Where have all the flowers gone?

What a great title for today’s post!  The front entrance looks so barren and different without all the flowers there to greet us.  Annuals just can’t survive the hot Arizona sun so it’s time to pull them up and haul them away. 
Where do they go???? To the garbage truck.And how do they get to the landfill from here? Answer:  My Hubby takes them there along with all the other trash our maintenance crews have loaded from the dumpsters.

As top ace blog reporter, I begged to go along for the ride this morning.  Awesome!!   I’m betting this is an adventure not many of you readers have experienced.  Eat your heart out.
Upon arriving at the landfill, we stop on the scale to weigh the truck.  As we approach the dumping site, I am very surprised at how clean the whole area is kept.  The only garbage that is exposed is that which is brought in today.  As the trucks come in to dump, the big bulldozer is already covering and compacting it with fresh soil.  AND….that huge dozer is driven by a woman!  You GO girl!!

Unloading only takes a minute or two and then we go back to the scale to check out.  Don goes inside to retrieve the ticket showing the total weight we dumped.  Today’s load was 10,750 pounds and cost $161.40.  During full season, he makes at least 4 trips every week averaging around 12,000-14,000 pounds.  Do some quick math here and it calculates that in season it costs at least $750 per week just to dump the truck at the landfill.  That doesn’t include the cost of the man power to collect the trash and load the truck, nor the fuel and maintenance.  Whew!  Add all that to the daily operating budget and you get a new perspective on what it costs to run this resort.

Oh yes….I don’t want to forget another point of interest.  As clean as the landfill appeared, there is obviously trash on a windy day that blows around the area and neighboring lands.  The guys in the orange jumpsuits are at work on perimeter cleanup under close supervision of the Sheriff’s vehicle.

Ride along with me today

Good Morning from sunny Arizona!  We’re having a wonderful respite from any hot weather these last few days.  We were in the 90s for a while (which makes that swimming pool sooooo inviting in the afternoons….and I do soooooo enjoy being retired now so I can enjoy it)  but now we’re having a cold snap with temps in the 80s.  We’re supposed to have some gusty winds for the next two days but I think we can “suffer” through it.  In other words….it’s wonderful!!
Yesterday afternoon was so beautiful and quiet in the park.  I hopped in the golf cart and rode around to tour the homes of our housewatch customers.  I love to snap an occasional photo to send to them but had so much fun with the pics today that I thought I’d post them here for all to enjoy. 
Desert plants are awesome and so vastly different from what I was used to back in Wisconsin and Ohio.  This is also an exceptional year for blossoms since we had ample rain this winter.  I spotted this prickly pear cactus that looked so pretty against the green of the golf course behind it.  (found at Verna and Wayne Sheppard’s home)
Phil & Julie Calef at Site #5 really enjoyed their new park model this season and have some fascinating plants in their yard.  The century plant is massive!
  There is a prickly pear in the backyard with a distinct purple color.  Now with the yellow blossoms, it is really colorful.
These spikey plants are very common (have no idea what they’re called) but when you take time to look closely, they have beautiful blossoms.  I took this picture in front of Gary & Gayle Petersen’s home at 1719.  Note the cute baby dove that just sat there and posed for the photo.
This close up shows the pretty blooms when they open.
 Speaking of doves….I took this photo for Jerry & Linda Dey at Site 1030 so they would know their golf cart is being protected?? by our feathered friends. This cactus at 1059 belongs to Bob & Lucy Caldwell.  This is the second set of blossoms I’ve photographed on their plant this month.
Doves are plentiful and make good subjects for photos.  They can find the strangest places for their nests.  I thought Bill & Gayl Benedict at site 1582 would enjoy seeing the addition to their light fixture.
Not all house reports are necessarily good news.  I had to call Doug and Louise Kant (site 1309) to inform them that a swarm of bees had taken up residence in a large urn they left on their front porch.  We called Wade Paupst from Sunstate Pest Control to eliminate the nest.  Wade is a great guy and responded to my call within the hour.  I highly recommend his service to anyone needing an exterminator or for regular spraying and pest control.  He donned his bee suit, sprayed the swarm, closed the opening to the urn, and moved it to a different location.  He explained that bees will still be seen in the area for a few days as many were out gathering pollen when he sprayed and will be returning looking for their home but without a nest to return to, they’ll soon depart.
I first called the park to report the bees but found out that if the bees are on the home owners property, it is the owner’s responsibility to get rid of them.  Thus Sunstate (Phone:  520-466-1977) was called into action.  Wade also does this service for Palm Creek whenever the park encounters a swarm on the golf course or on trees.  If you click on this photo, you can see the bees quite clearly….but I wasn’t going to get any closer!!!!!  Wade says that most honey bees in Arizona have been Africanized by aggressive bees so beekeepers won’t come to capture the swarms.  These swarms always leave the artificial hives so aren’t any use to beekeepers.
On another note:  Today I received an email from Ron & Loretta Savary.  They are full time RVers who stumbled across this blog and will be coming to Palm Creek for the first time next season.  They’ve reserved a spot at 536 on Lantana and look forward to their first visit.  Thank you, Ron & Loretta, for your nice email.  (hmmmm….wonder if I qualify for a commission on that reservation.  LOL)
Thus ends today’s post.  Just wanted to share my afternoon with you and let our customers know how much Don and I enjoy watching after your homes.  TaTa for now.

More Tidbits

It appears that the generous rainfall we experienced this winter has brought out not only beautiful displays of flowers, but also annoying crops of weeds.  In the past, I’ve seen our landscape crews out with shovels and picks in hand to chop out the weeds from all the RV parking acreage.  This year that chore would be too overwhelming so someone has come up with a much wiser and more efficient method for weed control.  I like to post topics like this so our winter visitors see some of the behind the scenes activities it takes to keep our resort so beautiful. 

While out on a leisurely bike ride, I stopped back at Leroy and Barb Weaver’s home to check on their cactus blooms.  While chatting with Leroy, we got on the subject of all the talented people we have in the park.  He brought out a mosaic piece of artwork he received from a friend that resides here.  I hadn’t seen anything like this before so was duly impressed with the art form.  This is a replica of Leroy’s car I’m sure you’ve all seen cruising the streets of Palm Creek.  It is all done with individual pieces of glass/mosaic tile.  WOW.

Cinco de Mayo

Okay, yesterday I was bragging about the weather and today I admit the upper 90s are a little on the warm side so the AC got turned on in the afternoon.  It’s still great swim weather, however.  I always look at the bright side.

Today we celebrated Cinco de Mayo – not with protests or marches – but instead with great food and warm friendships.  Over 100 people gathered in the ballroom at 4:00 for a true feast of delicious potluck dinners.  Everyone brought their favorite Mexican dish to share along with chips & salsa and a generous portion of ice cream with strawberries for dessert.  Thank you Diane Gaines, Linda Balzan, and your dedicated crew for a fun afternoon. 

Since officially retiring from work, I now have time for more activities so I volunteered to help with the event instead of just participating as a guest.  It was fun!  I was very impressed with the professionalism and efficiency of how the kitchen is run.  Under Linda’s watchful eye, we were given strict instructions for hand washing, gloves, and food preparation.  Guests can rest easy about eating foods from this kitchen as everything is strictly monitored.  One sink with a garbage disposal is dedicated to rinsing anything with food particles.  The next sink gets filled with special soap and suds for washing dishes and the next two sinks are filled with sanitizing product for the final rinse. 

I’ve obviously not been inside a commercial kitchen before so I was impressed with the details and strict routine for food preparation and clean dishes.  I salute all those folks who have prepared huge meals feeding hundreds of people from that relatively small kitchen and work space.

Tables were adorned with festive oil cloths and colorful red/white/blue centerpieces.  I believe these will stay up for the remainder of summer as this will accommodate all our other upcoming activities including bingo.  Having a smaller audience definitely has its advantages. 

Tidbits

Greetings from sunny Arizona!

Here I am bragging about our beautiful AZ weather again.  Other than a few windy days, our weather has been as perfect as it gets.  The forecast is now into the 90s for the next several days so we may have to take shelter in the afternoons.  I’ll let you know when we hit our first triple digit day for the year.

Combine this beautiful sunshine with all the rain we had this winter and you can understand why the desert flora is spectacular this year.  I’ve emailed photos of beautiful cactus blooms to quite a few of our housewatch customers so they can see what’s happening in their flowerbeds during their absence but below you will see a true masterpiece!

Barb and Leroy Weaver (on Oasis)  have this spectacular cactus blooming in their backyard!!  This one takes the prize for best of show!  Barb counted 21 blooms on this plant.

 

 

This smaller plant also resides in their garden & boasts some gorgeous color.

A big thank you goes to Barb for sharing her cactus blossoms but also for volunteering as our summer librarian this year!  Barb is a dedicated worker bee in the library and keeps it neatly organized for all of us avid readers to enjoy.

Speaking of specialty skills….my neighbor, Joanie Cichon, is a familiar name to anyone who visits the woodworking shop here in the resort.  Joanie teaches classes to those who want to turn bowls or special wood projects.  She has created some fine works of art in the past but her most recent masterpiece takes a prize.  She is now doing some fine detailed work with the scroll saw to embellish her work.

Congratulations Joanie! 

Another Day at PC

 

Still no arrests or further information about the fire other than this small paragraph that appeared in today’s section of the Dispatch police log. 

There is progress on the clean up process as another rig was hauled out again today.  The first story I posted about the one man single handedly loading up the rig is even more amazing after watching today’s story.  This time there was a big flatbed truck and two wreckers with a crew of at least six men and it took them a lot longer than the one man working alone last time.  By looking at these pictures, I think the insurance company should have hired the first guy again.  I certainly wouldn’t want to follow this load down the freeway!  The load looks a little unsteady as it’s hanging way over the back end of the trailer.  As they say in the old west….”It’s not my problem.”  I wish them luck getting to their destination safely.

So what else is new here??  I suppose you’re tired of hearing about our absolutely beautiful April weather.  April and October are my very favorite months in Casa Grande.  Temps are just about perfect and still the nights cool down to the low 60s.  Perfect!  The swimming pool is a fantastic place to bask away the afternoons now that I am officially retired!  It’s awesome!!!  I “almost” feel guilty when I hear from our Canadian friends that they went home to 8 inches of fresh snow!

Here’s a copy of a little newsletter we received in our mailboxes last week.  Looks like we’re going to have another fun summer with plenty of activities to keep us occupied.  Thank you to the Activities Dept for the extra efforts!

Stay tuned for further updates!

Here’s wishing you a GREAT day!

Cleaning up the mess

Don and I were out on some house watch errands this morning and thought we’d drive by the storage area to see if there was anything new…….and there was!

We arrived as a specially rigged semi was loading one of the destroyed RVs onto its bed.  It was a highly specialized rig where the bed tipped back and with the use of a heavy duty winch, the driver (working single handedly by the way) was able to pull the burned up mess onto his trailer. 

 

Jack Thomason (from Colorado) was also there watching the process as it was his RV being towed (should say “carried”) away.  He said it was a 2005 Winnebago Vectra which obviously is now a total loss.  Jack told us the sad story of some of the personal items that were stored in the motor home at the time of the fire.  He had a set of jewelry making tools inherited from his brother along with some precious metals and some fine finished decorative pieces.  Jack had already packed up all his woodworking tools as they were getting ready to head back to Colorado within the week along with all of their winter clothing.  Jack’s wife, Jerri, is an avid quilter and had some beautiful quilts and finished goods packed for the trip back home. 

After sifting through the ashes with the fire marshal, they could tell that these items were still in the rig during the fire which rules out theft.  It sickens me even more to think that the vandals set the fire just for the thrill and malicious intent. 

I hadn’t realized the damage that was done to neighboring rigs before.  As we stood there, I looked around and could see the melted lens covers, ripples in the fiberglass, and singed parts on several rigs.

 

 

Jack and Jerri will be working closely with their insurance agent and the fire marshal until their lives settle down again after such a traumatic event.

I took one final photo to send to Jack for his scrapbook as they were finishing the clean up process.

The salvage driver secured the load with cables and tarps for the ride to an insurance inspection yard in Phoenix.

Now there is just a pile of black ash and residue to clean up and two more rigs just like this one to go.

The incident is still under investigation.  Will keep you posted when we hear more detail.

Dispatch Follow Up Story

Golly Gee…..my blog has made the newspapers!  How about that!  Today’s Casa Grande Dispatch had a bigger article about the fire and somehow they got wind of my blog and actually copied my story plus listed the blog site.  It will be interesting to watch my counter spin to see how many hits there are in the next few days.

I’m really glad they quoted the part about the wonderful response from the fire department.  Those folks really deserve credit for the incredible job they did in controlling the blaze and keeping it confined to such a small area considering the number of rigs that were parked close by. 

I didn’t print anything about the park model that was “destroyed” since I didn’t know for sure the extent of the damage.  From what I could see outside of the police tape was just some charred pieces of wood on the floor through an open door.  There was a new village home sitting out in the storage area and that’s the one that sustained some damage.  Can’t see anything on the outside so I doubt it was really “destroyed” as noted in the paper….but it truly does lead one to believe that the whole incident was caused by vandals/arsonists.  Here’s the full scoop from today’s paper. 

 

Today’s Dispatch News

Well…..here’s all we read about in today’s issue of the Dispatch.  I believe they meant to say three motor homes and a trailer were destroyed.  The price tag sounds about right, however. 

We also received his half page notice in our mailboxes today.  Other than this, no other word is available.

Fire FollowUp

WOW!!  We had over 2000 hits on the blog in the last 24 hours as people are searching for more news about the fire.  My email has been inundated with folks asking questions…..so here’s my answer.

The fire is officially under investigation by the Fire Marshall.  The area is all blocked off with yellow police tape and no one is allowed access inside the tape.  A security firm has been hired and is on duty to make sure no one trespasses until the investigation is complete.  Until an official report is issued, there are no answers and no further information.  The Casa Grande Dispatch paper isn’t published on Mondays…so we have to wait until tomorrow’s edition to see if they have more info.

Three RVs and one travel trailer were totally destroyed.  The 3 RV owners were still here in the park but I doubt they want their names published here.  The travel trailer owner had left for the season but has been notified.

From what I can see, about 4 other nearby RVs have substantial damage.  It should be safe to say that whether they are repairable remains in question with their insurance companies.  Again, no one will know for a while yet.  I’ll post the Dispatch news as soon as it becomes available.

I did upload a better video that shows more detail.  Check it under yesterday’s photos.  You may get an error message, but try again a little later as the site is very busy lately.  Thanks again for writing.  All your encouraging comments keep me motivated!