NEW SAND TRAPS!

I believe I will hereby name Bill Wrightson as an “official” news reporter/photographer for this blog as he is a wealth of info and photos.   Bill was a successful professional golfer so has a vested interest in our Palm Creek fairways and greens.  He spends many volunteer hours out there on the course helping the grounds crews by providing their “hydration station” loaded with Gatorade during these hot summer days in the full Arizona sunshine.
The course (front nine first) is going through its annual process of being scalped and reseeded so it is ready for our winter visitors to enjoy.  But Bill says the BEST news is that all the sand traps are being dug out and replaced with REAL sand.  He is very excited over this and says our golfers will truly appreciate this latest upgrade to the course.  It is no easy task to accomplish this, however, as each trap needs to be dug out and prepped. 

Then comes truck load after truck load of sand that has to be delivered to the course.  That’s a long way to haul all that sand.

Each trap will contain 4-6 inches of sand.

Here is a finished trap, filled and raked on the left of Hole #6.

Bill has repeatedly commented on the wonderful job Jeff  Eckart has done this year as our greens keeper.  The greens are in awesome condition for an Arizona summer when we have had very little rain and a LOT of HOT weather.  This is #11 green plus other scenic views.
More course improvements are underway as well.  There has been a lot of digging, patching, and installation of drainage to prevent wet spots.  The entry way to Hole #1 is undergoing a renovation.  Trees and landscaping will be installed to the left of the flags in this photo.  This will be a great “before” shot and I’m sure Bill will provide an “after” view for us later.
While Jeff did a wonderful job with the course and landscaping, he has now moved on and is no longer on staff.  The grapevine tells me that a gent from corporate (Jim Dawson) is overseeing things for now and he has an on-site man – Fernando – who will be taking over at least temporarily.  Remember----everything I type here is from a resident grapevine and is not official so if I mistype anything, I’ll be the first to apologize.
The next time you drive by Bill’s house, check out the #6 greens marker he has displayed in his front flower bed.  He salvaged this and refurbished it when new markers were installed as it holds a warm spot in his heart…..fond memories of getting a hole-in-one TWICE on #6.

I know many of you like to have your house washed and cleaned before you arrive, but if you live on the golf course, now is NOT the time to do that.  Scalping and reseeding is a nasty job and really kicks up the desert dusty soil.  That’s why Bill is so dedicated to providing his hydration station.

Check the before and after scalping on #6.  Scalping not only the grass, but check out the difference in palm trees too. 

  Every tree and shrub gets pruned.

  Stay tuned for more to come!

Pickleball Announcement

Here’s an important message from Rosemary Reese for all you pickleball enthusiasts:
To all residents of Palm Creek. If you have only thought about playing the game of pickleball or are a tournament medal winner, this is the clinic you do not want to miss.
Mark Friedenberg, from Seattle Washington is one of the top ranked players in the country as well as the author of the "Official Pickleball Handbook".  We are very fortunate that Mark will be coming to Palm Creek.  For more details on the clinic and on how to register click on:
www.palmcreekpickleball.blogspot.com

In case you weren’t aware, the pickleball, tennis, softball, singles club, computer club, and hiking club all have blogs that one of their members usually keeps updated during season.  You may want to check them out at:

www.palmcreek.blogspot.com

News Articles

What a beautiful morning for coffee on the patio!  Wonderful 70+ degee temp, beautiful blue sky, palm trees gently swaying in a light breeze.  Life is GOOD!
Not a lot happening on a Sunday morning but I have a couple newspaper articles you might find of interest.
The Animal Hospital has a new building and updated facilities.  That’s good news for those of us with furry friends.

Chick-Fill-A is opening Thursday of this week.  I just checked out their menu on-line to see what they’ll be serving.  Since chicken is my favorite meat of choice, I’m thinking I’ll be a good customer for them and it sounds like they’ll have several good chicken sandwiches available.  I doubt very much though that I’ll be among those folks camping out overnight to be first in line.  First 100 customers get a year’s supply of free meals. 
Art In The Alley will be back this season.  For you newbies, mark your calendars for the first Tuesday of each month to go downtown for this event.  It’s fun to peruse the antique autos, tour through all the arts and crafts booths, listen to the live entertainment, or have a good meal at one of the downtown restaurants.  They’re also trying to build up a farmer’s market at this event.  I clipped this article for you.

Hey….someone wrote a cartoon about my cat!  How did they know her so well??

Have a GREAT day and thanks for checking in at “the Blog”.

Newsletter

Received this little newsletter in my mailbox this morning and thought I would scan and share it with you.  Be sure to note the new speed limit on Henness Road….now 35 instead of 45.  I’ve heard several people talking about a new puppy in the park.  Lyle and Kathy have a new Shih Tsu puppy named Bella that is rumored to be awesome, loveable….and CUTE so when we ran into Lyle yesterday, I asked permission to meet Bella.  Oh my goodness….how sweet!  I also grin at the proud smiles from “Mom and Dad”.

I have a couple friends who volunteer in the mail room.  They tell me they’re receiving several phone calls a day from folks re-opening their mail boxes as they’re returning soon.  It sounds like people are returning quite early this year.  Can’t say as I blame them.  We’re at the tail end of summer here now and the temps are finally cooling down at night into the 70s.  Don and I have had coffee on the patio the last two mornings and it felt awesome to be comfortable outdoors once again.  Morning coffee is our favorite time of day and we love to sit on the patio and chat with folks as they stroll or ride by.  Please stop in to say hello when you get here!!

I shall close today with a cute email I received called:

DRIVING AS WE AGE (a picture is worth a thousand words!)

 

Palm Tree “Monkeys”

WOW……it was awesome to watch these tree trimmers in action this afternoon as they made short work of trimming the palm trees between the tennis courts where the lift truck can’t reach.  This is obviously not their first day on the job……they are great!  Wouldn’t we residents love to be that fit, trim, strong, and athletic!

Update

From Sunday’s paper.  Need I say more?  We figure about another month and we’ll get some cooler temps come October. April, May and October are my very favorite months in Arizona.   We “almost” had a haboob (monsoon storm) this afternoon.  There was dirt in the air, a gusty breeze, and about 30 seconds of rain……then it cleared up again.  And I’m not exaggerating that either.  It wasn’t a measurable amount of rain except for the big blobs of mud left on the car.  <sigh>
There’s still lots of maintenance activity in the park.  Trim Trim Trim.  I think every tree and shrub in the park is getting a dandy haircut this year just for you.
Eddie from the maintenance crew drew the task to repair and clean/paint every one of the tree spotlights (and there are a lot of them in the park!).  I’m sure we don’t think about all the labor involved….we just see the beautiful results.  I was teasing Eddie about “drawing the short straw” to get stuck with that job because it is so laborious and in the full sun.  He soon sent me away.  LOL The big tent cover by the north pool started to disintegrate in the Arizona sunshine so was sent out for repair.  That’s no small task!
Here’s a crew putting it back up again.
Anton and I were out doing housewatch chores when lo and behold….look what we met coming down the street.  Another new house.  We followed to see where it was going and got to watch the driver back in to park on the site.  He did an awesome job and was in perfectly on the first try.
It is now safely tucked in at Site 1473.  I don’t know if it is purchased or a spec home.  It looks quite similar to the new one sitting at site 1572.
There’s more activity up by the village homes too.  There are already four new homes on the last street….sites 1252-1257 but we saw more prep work being done today.
Busy busy busy.  The excitement mounts as we anticipate your return.

Promising Winter Weather

I read this article on the front page of the Arizona Republic newspaper this morning and thought it was worthy of sharing with all of you Palm Creek winter visitors. 
First of all, you can read how we’ve survived another HOT desert summer….ninth hottest in recorded history….with evening low temperatures really breaking records.  It just didn’t cool down at night like it is supposed to do by normal standards.  That means it was still hot out when we emerged from the swimming pool at our nightly swim sessions.
The last paragraph should bring a smile to your faces as it says we’re expecting warm dry weather this winter through March.  Get ready to dust off those tennis rackets, pickleball paddles, golf clubs, etc as we’re going to have a lovely winter.  At least the weatherman predicts that and we know they are always correct!
**Remember……once you click on the photo, use your control and + key to make the font big enough to read.  Then use control and – to downsize again.   Then hit your “back” button to return to this blog.

Luminaries

WOW…..the ladies turned out in mass today to decorate luminary bags.  The pressure is on to have about 5000 of them decorated and ready for the big Cancer Awareness event in February. These dedicated gals spend every Sunday afternoon up in the Zuni room clipping, gluing, painting and designing decor for each bag.  You won’t find any two alike!   For those of you who are new and not familiar with the process, look in the blog archive section under February 8, 2010 for all the details and a review of last season. 

FYI – If you ever want to search for a special topic on a blog, notice that there is a small search box in the upper left corner of the screen.  Just type in a key word and the event will be brought forward.  The time is drawing near for our winter visitors to return.  Ranger Bob is around applying our new 2011 stickers on our car windshields.  My PT Cruiser proudly boasts number 16.  I asked Bob who was lucky enough to be number 1 and he just smiled.  I’m going to check out his vehicle next time I see him.

We discovered another village home being installed at Site #1316.  You’ll be surprised to see the number of new homes that appeared this summer.

Be sure to check out the Palm Creek website and see the fancy new calendar feature that has been added.  Click on the little calendar square on the front page….there is a calendar for events, one for activities, and one for sports.  It’s an awesome new feature.  Someone….probably Diane Gaines….has put in a tremendous amount of work on this.

www.palmcreekgolf.com

Now I must take a moment to brag about my son, Anton and publicly say “thank you” to him.  He is temporarily residing in Casa Grande so comes to visit us and help his “invalid” parents.  Don by the way is recovering nicely….thanks again for all the cards and letters and phone calls and emails with words of encouragement and support.  We noticed on the last rainy day about two weeks ago that our eaves troughs were completely clogged with dirt and debris from our palm tree…..and nesting attempts from the doves.  Anton was gracious enough to brave the blazing sun and clean out the gutters for us today!  Later after a welcomed shower and a gallon of gatorade, he then cooked a delicious dinner for us out on the grill…on our newly cleaned patio.  Dinner was GREAT as you can see from these photos.  Are you all jealous now?            Thank you, Anton!!

All is well

We had two summer events this past week but I have no photos to show the nice time we had.  August 31 was a “bring anything” dinner night so naturally there were lots of goodies.  Wednesday morning was coffee and donuts.  I seldom miss a chance for a fresh donut, but I did this time.  Just forgot to go.   It’s pretty hard to report on events if I don’t attend or take photos. 
I do have something of interest to share, however, as Bill Wrightson was out scouring the property on his usual early morning rounds and came across a Sonoran Desert Toad.  Although deceased, the toad was a perfect speciman so Bill has it sealed in a display case. 

As with anything I hadn’t seen before, I rushed off to the internet for some more information.  Don’t let your puppy dog play with these toads!
In Arizona there are nine species of true toads, including the Sonoran Desert Toad which is also known as the Colorado River Toad.  This toad is our largest species.   It reaches 16 cm in length and is olive green with a white wart near the angle of the jaw.
Toads spend most of the year underground, having dug themselves in or usurped abandoned rodent burrows.  Summer rains sufficient to wet the animals deep in their burrows triggers emergence and signal the beginning of breeding season.
These amphibians are preyed upon by snakes as well as other amphibians, but they are rather well protected against predation by mammals.  The skin of the toad produces toxins that reacts with mucous.  If a dog mouths a toad, it will suffer severe discomfort with the possibility of paralysis and death.  In fact, if a toad sits in a dog's water dish for some period and the pet subsequently drinks the water, the dog can become ill, perhaps even die.
Hawks, owls and snakes prey upon the Sonoran Desert Toad.
After mating, toads feed on insects, spiders and smaller toads that are also made abundant by the summer rain.  They will also eat small vertebrates.  In fact, toads will attempt to eat anything of an appropriate size that moves. Even insects that fly are easy prey for the toad's quick flicking tongue.  After storing an adequate supply of fat, toads again burrow into the ground where they overwinter.