Miscellaneous "Stuff"

I have some quiet time today so thought I'd just pop a couple photos here for the fun of it.  No real story to tell but I just enjoy looking through my photos. 

Here's another shot of the palm trees in bloom.  It doesn't show up real well on a picture but at least you get the idea that ALL the trees are blooming at this time of year. 

 

 

Just a nice photo from the course.

 

When we go through houses, I like to take quick snapshots of miscellaneous items standing around the house.  I don't think the owners would mind if I post a couple now and then as long as I don't broadcast any personal information.  There are just little items that dress up the place.

 

I bet many of you never see these buildings without activity in front of them.  Looks abandoned in the summer.

 

Isn't he cute sitting in the flower pot??

 

Another scenic shot from someone's back yard.  No wonder we pay more for a golf course site.  Makes for a beautiful view.

 

This indoor cactus garden gets watered once a month when we come in to inspect.  Looks good so far. 

 

And then there are the summer gals who love to play games in the afternoons.  Here we're playing a game called "golf".  It's the only golfing to do in the hot summer afternoons!

 

Other days we spend around the Pegs & Jokers board.

 

While I'm off with the girls, Don loves to spend hours at his flight simulator back at home.  It's his man cave.  Boys and their toys!

 

Neil came to our rescue the other day when a swarm of bees took up residence in a small hole in the bricks just outside the SanTan room.

 

He was our super hero!

 

I have to smile each time we drive by this guy on Oasis.  Good thing they have that mean creature on a chain.

 

Okay....that's enough silly stuff for today.  I don't want you to get bored or you won't come back!

Fathers Day

Good Morning--
Hope you all had a nice Father's Day yesterday.  We certainly did here with another delicious dinner of Swiss steak, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, fresh salad, bread, and chocolate cake with ice cream for dessert.  That corn casserole was really great!  Diane said she would be posting the recipe on the facebook page because so many folks requested a copy.  Yum!

Here are some photos of our day including happy worker bees in the kitchen and one shot of the dinner guests enjoying the fruits of our labor.

 

 

 

 

Roger Balzan and Jim Gaines were assigned the task of opening wine bottles for our guests.

 

 

Some of you may have already received a letter from APS about changing your electric meters.  There is a nice explanation on the Palm Creek facebook page explaining the benefits.

We're under an excessive heat warning for today and I'm not surprised.  Last night was the first night that it didn't cool down below 80 so we could open our windows.  As you can see from this photo, it is still early morning but already at 95.  The forecast shows a rain cloud which just amuses me.  Notice the 16% humidity.

That's our news for today.  Some of us will be heading over to the American Legion tonight for an exciting bingo game.  Wish me luck!

Happy 61st Anniversary to Marilyn & Russ

I received a complimentary email from Marilyn Roemer this morning saying how much she enjoys reading this blog.  Then she mentioned that she and her hubby, Russ, just celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary.  I thought that was rather newsworthy so am posting here to congratulate them.  Sorry I don't have a photo of them together but I do have this picture of Marilyn as she is our dedicated bingo bus escort.  Thank you, Marilyn, for all you do for us at Palm Creek. 
 

 

First Haboob of the Season

Don and I went to Chili's for dinner tonight and were surprised to see the big dust cloud on the horizon as we headed back home.  The air was very still without any breeze at all.  As is customary with a dirt storm...customarily called an haboob, the dirt slowly appears on the horizon and then the winds come pushing the cloud along its path. 

 

Within 10 minutes of first spotting the cloud on the horizon, the winds came roaring in and here is the view from our kitchen window.  It was strong enough to be called a storm but as usual, not a drop of rain and within 20 minutes all was clear and calm again. 

The newsworthy part of the story is that the official monsoon season starts on June 15 and today (the 16th) we had our first storm.  The weather reports can be proud of the date they set.  Here is a paragraph from the web regarding our Arizona monsoon season:

Prior to 2008 the Phoenix area monsoon was considered to have started when there were three consecutive days when the dew point averaged 55 degrees or higher. In 2008 the National Weather Service decided to take the guesswork out of monsoon start and end dates. After all, monsoon is a season, and most people should not be concerned with whether or not a particular dust storm was defined as monsoon storm or not. Beginning in 2008, June 15 was established as the first day of monsoon, and September 30 will be the last day. Now we can be more concerned with monsoon safety and less concerned with definitions.

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Earlier in the day, we saw some surveyors still busy at work.

Equipment is now over by the west fence line.

Avis got a few pictures from her patio of fence work in action.

 

 

She also keeps me entertained with her roadrunner stories as they come to visit her on her patio.

Yes....that is a little piece of balogne in his beak.  Wonder where he found that tasty morsel out here in the desert.  Any ideas Avis???  :)

When Avis loaned me her camera to get the above photos, I found this beautiful butterfly photo on her camera so I stole it to share with you.  It is a Tiger Swallowtail I believe.

Our hard working landscape crew is still at work trimming the shrubs.

 

And to end this post.........here is what we found when we went to check on the lovely home of Kent and Lesley Evans.  They thought it was time that the toilets smiled back at us as we flush them on our house inspection rounds.  Thanks for sending us a smile Kent!!

Palm Trees

Did you know that our palm trees blossom in the summer?

See these weird long prongs that stick out from this palm tree?  They look like plain green sticks but slowly they split open into a plethora of white blossoms sending the bees into a frenzy.

 

This tree has one full branch of blossoms and the ones at the far right are just starting to open.

 

It's hard to see in this photo, but every tree all the way down the line has branches of blossoms.  It's quite fascinating to watch them bloom.

 

I wanted to learn more about the blossoms and what if any fruit would emerge but when I turned to wikipedia, there were hundreds of different varieties of palms so I didn't know where to begin.  In frustration, I sent off an email to ask Jim Dawson.  Wow!  That man is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to landscaping!  That same morning, he sent back this very informative paragraph:

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"Sue - the name of the palm that is used as a street tree is Washingtonia robusta. The common name is Mexican Fan Palm. Robusta is the most common one we have here. There are a few palms in the resort that vary slightly from robusta towards a different species of fan palm called Washingtonia filifera - common name - California Fan Palm. The way to tell the two apart is by the caliper of the trunk. The California Fan Palms have much thicker caliper in the trunk and don't grow nearly as tall as the Robusta. You can also tell the difference by looking at the spines that grow along the mid - vein of the frond. The Filifera has very few to almost no spines on the mid-veins. The flowering - which is what you are seeing now, is becoming heavier each year as they become older. The Bees are woking hark to pollinate the flowers. Of course this is where you get the different hybrids between the Robustas and the Filiferas because the Bees are traveling between the two varieities of palm. We try to get the Palms trimmed in July and August before the fruit sets and produces thousands of little black seeds which resemble a Caper in size and color. If the seeds fall on the ground and work their way down into the gravel, they can be viable for many, many years. If there is water in the area, the seeds will swell and germinate producing a seedling that resembles a blade of grass. If you look closely throughout the Resort, you will see the seedlings coming up in quite a few locations. Don't let them get established because they are hard to pull out. Talk to you later. Dawson"

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Thank you, Jim, for so promptly and completely answering my questions.  I'm hoping we can talk Jim into doing some seminars this coming season regarding the different kinds of plants and landscaping issues found within the resort.  Put it on your "to do" list when you all return so we stuff the suggestion box requesting Jim's presentation.