Entertainment

Another beautiful Arizona day.  Temps in the 80s, clear blue sky, etc etc etc.  Are you tired of reading that yet? 

 

As I sit here at my computer, I look out the side window to our patio and am entertained by the doves trying desperately to build a nest on our rolled up awning.  They have worked constantly all week long and haul piece after piece of nesting material but they can’t get it to stay put.  The gap between the awning and the wall is too big so everything falls through but they never give up.  Pretty soon the little woman will be laying eggs up there that will fall straight through too.  I was going to name the pair but the first names that jump to mind are “Dumb and Dumber”.  While it may fit, it sounds cruel for such cute feathered creatures.  I believe they’ll go nameless for now but they certainly are entertaining.

 

Hallelujah!  I think the city crew has worked wonders with the sewer cleaning project.  I’ve ridden down the west wall (Sandy Desert Lane) numerous times the last several days and I believe the ugly sewer odor has dissipated.  We stopped to briefly chat with the city crew as they were working and they said it is a routine job that they do every 4-5 years.  Hmmmm….I’ve lived here six years and that’s the first time I’ve seen the project.  At least its done now and the problem should be solved.

The village home at 1245 sure landed in a hurry.  We went from empty hole to both halves installed within two days.

  

I saw some of our maintenance staff busy at work under the hot afternoon sun so stopped to say hello.

  This is Neil – he’s the newest member of the team as he’s only been with Palm Creek for three months.  He was hard at work repainting all the green site numbers by the RV pads.  They all get a sprucing up this year so thank Neil when you return and can easily find the site you need.  First he spray painted the green metal and then stenciled on the numbers.  Not an easy task when you stop to think of how many sites there are and all the up and down involved with the knees.  Ouch!

  Neil must be very tall because I seem to have cut off his head in this picture.  Sorry….I’m still an amateur.

I really enjoy riding around the park looking for info for the blog but some people do groan and laugh when I show up with camera in hand.

  Here I caught Avis and Larry Gray with Harriett Agee coming off Hole #8.  They’re getting in a lot of practice during this lovely weather!

    Jerry McDonald had a day away from his ranger duties so rounded up his toys and headed for the golf course too.  Nice bike, Jerry!

I don’t have any exciting news from the gardens yet.  Tomatoes are starting to turn pink but someone seems to pick them immediately before they really get a chance to ripen.  There will be plenty for all of us once they really start to turn.  The group planted several different kinds of pepper and squash plants and they seem to be doing well also.  I don’t know if these photos will show up well.

It’s also fun to just ride around and look at all the pretty cactus flowers that come into bloom.  This particular one was very pretty at 1739 (Mike & Peg Tomaso).  I emailed them photos so they could watch their plant in bloom.

I took a lot of photos as I rode around yesterday.  They’re not the best  but maybe you’ll enjoy them for what they’re worth.

      One of the owls that roosts up by the north wall.  Yes, the two outside the front gate are still there even though contractors have recently mowed all the grass and leveled the field. 

  We don’t get to see quail inside the park very often so its always a treat to see them chase across the gravel with that little bobber thing on top of their head.  I couldn’t get any closer for a photo cause this guy was pretty camera shy.

   Roadrunners are quite common but they’re always a treat to see anyway.

As soon as the wind kicks up, it is common to see dust devils whirling across the horizon. I think this one should show up on the photo okay.

So what do we do now that the evening activities have drawn to a close?  Some of us head down to the local American Legion to play bingo.

Tuesday

What a beautiful day today!!!  High of 75 with just a light breeze and a few scattered puffy clouds to make the blue sky even prettier.  It was gorgeous!  The 90s are due to return in a couple days so we try to soak up all the cool temps like a super sponge. 

 

I think Palm Creek residents keep the local contractors in business these days.  There are various crews installing new park models, adding on decks or Arizona rooms, hauling pavers for patios, resurfacing driveways, and especially site improvement projects with lots of concrete, new landscaping, and sheds.  Steve and Ann Arthur at site 1366 were hard at work today making their lot very attractive.  Nice work, Steve. 

 

I’ll get a couple more photos of other site projects while out on our rounds tomorrow.

There is another village home coming in at 1246.

We saw a number of utility type trucks redirecting traffic on Henness Road today so I put on my reporter’s hat to see what was going on.  The name on the main truck is “Pipeline Video Inspection & Cleaning”.  We “hope” the city is finally getting serious about the strong sewer odor that tends to float over the west wall of the park along Sandy Desert Drive.  It would certainly be interesting to hear results of their findings and their work but I don’t have an ear inside the city engineer’s office so we’ll just have to test our noses to see if their efforts are successful. 

I watched our golf course crew as they worked on the front nine today.  I believe the term is aerating or plugging.  A roller type of machine pulled behind a tractor pulls a core or plug from the soil to let air back into the soil and promote better grass growth.  Curiosity got the best of me while I was taking photos so I picked up a core and was amazed at how compacted the soil is.  I could bang the thing on the pavement and it didn’t even break.  Guess that’s good old Arizona soil.  I can certainly see why aerating is necessary! 

Sorta looks like goose droppings from  a distance. 

Uh Oh…..don’t feed the peacock!

We’ve all been excited and rather thrilled to see Mr. Peacock strutting around the park.  I’ve gotten several phone calls from friends who know I’m an avid birdwatcher. This morning I googled peacocks to learn more so I could share information.  But….whoops….I came across this news article posted on Channel 5 Phoenix website.  It seems that the peacocks can be a problem when they start to multiply.  The thrill must wear off in a hurry according to the homeowners.  Follow this link to read the article plus click on the photo to view the video.  I have already heard the peacock call at night.  At first I thought it was someone screaming as if startled.

 

Peacock news:  click here

Happy Mother’s Day

We had a GREAT Mother’s Day dinner on Sunday with 90 people present.  Upon entering the room, Ladies were presented with a rose, a special card, and their choice of a fuzzy navel or a wine cooler.  That was followed by a delicious meal and lots of friendly conversation and camaraderie.  Chalk up another success for the Special Events team!

    

    

     Readers tell me they like to see these photos so they can check out who is still here enjoying our Arizona sunshine.  Since I will be working in the kitchen during the summer events, you’ll be seeing pictures from behind the scenes as well.

Sue and Connie Morin prepping the croissant rolls.

Chicken cordon bleu waiting for its turn in the oven.

And then it’s time for doing the dishes and sanitizing the kitchen! 

This morning (Monday) we awoke to a lovely cool breeze, 60 degrees, and sunny sky.  It was almost too cool…actually a bit chilly for us true AZ folks with such thin blood.  I wish we could bag some of that cool air and save it for July and August!  The pickleball courts were very active.  It’s hard to get a good picture but perhaps you can recognize some folks.

      

Not everyone was off to a good start as evidenced by this sad tale we came across.  It appears the brakes locked up on this rig so it has to get hauled in for service.  At least it happened while they were still in the park and not out on the highway somewhere!  Must always look at the bright side.

He’s Back

This finely feathered creature was back again today.  Mary Williams spotted him and got a great photo.  Thanks, Mary!

 

Mary’s email story: 

Hi Sue.......

Couldn't believe I missed the peacock while playing golf yesterday....was glad to see your photos. I alerted Tom when he was heading out to the course this morning since I was "sleeping in" for a change.....a while later, he called me and said the proud little fellow was on #12 tee so I went over to look....was sure I had missed him as it took a while for me to get dressed, etc. I had given up and was heading home down Oasis and decided to get off my bike one last time and head up in between a couple of park models (1811 and 1812) and lo and behold, he was sitting on the patio of 1811. He then headed down onto the golf course...even took a small air-flight...wished I'd had the video going!...and went on over to the pet section side. Sure wish he had spread out those tail feather, though!

Hugs!

Mary

A New Resident??

I was up for an early morning bike ride today while temps were still in the wonderfully cool 60s.  Low and behold.....I came across this perky peacock strutting around the golf course.  I followed him quite a ways and took a picture as he crossed between park models.  Sometimes he would hop right up on their back porch as he meandered on his way.  I was hoping Kent and Leslie Evans at 1769 were up to greet their visitor.  Sure enough, later this morning Leslie called with the exciting news that our feathered friend was still prancing around the area.  Ya never know what a new day will bring!

 

 

 

 

 

Another Day

Young cactus from Site 1543 – Jack and Donna Greenwood

More and more of the cactus plants are starting to show their flowers.  This young plant at Site 1543 is really showing off its colors!  Very pretty.  I’ve been emailing photos to Jack and Donna so they could see the little fellow in bloom but thought I’d post it here to brighten everyone’s day.  Temps are forecasted to be in the 90s continuing through this weekend but dropping to the 80s again by Tuesday.  That’s fine because we still have wonderfully cool evenings in the 50s and 60s.  These bright sunny COOL mornings are fantastic.  Don and I take full advantage of them each morning with that fresh cup of coffee on the patio to start the day. 

 

After our daily housewatch duties, Don likes to head up to the pool room with friends to take advantage of those new pool tables.  He says the tables are really great but the guys are just sick and heartbroken over the damage done to one of the new tables.  A young boy was found in the pool room unescorted.  He probably didn’t mean to do harm, but he put a whole bunch of marks on the new felt table covering.  I don’t know if they’ll show up well on a photo but it’s a sad story.

     

Now back to happier stories:  The May Happenings newsletter was printed this week.  Connie Morin and I volunteered to be “stuffers” and place copies in all the open mailboxes.  It was an interesting project and it also somewhat reveals how many people are still in the park.  If a mailbox is still open, it means folks are receiving their mail here so “theoretically” they’re in the park.  We stuffed about 325-350 boxes so “theoretically” there are approximately 600-650 people here.  That’s quite a change from just a month ago!  If you look closely at these photos, you can see where small blocks of wood are placed in a box when the resident leaves.  That way staff knows that the box is closed and no mail should be inserted. 

    

Here is a salute and a thank you to all the folks who work and volunteer in the mail room.  Congratulations to Linda Balzan and her staff of devoted elves who handle the bags and bags of incoming mail.  It is a HUGE task to get it all sorted and figure out who is staying, who already left, who forwards their mail, etc etc.  Flo Fillipi has been handling mail forwarding labels for many a year and does her best to get the mail sent off to the right address. 

    

Here are our May activities we’re looking forward to enjoying! 

    

Housekeeping

Say “Hello” to the Palm Creek Housekeeping staff!

From left to right:  Maria, Carmen, Maria, Dora, Nora, Josefina

Dora is a 10-year veteran here at Palm Creek followed by Maria and Nora (6 years), Josefina and Maria (4 years).  Their team knows what it takes to keep our resort looking its best!  In addition to all the front line work they do in cleaning our immaculate restrooms, shower rooms, game rooms, offices, and other public buildings, they also clean many of the park-owned rental and model homes.  This morning I saw them buffing and polishing the model home that was recently moved from the Street of Dreams to Site 1246 on Shimmering Sands Lane.  

    

I’m certain that on behalf of all Palm Creek residents, I send them our heartfelt THANKS for a job well done. Their hard work is much appreciated by all of us.  After chatting with Dora this morning, I know these staff members always enjoy receiving your thank you gifts of left over goodies when packing up to go home at the end of the season.  So when next time you stand in front of your refrigerator and say “Yipe.  What will I do with all this food when it is time to leave?  I just hate to throw it all away”, think of the housekeeping staff.  They’re always delighted to get those jars of salad dressings, jellies, spices, extra freezer foods, cereals, baking items, etc.  Since all the members live here in Casa Grande, they know many local families so will always be able to find a good home for extra food items, used clothing, books, household items, and even furniture and appliances.  Just leave a message at the front desk for Dora to call you and she can arrange for pick up of your items.