Maverick Flies Again

Hey......another morning with temps less than 104 degrees.  Time to fly the drone again.

Tidbits and storms

We are definitely in the throes of monsoon season as we have some kind of storm almost daily now.  Last night brought some LOUD thunder and lightning and enough rain to finally make puddles in the street.  That gave us delightfully cool temps in the mid 70s this morning.

These are definitely "isolated" thunderstorms as you can easily spot them off in the distance. 

Spotted some beautiful cactus blossoms again.  I am always amazed at how such a beautiful flower can suddenly appear from a prickly cactus plant.

Busy Bees!!

Lots of future blossoms too.  Look at all the buds.

We certainly live in a pretty resort!!

And we have some dedicated staff members to keep it a wonderful place to live.  Thank you to one and all as they go about their daily routines.

Patching and painting.

New houses coming in on a regular basis.

Loads of gravel getting ready to spread.

Don and I stopped in at the Big House restaurant for breakfast last week.  OMG!!  I just love their french toast!!  If you haven't tried it yet, put it on your "to do" agenda for when you return this season.

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Kat likes to curl up by the warm computer but I wish he didn't always rest ON the keyboard.

Must open the blinds when Mouse shows up so he can watch the hummingbirds and doves.

Mesa Awning has us on the calendar for August 27 to replace our roof.

We will be soooooo happy to have it back!!

Stormy Weather

You may be hearing on the national weather about the big rain and wind storms we're having.  Those heavy rains are definitely NOT here.  Phoenix and surrounding area gets severe weather but we are relatively mild in comparison with mostly just more dust and dirt.  Haven't found any damages in the park other than a few sun screens and tipped over pots.  

We had plenty of thunder and lightning last night but only a light amount of rain.  We awoke this morning to a mild 75 degrees!!  Almost jacket weather for us.  LOL  It felt wonderful but quickly rose once the sun came out by 9:00.

It looks like we have a rather pleasant week ahead of us.

I can tell that we're getting close to fall because the spider webs are appearing on doors and houses we watch.  Time to start carrying a spider brush with us.  The daddy long legs and harvestman spiders just love door ways for some reason so I need to sweep them away before entering.

Weather Stories

Our area meteorologists are busy recording new high temperatures again.  I felt sorry for the UPS delivery man yesterday when I saw him go by with a big wet towel wrapped over his head and shoulders as he tried to cool off between deliveries.  

You have to be tough to live and WORK in Arizona's heat.  Our landscapers and construction crews just keep at it day after day.  Just read another story in the Casa Grande paper about a 13 year old boy in Coolidge that collapsed and died from heat exhaustion as he and his brother were walking to a friend's house.  Here are the current temperatures from the 10:00 news last night.  It finally cooled down.  LOL

Can't complain too much about the heat though as I've received emails from some of you readers telling about the HAIL storms you've experienced.  Look at this picture from Fred and Deb Wyss in South Dakota!!

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I had to laugh when I tried to put up the new Neighborhood Watch decal in our front window.  Kat and Mouse were very curious.  I had to put the decal way up high and out of reach as they managed to pull it down twice already.  Those of us enrolled in the program can pick up their decal at the front desk.

Finally a view from Maverick

There was hardly any wind and the temp was less than 100 for a short while this morning so Don finally took the drone out for a spin.

YouTube Link:  https://youtu.be/j487eRa1nAc

We found Neil Jeffers putting up the new Neighborhood Watch signs.  Thank you, Neil.

Weather

Big storms and flash floods were on the news last night but, as usual, they passed right around Casa Grande.  No need to worry about us here.  

We had some wind and lots of dust but no rain as usual.

It's quite a boring forecast.  LOL

Birds and Cats

With no major construction around here this summer, it gets hard to find newsworthy items for the blog.  There are new homes popping up daily in the north 40 but I'll push Don out there to get some Maverick video soon.  He keeps using the excuse that the drone doesn't fly at over 104 degrees but he should still have an early morning before 9:00 to hit that 104.  Yup.  It's HOT here in summer.

The birds keep us entertained, however.  We were excited to see Mom and Dad quail on the patio yesterday......and they brought their youngster along with them.  Only one baby with them though which is not a good sign as they usually can hatch up to a dozen at a time.  They sure are cute!

Our small flower bed in front of the house is obviously the perfect place for the baby doves to congregate while they wait for their Mom to hunt dinner.  There are three babies taking refuge there.

I only got pictures of two at a time but look what happens when Mom shows up with dinner!

Link to YouTube:  https://youtu.be/BCL1h1z8PEk

All the outside activity keeps the cats very entertained and they run from window to window to follow the action.

Since we lost our nice shady roof, I tend to keep some of the blinds closed to block out the intense sunshine.  Mouse doesn't like that!!

And it sometimes makes him very crabby.

Kat likes to chill out sometimes and watch kitty TV.  He enjoys the cat and dog shows and will sit for long periods of time in his favorite TV position.

Earlier this week I spotted a vulture resting in the shade out on the golf course.  He was maybe waiting for an overheated golfer???

I couldn't get very close as he took off right away.  BIG birds.

In summary, all is well here.  No major storms lately and, unfortunately, no significant rain either.  We still have fun though as groups gather up in the Adobe room for cards almost every afternoon.

Have a GREAT day and enjoy your cool breezes for me.

Canola Fields

I received several photos from Canadian friends this week showing the BEAUTY of the flowering canola fields.  Awesome!  

Susan McArthur sent this photo of a Saskatchewan sunset to match those of our Arizona sky.  Main difference is hers show pine trees and we have palms.  😎

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We are VERY anxious to get our patio awning back.  The sun is really HOT these days.  Our thermometer just might melt!  This is only 8:21 a.m.

They say bad luck comes in threes.  Hope we've had ours for a long while.  First the awning roof, then my dishwasher croaked.  New one was delivered but Home Depot wouldn't install it because it needed some cabinetry work first.  Luckily, Wil Chaney from Wil-Paul Construction gave up a Saturday morning to come and rescue us.  THANK YOU, WIL !!!!

This wasn't an easy chore as we replaced our small unit with a full-sized one.  Wil even had to move the hot water heater to make room.  

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Mouse loves boxes but I think he found his match.