Independence Day Event

 

July 4, 2022

A grand day to celebrate.

What a turnout at our July 4 festival.....or should I say FEAST.  We had a potluck luncheon attended by 111 residents and guests.  Only 64 of them had pre-registered but luckily with it being a pot luck, we had plenty of food.  The park provided us with brats to serve the crowd.  Thank you to Denny Miller and Glo Mason for standing out in the triple digit temps to cook them on the grill.  Thank you to Barb Poole for hostessing and "directing traffic" and to Elaine Paulson for leading us in song to the National Anthem.  It's always fun to gather and chat with friends.  I'll post plenty of pictures so you can scan the crowd.

So much delicious food!

Our next event is this Friday, July 8, when John McGuire will be a guest speaker.  John is a champion for economic growth in Casa Grande.  He reports results of city council and the planning commission meetings to citizenry on Facebook.  It's not necessary to sign up for his presentation.  We'll just set up 100 chairs.  I for one am anxious to hear about new business and community growth.  Meeting is at 2:00 in the SanTan room.  (time error on the monthly calendar)  2:00 this Friday. 

TAPAS TUESDAY, JULY 12

Ray & Sherry Montijo will be our hosts for the event.  They request some special seating.  Therefore the first two tables closest to the food in all 3 rows will be reserved for Palm Creek residents and their +1 that have mobility and/or vision difficulties.  

SUMMER PIZZA PARTY

Dusty Brown is hosting another Karaoke event in the ballroom Friday, July 15, from 4:00 - 7:00 pm.  There will be an art raffle with proceeds going to Marsha's Food Drive.  Bring a pizza to share.  BYOB.

Shade at the Softball Field

 We had a great turn out for our first iPad class!  It seems that we all learned some new tips and tricks.  Thank you to the 30+ that attended.  

There's lots of activity over by the softball field as they are preparing to put up some heavy duty sun shield sails over the bleacher area so we can sit in comfort while we cheer for our teams.  The old food wagon has been removed and all the pavers are pulled up.  Big deep footings are required to hold the sails.  You can see the big posts that are being installed.

New pavers ready.

It appears that this round bed is too small for Mr. Mouse but it is his favorite place for a nap.

A bit of History

 

Photo by Barb Poole

The Tapas Tuesday group marks Armella Freeman's 93rd birthday with song and cake.  Armella, along with year-round resident Flo Fillipi, anchor Palm Creek's informal "Nonagenerian Club" as well as both being among the original "pioneers" of Palm Creek.

Armella and Ken Freeman and Flo and Don Fillipi booked their reservations in the future Palm Creek in the spring of 1998.

The Fillipis pulled in with their rig when Palm Creek opened December 10, 1998.  When the Freemans arrived in December, their site and home were not yet ready so they spent a month in a motel having sold their 5th wheel.  This photo shows the view down Oak Street as their home was being set on site 234 in January 1999.

Sadly, Ken Freeman passed away at the end of the 1999-2000 season, but Armella has returned to Palm Creek for the past 22 years.  She was one of the early members of the Singles Club and made the donut run for many years.

(*Story & photos submitted by Chris Christopherson)

An engraved plaque was given to residents who were present at the grand opening.

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Judy Hosea (one of our newer full-time residents) wants to start a directory of Palm Creek inhabitants showing names, phone numbers, email addresses, and site numbers.  She has asked that I advertise it here and invite other residents to add their information to the roster.  If you wish to participate, contact Judy at jhoseb@icloud.com.  Judy is the sole owner of the project.

**My Palm Creek Update blog is not affiliated with the roster and it will not be posted here.   

Rainy days during this monsoon:

June 18  Saturday

June 24 Friday

June 25 Saturday

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We enjoyed hearing from Advanced Ankle & Foot at the Tuesday morning coffee.  Dr. Cline was an excellent speaker and shared so much information about foot care, choice of shoes, and options for foot problems.  Residents enjoyed his talk and asked Terry to arrange for him to come back with a complete seminar.  I'm guessing that Dr. Cline gained quite a few new customers today.

**Over 60 tickets were picked up for this coffee but only about half of those people showed up!  What a shame!  If you pick up free tickets, you should at least show up or notify the office that you can't attend.  This is a very annoying problem for our Activities department when supplying the food and coffee.

INDEPENDENCE DAY......JULY 4

The Tapas Tuesday group will be hosting a celebratory potluck in the Ballroom in observance of Independence Day.  Sign up at Tapas Tuesday or in Activities.  (No Tapas Tuesday on July 5)

JULY BIRTHDAY PARTY

The July birthday celebration will be Thursday, July 7 at 1:00 in the ballroom.  A light lunch and a sweet treat will be available.  Tickets are complimentary but must be picked up in Activities by July 5.  

CASA GRANDE SPEAKER

John McGuire has rescheduled his talk regarding Casa Grande and its economic growth.  1:00 in the SanTan room.  Sign up at Tapas Tuesday or in Activities.

JULY 13 -- COFFEE & DONUTS  8:30a.m

 Our GM, Dennis Jordan, will join us.  Pick up complimentary tickets in Activities by Monday, July 11.

So many fun and interesting events planned for July.  Be sure to pick up your calendar in Activities so you don't miss out on anything.

RAIN

 Hoorah!!  We had our second rain storm of the season!  What a relief to our poor scorched desert.  Our rains are not the same as other non-desert regions.  Rains seem to come in short BURSTS instead of a nice steady prolonged rain that gives the moisture time to soak in.  I guess that's why we have so many flash flood warnings.  Anyway.....it was beautiful to watch and listen to the rumbling thunder.

I'm going to try to keep track of our monsoon season this year.

Saturday 6/18/2022 rain

Thursday 6/24/2022 rain

With the storm, comes the wind, dust, and debris.  We don't complain as we know it's impossible to sweep on a daily basis.  (LOL....at least most of us don't complain but some undoubtedly will.)

Other than the excitement of having some rain, I don't have any other news to entertain you.  So...thought I'd share just a few photos from our daily housewatch routine.

Sprinkler heads get clogged up so have to be brushed or adjusted to get water flowing agian.

Ouch!  This time a big circuit breaker burned up and shut off all power to the house.  Unfortunately, the refrigerator was full of food items.  Several contacts must be made to remedy the problem.

If there is no water treatment equipment in the house, this is what the pails look like as water evaporates leaving the heavy rust and iron.

Small pails are good so we can dump and refresh them monthly.

Owners always like watching their fruit start to grow.

Sometimes we just take silly photos to say hello.

Everyone wants to see their thermostat setting to know how warm it is in the house.

Occasionally we have to reset a circuit breaker.

Potted plants need water if not on an irrigation system.  Not recommended!

Some leave quite a few buckets.

Just an occasional photo to remind them of our pretty resort.

Just saying hello.

More buckets.

It's wonderful when owners leave behind repair items.  Batteries, irrigation parts, glue traps, etc.  Don says this owner must have been a boy scout in his youth as he is prepared!  

Digital thermometers are always fun to show off to the owner.

Back home with Mouse.

Kat tries to help as I vacuum off the cat tree beds.

Always take photos if a heron or special bird appear along our path.

The pond at #13 is still waiting for a new pump.

Friendly owners sometimes leave us a little snack to enjoy on our monthly visit.

If they leave some WD-40, we spray in the garbage disposal to keep it from freezing up.  Vegetable oil works too but gets smelly in the summer heat.

Mouse celebrated his 5th year with us on June 16.

So much for today's ramblings.  

My "helper" and I wish you a GREAT day!