Summer Encounters

So what can possibly go wrong with your house while you're away for the summer? Thought I'd share a few of our experiences with the housewatch program.

Don and I have truly enjoyed our housewatch program so far even though it means being out in the HEAT for a couple hours each month. For one, we've met some great people and I feel like they've become good friends since we email back and forth after each house visit.

So far:
We walked into one home where the air conditioner must have quit because it was HOT in there when we entered. It was 97 at 6:30 am when it was only 85 outside. AC wouldn't kick on after checking circuit breakers. We're waiting to hear back from the owners.

We found a dead scorpion on the floor of one of our homes and very carefully disposed of it. Certainly hope we don't find any of his relatives lurking about.

One customer lost a couple sprinkler heads so we purchased a new timer and installed it for them to hopefully save their shrubs and trees.

Wind storm tore a piece of siding from a shed so we pushed it back in place and will watch it carefully during any windy days until it gets repaired.

A car lost its cloth cover during heavy wind so we purchased more rope and secured the cover tighter.

Several nice plant pots were over turned in the wind and we were able to upright them and reinsert the sprinkler system to save the plants.

We retrieved some plastic flower pots that blew down the street and gathered them more securely at their home.

I discovered that one of the plastic water jugs left in a living room had sprung a leak. Luckily the owners had set the jugs inside some plastic pails so the water didn't damage anything. I would have been just sick to walk in and find the water had leaked out and stained their pretty wood floor.

The heat can wreak havoc on us desert dwellers. Just tonight I walked out into our own shed and found a big puddle of something in the middle of the floor. Closer inspection showed that a brand new BIG bottle of laundry detergent sitting on top of a cabinet had split a seam and leaked all over the shelf, down the cabinet and across the floor. I just picked it up and set it in a pail for now. Will figure out how to clean up the mess in the morning. These are just a couple samples of what we've encountered so far.

These are all little surprises that help to keep life interesting. Have a great day!

Bingo at Evas Restaurant

If you haven't been to Eva's Restaurant on Pinal Avenue yet, you must make it a point to do so. The place is absolutely gorgeous. Perhaps these photos will whet your curiosity. Betty Peterson is the new Marketing Director for Evas. You may recognize her as the same lady who hosts the Shopping Bash at Dillards. This was the first attempt at a Bingo party. For $12 we were treated to an all you can eat Nacho bar with all the trimmings and an entertaining hour or so of bingo for some casual prizes from Sephora and Dillards. With a few needed revisions, this kind of event could be a lot of fun this coming season.

Our bingo party was held in one of the banquet rooms.

Here's a few familiar faces from Palm Creek. I thought it was nice of Diane and her crew to show support for Evas and attend the event. Besides.....it was Sandi Feller's birthday celebration! Happy Birthday, Sandi. (Diane Gaines, Linda Balzan, Rosemary Reese, Sandi Feller)

The bar room is really nicely decorated and these vases adorn the foyer near the front doors. I could fill a whole page with nice photos....but we'll save the rest until you visit the place.

Over 300 Hits!

Greetings to all our avid readers! The counter on this blog says we had 331 readers this past week!! I'm guessing the dust storm photos drew an audience. WOW!

Weather has been mild this past week. We had one day of a very brief rain. The sky gets cloudy but then passes over us and the surrounding areas tend to get the much needed rain that we're hoping for. Temperatures are mild now....between 100 and 110. Yes, that's "mild" to us. We don't typically complain till it spikes over 110. Nights are in the 80s.

Don and I are having some major work done in our little house here so have been very very busy. It's a long and I think interesting story so I'll be posting a special blog with lots of photos soon.

Community news: Eva's Restaurant is hosting a cool bingo night Monday so several of us will be attending. Sounds like it will be fun.

 

Remember the new construction in front of Wal-Mart? That dentist office is now open and advertising in the paper. They claim to have the latest and greatest equipment, etc. just like the new office out at the Promenade Mall. We certainly have plenty of dentist offices in town. I'm surprised they can all stay in business since so many of us go to Mexico for treatment!

The new high school at Cottonwood and Arizola will be holding registration this coming week so we'll get our first taste of what the traffic will be. School starts in early August. Will keep you posted.

That's all my news for today. Stay cool.

MAJOR Dust Storm!!

WOW!!! MAJOR HABOOB STRIKES CASA GRANDE!

The wind just seemed to come out of nowhere...which is very typical of dust storms in Arizona summers. I had just arrived home from work about 5:00 tonight when it hit. The big ominous orange dust cloud blew in with a fury blocking visibility to just a block or two from our house. It's always exciting even for those of us who have lived here several years. The neighbors all venture out to chide with each other and gather belongings that blow past from a neighbor's yard or patio.


While out on the patio enjoying the fury of the storm, Don and I heard a huge crash which was undoubtedly someone losing an awning. When the dirt had subsided a little, we hopped in our golf cart to check the houses we are watching. I don't know who lives at 1738, but they definitely lost their awning which faces the golf course. Several homes lost skirting but that's the only major damage we saw. We'll definitely be out in the morning after the wind and dirt dies down to check out the rest of the resort. Will report again tomorrow.


Now for the comedy........I know my camera can take short videos, but I've never really figured out how. I'm going to try posting some of my attempts for your amusement. Go ahead and laugh at me. It's okay. I found it quite amusing myself.

I copied a news flash from the weather bureau for you. Oh....not a drop of rain. Just dirt.

STRONG GUSTY EAST TO SOUTHEAST WINDS...GENERATED BY DECAYINGTHUNDERSTORMS OVER PINAL AND SOUTHERN GILA COUNTY...WILL CONTINUEACROSS MUCH OF SOUTH CENTRAL ARIZONA INCLUDING THE GREATER PHOENIXMETROPOLITAN AREA...AS WELL AS NORTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL PINALCOUNTY...THROUGH AT LEAST 9 PM THIS EVENING. WINDS FROM 20 TO NEAR 50MPH WILL PERSIST...AND LEAD TO AREAS OF BLOWING DUST WITHVISIBILITIES LOCALLY DROPPING TO BELOW 2 MILES. ISOLATED LOCATIONSMAY SEE VISIBILITIES DOWN TO AROUND 1/2 MILE. AS THE EVENINGPROGRESSES...WINDS WILL GRADUALLY TAPER OFF AND VISIBILITY WILLSTEADILY IMPROVE.MOTORISTS ACROSS SOUTH-CENTRAL ARIZONA...INCLUDING THE GREATERPHOENIX AREA...AND OVER PORTIONS OF NORTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL PINALCOUNTY...SHOULD DRIVE WITH CAUTION THIS EVENING AND BE PREPARED FORSUDDEN SHIFTING CROSSWINDS AS WELL AS BRIEF SHARP REDUCTIONS INVISIBILITY DUE TO BLOWING DUST.STAY UP-TO-DATE ON THE LATEST FORECASTS BY LISTENING TO WEATHER RADIOON THE PUBLIC SERVICE BAND. MORE DETAILED INFORMATION IS AVAILABLEFROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PHOENIX ON THE INTERNET AT



Asbestos Cancer

Sunset

If only a photo could do it justice! I just came back from the pool....it's 7:45 pm and the temperature is a mild 104. But look at this gorgeous sunset! That's my only news for today. I have the day off tomorrow so I'm heading to the casino to play bingo for the afternoon. Wish me luck!

More Heat

Greetings from very sunny Arizona,

Whoops.....I missed the ice cream social Sunday afternoon so have no photos to post (again). I had been diligently cleaning house, doing laundry, etc. and then took a "little" nap in my chair. You can probably guess the rest of that story.

I had a fun adventure this past week. I took Thursday as a day off work and drove over to the Ak-Chin casino all by myself for a fun day of bingo. Don't laugh! I like bingo. I was surprised to see a huge brand new Wal-Mart store on the edge of Maricopa by all the new housing developments. There is still a LOT of construction along that stretch of road as they widen the highway and finish off the railroad tracks. I must say that I am extremely grateful for the stop light that has been installed at the intersection where we turn left to go to the casino.

The "Bingotainment center" is closed now and bingo is held inside the hotel in one of the huge ballroom areas. I had three cards for a double action game and was excited when I got a bingo. Unfortunately, four other people also yelled at the same time which meant we split the $300 pot. As they were verifying numbers, I noticed that I also had a bingo on a second card so called the gal back. Sure enough....I was a double winner so instead of just getting $60, I got $120. Anytime you can leave the casino with more money than you went in with....it's a good day so I went home a winner. It made for a fun day.

Other than that......the only news is that our HOT weather continues. I'm posting a blurb from the front page of this morning's paper. Our son, Kevin, is still driving truck all over our beautiful country. He called this morning from Tennessee as he heads down to Louisiana. He said he just had to call and brag about the beautiful scenery he was experiencing of the GREEN rolling hills and wildflowers along the route. He had his window down and was enjoying the fresh 60 degree temperature.....and working on his "trucker tan". A "trucker tan" is a standard joke because they all have a tan left arm from driving with the window down.

That's my blurb for today. Must hurry off to my morning water aerobics class. Ta Ta for now.

HOT

I missed several of the park's summer events...the July 4 potluck party, movie night, and a morning coffee & donuts meeting so I don't have any pictures to post or memories of great food to boast about. Both of our sons have been over for frequent visits so we're having fun but missed some resort events.

The paper this week had a big ad about our local Wal-Mart store being completely remodeled inside and out. Construction has already started as we stopped in at the pharmacy and found it operating but in quite the shambles. The staff had a good sense of humor about it and are certainly looking forward to completion.

The plaza by the old Wal-Mart store....Frys grocery, McMashers Bar, etc is also being completely remodeled on the outside. We know Reggie who owns McMashers. She called us at work and pleaded for a large banner that says "McMashers IS OPEN during construction" because several of her customers said they didn't come in for a while assuming the place was closed due to all the hubbub. Her sign is now up and business is underway. I recommend you stop in there sometime for a good cheeseburger and curly fries. It's a nice sports bar and casual restaurant. Lots of TV screens to watch.

Other than that, the only headline news we have is the heat. Whew!


P.S. For your info.....this site had 176 hits since July 3. Makes me feel guilty if I don't get something new posted each week. Thanks again for your support and feedback.

HOT

I added a little weather box to the blog so you can laugh (or sympathize) with us as we swelter in the summer heat. I can't quite get it to fit perfectly in the sidebar, but it's close enough. If you click on it, you go straight to the weather page. YIPE! We're supposed to be 117 this weekend. Whew. That's HOT.

We had our first monsoon rain Friday night. It was wonderful. Don and I sat out on the patio for about an hour just to watch the rain, and soak up the cool temperature as it dropped below 80 for the first time in quite a while. We had a great thunder and lightning display too but no wind to speak of. That's the first measurable rain we've had in a LONG time so it was much appreciated. We could almost hear the saguaros sighing as they soaked up the precious moisture.

Tuesday Night Bunco

Bunco was great fun tonight. We had several really close games that erupted in lots of laughs. Some Bunco records were also set.

Suzette took home almost ALL the money as she had the most wins, the most Buncos, and the prize for ending the evening with the Bunco bear. I thought surely I would win most Buncos because I got four including three during one hand!! Suzette managed 5 Buncos and won 16 out of the 24 games we played. She definitely went home a winner.

Poor Nikki on the other hand lost 17 of the 24 games but kept her charming smile the whole time.

Win, lose, or draw, I know we all had a lot of fun. A night of laughter and camaraderie sure helps to keep us in good spirits now that the temperatures are in the triple digits every day. It no longer cools off at night so the windows are closed and the AC is running full throttle. Ya gotta love Arizona!

Bingo!

We had a fun time at Bingo tonight! Thank you to Diane Gaines for providing free popcorn and soda. Thank you to Flo Fillipi and Linda Berry for organizing the event and doing all the set up and book work. Thank you to Lauren for doing the calling.

Sandy Clark was a strong winner tonight as she got to yell Bingo THREE times. Her whole table was lucky cause Popkorn won twice and Mike Kirsch bingoed as well. One time Sandy even bingoed twice on the same card plus she got to split the pot for the big coverall game at the end. Way to go, Sandy. Maybe she should run out and buy a lottery ticket this week.

It was still 96 degrees when we left the ballroom around 9:00 so our warm temps are definitely here. No more open windows at night and no more coffee on the patio in the early morn. Oh well......I'll still take a hot summer over a freezing icy winter so I'm not complaining.

Here's a photo of the winning table. That's Sandy on the far right with the big smile

I stood on stage and made everyone salute a "dobbers up" for a quick photo.

Items for Sale

Don and I are remodeling our little home here in the desert so need to sell some no longer needed items. We bought ourselves a HUGE new refrigerator so no longer need our beverage cooler or ice maker. These items are in excellent condition and will be perfect for your park model or shed. They'll be a guaranteed success come party time this season.

July Newsletter

The July newsletter has been published. I received many compliments from readers who liked reading it so here ya go. Looks like we have many fun events lined up for the month. Are you jealous???

Okay....I'll stop bragging about our beautiful weather....but its still sunshine, dry heat, beautiful flowers, and (yes) HOT. The photo below shows a new electronic grid that APS has installed to help spot power outages and get them repaired faster. I'd sure hate to be without our AC this time of year!!!!!!!!!! Let's hear three cheers for APS.

Weather

Okay....here comes the HOT weather. Just when I took time to brag about how wonderful it's been, the weatherman slipped and our normally high hot temps are approaching. We have a nice breeze today (enough that the pickleball folks would complain if they were here) so that's ideal time for cute little dust devils. Don and I drove up to Phoenix today to shop for a cabinet for our kitchen remodeling and enjoyed watching numerous dust devils hopping around in the desert on the way home. They never cease to entertain us and today they were in top form whirling their way among the cactus and scrub brush. Fun to watch.

Crime Prevention & Misc News

I thought summers were supposed to be quiet so I would have time to sit back and curl up with a good book. Whew. Lots going on around here.


CRIME PREVENTION MEETING

This morning was a meeting up in the Suntan room to discuss crime prevention. A very cordial Casa Grande police officer (Thomas Anderson) came to visit and talked about crime prevention in our resort. Basically, he reiterated all the things Wendell had written in our "Happenings" newsletter. If you missed your copy, I have it posted on this blog. Just scroll down a little farther till you find it. We're ALL basically involved in a neighborhood watch program and he encourages us to reach out and get to know our neighbors. This is even more important when so many houses are currently vacant so we should get to know those of us that remain as summer residents. If we see anything suspicious or out of the ordinary, we should call the gate to report it or if we spot a crime in action, we should immediately call 911. One of the people present asked a question I've often wondered about. (Thank you, Nancy, for bringing it up.) She was curious about dialing 911 from our cell phones since most of us have out of state phone numbers. The officer explained that the 911 goes to the closest tower regardless of where our phone was purchased and programmed. I guess I never really thought about it before so it was nice to hear a direct answer. We are strongly encouraged to program our cell phones so that #1 goes straight to 911. There should also be a number (#2) programmed as "ICE" which stands for "in case of emergency" so if someone finds us unconscious or ill, they can grab the phone and contact a local family member or a local friend for assistance. Guess I'd better drag out my directions and do some reprogramming as his suggestions certainly make sense.

While our resort is a gated community with limited access, there will sadly always be the hooligan kids who scale the wall looking for adventure so we really need to be aware and report anything suspicious instead of just waiting for someone else to call it in. I played my usual role of Paparazzi and took a snapshot of the crowd at the meeting.

PALM TREES IN BLOOM

I'm posting a couple photos of some palm trees for you snowbirds who leave us during summer bloom season. The palms are in full bloom now and are loaded with delicate fragrant white flowers. Long stems seem to grow outward and then split open with hundreds of the blossoms. The blossoms draw bees.....lots and lots of bees. Watching the swarms in the tree tops makes me grateful that our palm trees are tall so the bees stay aloft.

LANDSCAPING CHORES

Our landscaping crews have been hard at work in the summer heat. We observed this young man hard at work shoveling the pond sludge from the bottom of the creek that runs through the rose garden. This is another chore that our winter visitors never see. It takes a ton of work to keep this park fresh and beautiful. This is a prime sample of the "behind the scenes" chores that are part of required upkeep. The rocks by the waterfall have been all spruced up as part of spring cleaning. Many of the oleander hedges are getting their annual summer haircut too.

ENTERTAINMENT

Our Tuesday night Bunco game was canceled this week because of "movie night". We were all invited up to the Suntan to watch The Amazing Benjamin Button and enjoy some fresh free popcorn. I stayed home since I've already seen the flick at the Harkins Theater. We'll be back to Bunco again next Tuesday though cause we have a lot of fun.

Some of us have started going up to the clubhouse on Friday nights now for what we call "Open Game Night". We don't know what we're going to play till we see how many people show up. It could be Rummy Cubes, Pegs & Jokers, Hand & Foot, Canadian Salad, or any number of crazy card games.

Don and I have been doing some "remodeling" to our little house so I've missed some days up at the pool for water aerobics in the mornings, but the gals are up at the north pool six days a week. It's really fun and the water feels great. We certainly have some perfect swimming weather here in summer.

WEATHER

Speaking of the weather.....the weatherman has been gloriously kind to us so far this summer. It still cools down to the 60s at night so the nights and mornings are just wonderful. Mid-afternoon gets warm, but we can still sit out in the shade if there's a nice breeze blowing and the temp hovers in the 90s. With such low humidity, 90-95 is still quite pleasant.

Monsoon season is officially upon us as of June 15. The rule of thumb used to be that when the dew point reaches 53 for three days in a row, that was the start of monsoon season...but that changed this year as now they put an actual date on the calendar. Theoretically, we could see some of those powerful monsoon storms sneak up on us at any time. I'll keep you posted.
Sorry for being so long winded today. Hope you're enjoying your summer.

New Sports Complex

Big headlines in the Dispatch this morning announce the start of construction on the huge sports complex out at Francisco Grande. When complete, the $20 million project will include a sports complex with eight football fields, four field houses, a 57,000-square-foot state-of-the-art building housing the sports training and rehabilitation center, locker rooms, office space and other recreational amenities for public and private use. An agreement between the city and Francisco Grande calls for Casa Grande to pay for construction of the complex -- expected to cover about 50 acres adjacent to the hotel -- while the resort will maintain the complex and handle marketing. The city will own the project but Francisco Grande will operate and maintain the facility including cleaning, watering, cutting the grass and staffing.

Included in the complex:
1) Training for the Las Vegas and San Francisco United Football League teams
2) The Academy which will offer world-class instructional programs in soccer, tennis, football, golf, and physical and mental conditioning for children ages 7 to 18
3) National sports medicine rehabilitation center, Proaxis Therapy, which works with top athletes in various sports
4) Blue Entertainment Sports Television which will help provide national exposure for Casa Grande and the facility.
the UFL plans its season debut in October. On its web site, the UFL says it plans to train and house players in Casa Grande beginning in September and plans to begin signing players in July. UFL fans can follow updates on the organization's web site www.ufl-football.com or on Twitter, http://twitter.com/theufl as well as on Facebook and MySpace.

It's a "hummer" of a story.

(not my photo)

The story you are about to read is REAL...an honest true story....no exaggeration...no literary liberties. Don and I were sitting on the patio to enjoy our morning coffee when I noticed a hummingbird perched on top of our feeder which is a very unusual spot for her to perch. She was making a strange squeaking sound instead of the usual hummingbird twitter so I dug out my binoculars to take a closer look. Oh my gosh! The poor bird's bottom beak was broken and hanging down at a very odd angle plus I could see her tongue bent off to one side all stiff and dried out.

Don carefully approached her, reached out and picked her up as she made no attempt to fly away. We ran inside to get an eye dropper and started to administer sugar water from the feeder. Her tongue finally absorbed the moisture and became pliable again. Once she regained use of the tongue, she would try to lap up the water on her own while still laying on her side in my hand.

Dr. Don (as I now call him) sprang into action by going door to door to the neighbors searching for someone who had some super glue. Ron (Popkorn) came to the rescue with a fresh tube and we very carefully raised the bottom beak and applied dabs of super glue under the beak. It worked! With the beak back in its normal position, the little bird could lap up the sugar water on her own without being force fed. After another few minutes, she regained strength and sat upright in my hand. We had done all we could do for the precious creature. I slowly opened my hand, she sat there a moment longer and then flew away into the Arizona blue sky. Whether or not she survived the ordeal, we'll never know but we did our best for one of nature's most delicate creatures. I regret that no photos were taken, but we were so busy "saving a life" that we never thought of a camera till all was done.

The hummingbirds that come to our feeder have become very tame as you can see from this picture. Our cat, Hiway, perches nearby but the birds just ignore her. We found this cute little feeder at Lowe's this week and couldn't resist. We bought a red plant to put on the patio table and hung this miniature feeder. Cute, huh!

Asbestos Cancer

Cactus Blooms & Chat

Cactus Blooms:

Had to get my camera out again this morning to capture some of the beautiful and unusual cactus blooms that you snowbirds never get to see. The cactus plants themselves are so varied and very defensive as they certainly don't allow you to reach out and caress their soft petals!

These red beauties are at Site 1121. I don't know the owners so can't provide a name but they certainly have a beautiful plant. I have no idea how you would ever plant one of these prickly monsters, but they certainly have beautiful flowers.

This unusual critter resides behind Site 1705 at Frank and Joanie's house. Beautiful!!

CHAT:

Thanks for the words of encouragement from all our avid readers of this blog. Your response has been so rewarding. We had over 100 hits this past week. I even received a voice mail from a resident who called all the way from Winnipeg Canada to say how much she enjoyed reading the postings. Thank you, Ann. I certainly look forward to meeting you when you return this fall.

To help pass the hours while we cower inside avoiding the mid-day heat, I joyfully spend time at various computer games too. I used to think of computer games as just a waste of time with shoot-em-up games or racing cars....until I discovered a game site called "Big Fish Games". They have all sorts of games but by far my favorite genre is the Hidden Object games. A detailed photo emerges with a list of hidden objects to find plus many of the games have challenging puzzles to solve as well. I've gotten a good number of friends hooked into my addiction and I really laugh when they call long distance cause they're stuck in a game and need some guidance. If you have time to kill, look over the site and see if you're interested. I read an article in AARP magazine that says we "seniors" need to keep our brains stimulated. These games are a fun cure and I guarantee you'll enjoy sharing them with your grandchildren as well. If you want some recommendations, send me an email and I'll send you a list of the ones i've found to be fun. You can download the games and play one hour for free. If you like the game, it costs $6.99 to purchase on line. Here's a link to a particular game I enjoy.

http://www.bigfishgames.com/download-games/5430/dream-chronicles-the-chosen-child/index.html

With this being the end of another month, we watched a number of rigs pulling out again this morning. Jim and Diane Reese also left for cooler temperatures this morning. Don and I were the lucky beneficiaries of their leftover groceries from their refrigerator before they left. I always volunteer to take leftovers when folks leave. It's a great way to sample new foods....especially salad dressings, jellies, and occasionally BEER. Diane left us a jar of Italian Antipasto olives with fresh garlic, herbs & Napa Valley Chardonnay. Fantastic!! I can't wait to chop some up in my salad plus I know they'll really add zing to my next bloody mary if I can avoid sneaking them out of the jar as snacks till then. Thank you, Diane!

WEBSITES??

Do any of you keep a website or blog about your travels? Please send me a link if you do and I'll add it on the sidebar of this blog.