Happy Mother's Day!

We enjoyed a DELICIOUS Mother's Day dinner on Sunday.   Helping behind the scenes was half the fun.  Here's Connie Morin, Lou Scherch, Diane Gaines, and Linda Balzan starting the prep work in the morning.  We like to add some gaity and commaraderie along the way.


Diane and Linda discovered a delicious champagne punch recipe. 

The menu included chicken cordon bleu with a light cheese sauce, potatoes, vegetables, dinner rolls, a yummy jello salad AND cheesecake for dessert.  Everything was absolutely superb!

The team of worker bees expanded as serving time drew near.

Meet Angela Kotcher.  Angie is now a full-time employee with the Activities Department working with Ann Lykens.  Angie also works at the front desk this summer.  Her daughter Sienna came to help us with the Mother's Day event.

Here's Linda checking on the chicken to make sure it is the perfect temperature.

I love cheesecake!!

Dinner is ready!  Time to serve it up on the individual plates.  The kitchen staff sets up a very organized and efficient serving line to assure the food is hot and served to a large group in a timely manner.

We never skimp on the pretty table cloths and center pieces.  There was a card and a fresh flower stem for all the Moms.

Guests are starting to arrive.

And now you get to see a bunch of people at tables eating their delicious food.  Zoom in to see the smiling faces and recognize your friends.  The body on the far right of this picture is June Rawlins who leaned back far enough to become headless for this photo. 

 

 

 

 

This is my good friend Peggy Browne and husband Glen with their son Michael and Grandson who were visiting a few days.  Hi to their daughters Julie and Paige who will be tuning in here to see the photo.  I think they monitor this blog so they can check up on Mom and Dad.

Diane and Linda call themselves Martha and Betty.  Diane takes the role of Martha Stewart as she takes care of set up, decorating, work flow, etc.  Linda is Betty Crocker because she does our cooking and is in charge of the kitchen.  They make a wonderful team and have a fun time getting everything organized.  There are so many details to think about in planning their events.....table cloths, center pieces, plates, menu, kitchen supplies, etc.  Their years of experience really pay off and provide all of us with some fond memories of events and holidays. 

A mini haboob and some RAIN!

If you watch the area weather here, you may have heard about a storm that passed through the Casa Grande area yesterday.  We had enough blowing dust to call in a little mini haboob (certainly not a threat by any means) but we did have some wonderful rain!  We had at least 20 minutes of beautiful rain...enough so that it created a couple puddles in the street!  It's the first time in months and months that we've even seen clouds much less real rain so we were thankful.

We rode all through the resort this morning looking for any sign of wind damage but saw none at all...which is a good thing, of course.  All we found was someone's house with a split sprinkler hose that was spraying all over the place so we reported it to maintenance since it wasn't one of our houses.  Thus we can say it was a lovely storm with no aftermath.

Mornings are still awesome and we gather on the patio for morning coffee with whatever neighbors or dog walkers that happen by.  We're happy.

We're Still Here

Are you getting tired of cactus flower pictures yet?  Sorry, but they never cease to amaze me at this time of year.  Look at all the blooms on this plant at 1729.  If they all open at once, it would be spectacular.  I don't know the folks at 1729 but if you do, you can send them the link.

 

My pretty yellow hibiscus (present from Jerry and Katie O'Brien) seems quite happy and brings a new bloom again.

Avis and Larry Gray sent these photos of the roadrunners they see on almost a daily basis.  They see a male and at least two females frequently. 

Here's hoping they bring the young ones around when the time comes.  Here's mama resting on their patio railing.

I've watched the morning doves many times but never saw one actually take a water bath.  We watched this guy hop in the channel stream for his bath.  He went in and out several times and had a great time of it.

Yesterday was the first of our summer events.  Free ice cream for everyone!  The following are just photos of folks sitting around the tables, but you might want to check out who is still here.  I told them all to smile for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got a head count from the mail room and found there are still about 560 people here enjoying our beautiful weather.  Sometimes we need the AC on in the afternoon but it cools down as soon as the sun exits leaving our evenings and mornings just perfect.

Early May

To all you avid readers who check in on almost a daily basis, I apologize for not posting sooner...........but there simply is nothing to write about.  All is very quiet here.  Those of us remaining are just kicking back and enjoying this awesome nearly perfect weather.  We rise and shine at the break of dawn, golf (for free!), ride our bikes, take a lovely walk, or just sit on the patio with a good second cup of coffee.  When the afternoon temps rise, we hibernate indoors to take a nap so we're refreshed to go out again when the sun goes down.  It's awesome!!

Don and I are on official housewatching duty now that so many people have left the park.  On a typical morning, we ride past the golf course to see who is out playing.  Ran into Corey and Suk Cookingham this week so made them pose for a cute photo. 


Later we found a mama dove who was trying to shelter her very young baby in the middle of someone's driveway.  Evidently the little critter fell out of a nest so mama is carefully guarding her young.

Temperatures are near perfect!

Occasionally on our rounds we come across a broken pipe that we report to maintenance

And sometimes they find the water problem before we get there.  Always leave a supply of sprinkler heads for your housewatcher because they definitely have a tendency to pop off come the hot weather.

Inside the homes we watch, we cover the toilets with Glad Press and Seal to keep the water from evaporating out of the bowls.  Don's favorite line is that he hasn't knelt before that many porcelain thrones since his devilish teenage years.

We stop and say good morning to this little burrowing owl almost every day.  He roosts on the roof of site 1160 on a regular basis.  He has two legs but always pulls one up to rest.

Here are two more dove babies that were displaced when their shabby nest blew down on a breezy day this week.

Mom and Dad were faithfully watching from above.

That's all we have to report for now.  Our first summer event will be an Ice Cream social this coming Tuesday.  Maybe that will bring some excitement.  There is no further activity over by the softball field.  All is quiet there too.

April

Greetings to all.  Our weather is back to perfect again after we suffered through a weekend of 102 degrees.  Hope this lasts a few more weeks as we're loving it.  We did have some clouds and wind yesterday and even about 3 minutes of rain........just enough to muddy up everyone's car but certainly not enough to measure as rainfall.

The cactus flowers love this time of year as send their blossoms skyward for some fresh sunshine.  Too bad they only last such a short time.  Found these beauties at Bob and Lucy Cadwell's site 1059. 

Many of you pickleball people know A.J. Fraties.  He pedals all around the park on his scooter so you never know where you'll find him.  We stopped him this morning and teased him for being on the cell phone while driving.

Carol Hendrickson at Site 1853 laughs when she waters her flowers as a 'friend' planted a stalk of corn in one of her pots.  Flowers and corn are doing well.

Water volley ball continues as long as there are enough players to staff teams.

T'is a sad day when the flowers must leave us.  The blooms just aren't hardy enough to withstand the hot temperatures.

 

The front entrance looks so barren now.  I'm glad to see the little green bushes they planted last year.  At least we have something growing there in the off season.

 

Activity at the softball field is at a stand still for now.  The fence is down.  Guess they're waiting for the next step.

That's all my news for today.