Taco Tuesday

Whoops:  Regarding signing up for the smoke detector program:  Sign up in Activities....not through the fire department.  When they get 10 names on the list, they will submit it to the Fire Department.  This was a special offer and is done with volunteers when they are available.  We were lucky enough to get in the initial program.

The taco lunch was great!  Thank you, Chef and crew.

I spread the beans right on top of the taco.  They were so good!

And the churros were an extra treaat.

Thank you, Dawn.

Chef, Dean, and Bridgette were at work in the background.

Chef says unloading all the products and putting them away is a chore we don't think about.

Don couldn't go home without a snack.

He loves those pecan sticky buns.

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Kat is always so relaxed and laid back.  Don calls him his spirit animal.

OMG!!  Google Memories brought up this picture of cute little Mouse when he was just a baby!! (2017)  Now when he sits there to keep me company, he takes up over half the desk.

Here's my boy today.  He just jumped up to say hello.  He must have sensed that I was talking about him.  🐱

Crazy Morning Rain + Fire Dept

 Ok.  We had one of the strangest mornings!  The bug spray man comes tomorrow to spray around the house so Don always washes off the patio the day before he comes.  He started spraying this morning but had to quit because black clouds suddenly appeared with thunder and plenty of lightning.  We had a sudden heavy rainfall but it didn't even last five minutes.

It rained enough to let us know that our eave troughs and downspouts definitely need attention.  We have Jose on call.

Just as it quit, Tita from the fire department showed up to replace our 20 year old smoke alarms as promised.  They brought in their tall ladder and it only took them about 15 minutes to replace the three alarms. 

I missed getting a photo of Tita playing with the cats.  They were certainly excited to have so much activity in the house....plus the rumble of thunder outside.  I'm surprised that Kat didn't try climbing the ladder.

Thank you to Tita and Bill for the wonderful service.  Need your alarms replaced and don't have access to a tall ladder?  Sign up in the Activities office.  When they get 10 names, they will contact the Fire Dept. and arrange a date.  The whole program is run with available volunteers so you'll have to be patient.

 Now Don is back outside with the hose to finish washing the driveway.  What a crazy morning.  All that happened within one hour.

I'm excited about going up to the Cafe for lunch today as I want to see how Taco Tuesday is served.  

Google Memories sends me a couple pictures from previous years.  This one popped up so thought I'd share it with you.  This was taken on August 5, 2015 when they were first mapping out the sports pool.

August 5, 2015

To summer residents:  See you at Taco Tuesday!!

Road Work +

 Our fountains on the main pond are working well and look very nice.  It's a good way to greet newcomers as they arrive.

Big activity here this week is repaving some streets and patching cracks.

Some sections of road get completely replaced.

Mountain Mirage has an entirely new street.

We had a fun time at bingo yesterday with our Activities crew (meaning Terri and Barb). 😃  They announced that our fun summer activities will continue all the way through October and received a huge round of applause.  

It's Saturday morning so Don and I were back at Tractor Supply for their Saturday craft fair.  We MUST get our fresh melons every week.  They are SO good.  Grown at a farm at Picacho.

There were new booths today so its always fun to chat with the vendors.  This was a new gal who can customize the stuffed animals and pens.  Great Christmas gift ideas.  I gave her our Palm Creek info so she can come our way in October.

One of Don's favorites is this lady who cooks up her biscuits and gravy.

Our weather is still HOT every day so if you plan to attend, go early!  They're open from 8-12 on Saturdays.  It's fun to tour the booths and chat with the vendors.

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LOL.  Our new Air Conditioner has a bigger blower so the cats don't have to get so close to the vent anymore.  We all love the cool air.

August Calendar

The August calendar looks great!  Plenty to see and do plus a big change in the meals at the Ballroom Cafe.  Now instead of having one sandwich as a special for the whole week, it was switched to a different special each day.  Good idea!

• Mondays:  Hamburger & Cheeseburgers
• Tuesdays:  TACOS
• Wednesdays:  Reuben Sandwiches
• Thursday:  Philly Cheesesteak
• Friday:  Fried baskets (fish or shrimp)

Michelle is doing a GREAT job on our calendars.  Very attractive, accurate, AND on time!  

I copied this from the Dispatch this morning:  

 Phoenix and its suburbs sweltered more and longer than most, with several records including the 31 consecutive days of 110 degrees Fahrenheit-plus weather. The previous record was 18 straight days, set in 1974.  The streak was finally broken Monday, when the high topped out at 108 degrees Fahrenheit at 3:10 p.m. Phoenix also sweated through a record 16 consecutive days when overnight lows didn’t dip below 90 degrees, making it hard for people to cool off after the sun went down.  National Weather Service meteorologist Matthew Hirsch said August could be even hotter than July.  

 OMG!

RAIN !!

 I've said it before...and I say it again:  The salad bar at our Ballroom Cafe is second to none.  So many goodies available to pile on top of fresh greens.  It only costs $10 and it's all you can eat!  Bar is always so neat and clean and fresh.  Thank you to Chef and crew for providing this for our summer.

Another tip from this avid bird watcher:

In this hot weather, we notice many birds rest with their beak open to cool off.  I "googled" them this week to learn more.  (from Google:) Likely, they are trying to keep cool. Birds cool by “gular flutter” which is similar to panting but requires less energy.  Birds’ high metabolism actually makes it EASIER to keep cool. What matters is not the absolute temperature but the relationship between body temperature and ambient temperature. Because birds are hotter inside than we are, the air around them feels cooler to them than it does to us. They can still lose heat to the air by simple radiation when we no longer can.

Most birds also have other methods of cooling off, such as flattening their feathers so there is no insulating layer of trapped air (on a hot day, birds’ legs look longer because the feathers lie closer to the body).  And they can and do seek shade and rest on really hot days.

But in general, birds are better than mammals at staying cool, and less vulnerable to dehydration as well because their urine and feces contain little to no water—they lose less water than we do. Many birds do not need to drink. Birds do very well in hot deserts.

The acorn woodpeckers like to hang outside the windows at the Adobe Room & attack their reflections.

We had an old fashioned Haboob the other night....just lots of wind and dirt.  It took down some tree branches and sadly tore down one of the sun sails over by the softball area.

Photo copied from Nextdoor

We were treated to our monthly Chef Special on Thursday.  Yummy shrimp scampi.  I copied Bill's excellent summary from Nextdoor.

Next month will be chicken alfredo.  Hurray!

We had a real monsoon storm last night!!  First drops of rain since March 30.  We witnessed LOTS of thunder and lightning with a "little" rain.  Rain gauge this morning shows .01 inch.  That's not much!  It was WONDERFUL to sit on the patio for morning coffee at 75 degrees.  What a welcomed relief!  It won't last long but it was certainly appreciated.

With the temperature being so high for so long, our pools have warmed up also.  Water aerators have recently been installed at the main pool.  It feels great to stand under them for the cooler water and it feels like standing our in the cool rain.  

We watched the tree trimmers working in close quarters this morning.

I want to know how they get the ropes up there.

Remember when the Fire Department was here and talked about aging smoke detectors?  Well, Tita showed up at our house this morning with ladder in hand to help us.

She confirmed that we need to buy new alarms because ours were installed with the house in 2005.  Marc is a volunteer who comes along with a ladder to do installation.  Talk about service!!