Flowers and more

Some of you (and me) like to see the cactus flowers when they open.  Yes they do, Don!  

This plant has LOTS of buds that will be opening in the next few days.

I got to watch the great blue heron hunt  for tender fish in the creek.

Our tennis players want their fellow club members and family back home to know they're still out on the tennis courts while they're here in summer..

*************************

♦ Money can’t buy happiness, but it keeps the kids in touch!

♦ Did you know that dolphins are so smart that within a few weeks of captivity, they can train people to stand on the very edge of the pool and throw them fish?

♦ Relationships are a lot like algebra. Have you ever looked at your X and wondered Y?

Desert Surprise

Another surprise from a desert plant!  Look at the cute blossom sent up by this tiny tiny cactus.  Awesome!

Even though they're quite numerous and sometimes annoying, its still fun to see a young baby guarded by Mom. Even when we approached in our golf cart, she stood steadfast to protect her babe.

Yikes!!!  Look at the forecast for the coming week.  The month of June so far has been a wonderful gift as it cooled down every night but it looks like that's about to end.  They're actually predicting 120 on Tuesday which will be another record breaker.  

We take casual photos of different sites as we make our rounds.  This one just seemed to turn out lovely so thought I'd share it.  We live in such a pretty place.

Here's an update from our DJ drone overlooking the proshop and ballroom area.  Enjoy the ride!!

**************************

Redneck Mini Blinds.  Just tear off and throw away.

Hard Hat Tour

Fernando and crew were in the trenches again to assist with putting in water lines by the ballroom.

I loved the hard hat on top of the sombrero.

Dang!  I didn't get a picture of ME wearing my hard hat when Art McCoy took me inside the ballroom for some pictures.  Missed that great photo opportunity!

They're getting ready to install a HUGE steel beam that will reach across the ceiling where the movable wall will be.

Step one is to drill holes for the footings.  If I could hear correctly over the noise of the jackhammer, I believe he said this hole would e 6' by 4' and at least 4' deep for the concrete footings to support that beam.

Play this short video.  Yes....it was noisy in there.

Tile floors from the bathrooms have been chopped up and will be removed today.

Here is inside the Sonora South room where the contractors have their office and work space.

Here's the blue print for our ballroom.  You'll have to zoom in on your computer to get to the details.

The main entrance to the ballroom will be facing the current parking lot.  You can see the pottery room over there at the right.  The structure at the far left is where the kitchen will be. 

The pro shop will have a nice drive up area to drop off your clubs.

Say hello to part of our maintenance team.

Jaime and Louis

Monday Update

We awakened to an absolutely beautiful morning with a cool 69 degrees and enjoyed TWO great cups of coffee out on the patio before we started our day.  Awesome!

First stop was to take some trash to the dumpsters where the pile of trimmed palm branches has grown considerably.  They're here for a few days to dry out so they won't be so expensive to haul to the landfill where we pay by the pound to drop a truckload.

Getting a picture of a roadrunner isn't easy, but we always try because its a joy to see them.

There's lots of activity at the North 40 this morning.  Granite Street really looks different with the oleanders and the berm all gone.

Still lots of leveling to do.

Our drone's name is now "DJ".  DJ went up for an aerial view this morning.  If you see the surveying stakes with big mounds of dirt around them, that shows how high the dirt used to be before the leveling started.  Those machines have really moved a LOT of dirt.

They're primarily working at the north end of the field.  As soon as it gets leveled, a different contractor will come to dig all the trenches for the home and RV sites at that end while the first crew levels off the second half of the field.  That will expedite the process of leveling and putting in 240 new sites.

*********************************

Construction Videos

We took the drone over to the ballroom this morning.

Looks like the next step is to release another walk way from the building.

They've dug the holes for the footings at the proshop.  

I can't imagine the strength it takes to hold on to this machine while it hammers down on the soil.  You'd think it would jar one's teeth loose.  Watch this short little video of it in action.

We took a look at the work on the north 40.  They're still leveling down the dirt throughout the area.  That "dirt moving" machine is fascinating.to watch.  The water trucks are doing an excellent job of keeping down the dust of the dry soil.

***********************************

My dear friend, Shirley Beck, really wants to wear her swimming suit and bask in some warm sunshine..............but she is way up north in Canada somewhere and the weather is not cooperating.  Hang in there Shirley!

I missed the action!!!

Don and I were up at the ballroom early this morning as you can see by my previous post.  The demolition team was hard at work separating that walkway from the main building.  If only we had stayed a little longer!!!

Once the final attachment was cut loose, they hooked a big chain to a dump truck and DOWN came the wall with a big BOOM!

Mark Kenner shared these three photos with me.  He probably felt sorry for me because I felt so bad about missing a great video opportunity.  

An hour later, it is all cleaned up and they're back at work cutting out more wall.

There's still lots of stuff to dig up where the wall stood.  This little dozer is a tough machine!

They're digging big holes for the footings at the proshop.