Mirage Lane.

And then there are the regular one-piece park models being installed along the golf course on Coyote Trail. Each one is getting a huge stick-built add on room and some of these units look huge when completed. At the end of last season, I think the last house on Coyote trail was just past the north pool. Now, as you can see from these photos, there are homes installed all the way up to the north wall and around the corner right up to Oasis. It's amazing! I heard that the Add-On Guys are booked up through next November.


Although the golf course lots are "rather pricey", they certainly offer a lovely view. I walked out on the course this morning and found the view so peaceful and beautiful. It's very surprising that our landscape crews can keep the course looking so nice during Arizona's blast furnace summer temperatures.


The only other construction I've seen so far has something to do with the old volleyball court. They took out the sand and replaced it with concrete. I haven't heard what the plan is but I would guess perhaps converting it to a basketball court??

That's my post for today. Must hurry off now as we have a big Hand and Foot card game coming up this afternoon. Must get ready. Busy Busy Busy.

Awesome Storm

We had an AWESOME storm Monday night!! I am continually amazed at how fast storms can appear here in Arizona. It was quite cloudy and overcast last night but nothing serious. Then out of nowhere comes this gushing wind and DUST! This was by far the most ominous dust storm we’ve seen this past year. The wind switched dramatically from east to west and blew thick yellow clouds of dust into giant dust devils. WOW! It was phenomenal to watch. Just can’t capture it on film though. Then came the rain. What a blessing to this area as we sure haven’t had much this year. Too bad it all has to fall at once though. This morning the streets are dry with just an occasional puddle here and there. The park is really constructed well for water runoff. The little rivers rush down the streets straight to the golf course where it can be pumped away. With the nice big pumps the park utilizes, we’ll be back golfing in no time. See the attached pictures of golf course hole #7 contributed by Verna Shepherd. Hey Verna…thanks for the photos!

Palm Trees

I just came back from a nice morning bike ride and watched the landscape crew in action trimming the palm trees again. I've told the story before, but it sure is fascinating to watch so I'm attaching a few more photos so we can all appreciate how much work is involved in the process. Pictures are as follows: 1) Approaching the nice full tree, 2&3) Trim away with the saw, 4) The fronds just fall to the ground in a heap....but look closely at the barbs along each leaf stem. These branches are vicious! 5) Another crew follows along behind neatly stacking the fronds so they can be easily and efficiently picked up by the truck later. 6) The freshly trimmed street looks a little bare but they always seem to fill out nicely.

Park & Community News

It looks like it’s the annual tree trimming time here at Palm Creek. Our landscaping crews are hard at work trimming all the lower limbs and dead fronds from the palm trees…and there are a LOT of palm trees. They do a couple blocks each day so the project will last a while.

In the meantime, construction continues on park model and village homes throughout the park. We see the Perry Concrete trucks come and go most every day as they pour more and more patios and driveways. You’ll all be amazed at how many new homes we have when you return this fall. It would surely be exciting to be one of the new home owners and come down to see your lovely new home all ready and waiting for you to move in. I haven’t seen any new “model” village homes come in yet, but rumor has it that there are a couple on order.

The weather has been surprisingly mild the last few weeks. Temps are down at a tolerable level…mid to upper 90s or at most below 105. That’s not so bad. The humidity is up to 40-50% though so that makes a big difference. We’ll still keep the air conditioning going, thank you. Reports I hear from family and friends back east or even up Oregon way have been worse than here. When other parts of the country reach the triple digits they really suffer because of the humidity. It seems to be an even trade off, but I’ll still take this dry heat as the best choice.

Despite the national weather reports broadcasting news about the flooding in Tucson and surrounding area, we remain quite dry. We’ve only had 2-3 days of rain with no flooding to report. It was quite a shock, however, to drive up to Phoenix last week and actually see water in the Gila River. Sure don’t see that very often.

The new Lowe’s store is progressing rapidly. Looks like they’re putting up a nice decorative brick wall around the perimeter. The Golden Corral is still doing well. We ate there a couple times and the food has always been very good. The Extended Stay America hotel across from the park is now getting its outside coat. I read in the paper this morning that Casa Grande will have 2400 new residential homes this year. The community is definitely growing.


Here's a picture of the new hotel. Looks huge!

I also saw this blurb in the Phoenix paper this week regarding the Wild Horse Pass Casino. “The Gila River Indian Community is relocating its largest casino closer to Interstate 10 and plans to turn it into a "casino resort" with a 250-room hotel, 2,300-seat entertainment hall and a parking garage. Construction is scheduled to begin next spring. The new resort casino is scheduled to open in summer 2008 and will include a 100,000-square-foot gaming floor, 10-story hotel, entertainment venue, conference facilities, stores, nightclub, multiple restaurants, lounge, and pool, spa and health club.”