Friday Morning

It was a lucky day for us as Don and I BOTH got to ride along with Jim Dawson for an update on the construction.  We happened to see him while we were out on rounds early this morning so he invited us along for a ride in his truck.  I fought Don for the shotgun front seat and, of course, I won.  :)
The sewer line has reached its destination.  Now comes all the trenching to bring the connections from the home sites.
 
T-junctions 

 
Progress continues on the wall construction around the pickleball courts.

Our PC crew will finish their part of the job today.  Then the concrete company will take over for a while.

 
Faustino hard at work with shovel in hand. We like the new beard look, Faustino!

 
Fernando is always happy when he can be driving some kind of equipment.  I bet he had a lot of tonka toys when he was a kid.

 
The ditch witch machines will be very busy in days ahead to run sewer, electric, and communication lines to the home sites, ballfield, and court area.

 
You can see another completed concrete silo or manhole access farther back in this trench.

 

 
Work is quiet out on Cottonwood today.  Yesterday the police had the street blocked off so we couldn't turn right to head out to the mall.  We learned from Jim Dawson this morning that someone (NOT US OF COURSE!) stole something like 23 manhole covers along the roadways around town.  They had to block off some streets until the covers could be replaced.  Hitting an uncovered manhole would be quite dangerous!

 
We met Dan Steffey, owner of Steffey Excavating, while he demonstrated his newest piece of equipment.  It is a remote control compactor.  It compacts the soil at the bottom of the trenches so they don't have to have a man down there with the trench shoring in place.  It will be a valuable time saver.

 

It was interesting to listen while Dan and Jim discussed the four different type of soils they have encountered while digging in this area.

 
While Fernando likes to drive the tractor, he also helps with the heavy work.  Here they're hauling the concrete blocks to use along the wall and putting them in place for the other crew.

 

 
That pretty well sums up our construction tour for this morning.
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Yesterday when we went up to play cards, we found Gladys and Bob De Bonville working on a quilt project.  Bob was mumbling something about being roped into helping....but you know how men are.  He wasn't very anxious to have his picture taken.  Smile Bob. :)

Meet a newcomer to the office staff.  This is Linda who will be working part time at the front desk this season.  She is currently training with Angela.

Thursday Update

Don and I finished our rounds this morning and, of course, took more action photos for the blog while we were out there.  I'm waiting by the phone in hopes that Mr. Dawson will call again and offer another tour but this will have to do until then.

The sewer ditch is filled in up here by the north gate and the electrical transformers are back in place.  See the new manhole cover?  I'll never look at another one again without an inward smile knowing how they are built.
 
Big dirt piles are disappearing as the trench is filled up again.

 
Almost there!  Here comes the sewer line to where it will connect with the new structures and home sites.

 
Out in the field I see gray pipe being laid out, which we now know means electrical lines.  Purple for sprinkler systems.

 
Out on Cottonwood, these bricks are going up amazingly fast.  I need to ask Jim more questions as to what this will look like when it is finished.  I think he said it was for the water run off channel but it looks more like a wall.

 

 

 
Don and I drove our golf cart on the sidewalk all the way around the outside of the park this morning to get photos of Cottonwood progress.  I took these pictures just outside the north gate.  This is the concrete water run off channel that I think they're constructing the rest of the length of Palm Creek property.

 
Took a couple fun photos of us driving down the sidewalk.  I don't know if it's legal or not but we got away with it.  Don't tell anyone.

 
We played good samaritan along the way as we stopped to pick up trash.  Maybe that will bring us absolution for driving on the sidewalk.

 

 

We received a little newsletter in our mailboxes this week with more construction news for the swimming pools.  On September 1, the main pool will be closed the entire month to:

1.  jack hammer all plaster 1" and repair deep cracks

2.  replaster the entire pool\

3.  install new drains

4.  repair tiles, ramps and steps

5.  install tile swim stripes and swim lanes.

The main pool is scheduled to reopen October 1 at which time the north pool will close for 2 weeks to mirror the remodeling done to the main pool.

The newsletter also says we're working with a new recycling vendor with the "strong possibility" that they will take over our recycling and add glass in the future. Here is a blurb I copied from the PC Facebook page about your recycling efforts:

 Have a great day!  Are you watching the Olympics?

Need Computer Help?

This is just too cute!  ...and I think many can relate to this. 

(Thank you to Avis Gray for sending it my way.)
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Today's email was very interesting.  Quite a few notes from readers.
This one is from Jack Rathert up in Alaska: 

"Here is our catch from yesterday out in the Cook Inlet, Alaska.

Lee and Mary Margaret Davis (space 186) on our boat HIGH TIDE, Jack and Carolyn Rathert (space 288).
.
Once again MaryMargaret out fished us all with a 95 lb. halibut. It was 62"
long, almost as long as her. She brought it to surface by herself
but I did the harpooning and a hot 22 in it's ear to calm it down.
MM caught a 50 lb. halibut last week. We just go along to keep her in bait."
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This came from Tom and Elaine Moore:
Tom and I have been enjoying the cooler weather here in Oregon. We have been fishing on the Umpqua River system, and in the ocean, and have managed to catch 4 salmon to date. I finally had my camera with me and here are a couple of pic's of our last catch. Elaine caught a 16 lb chinnok salmon on the Umpqua River, her first of the season on Thursday, July 26th. Tom caught his the next day on the bar of the river. (where the ocean and the river meet) He was jigging on the bar, and landed this 17 lb. chinook salmon, his third of the season. The season is still early, and usually August and September our our best fishing months. Landing these early, is a real treat! We both enjoy the thrill of the catch and fishing.

From another friend:

and one final note for now:

Happy Birthday to my dear hubby!!!!  I love you!

Wednesday afternoon tour

Dang!  I missed an opportunity to go in the field with Mr. Dawson
today so  Don went in my stead since I wasn't home.  I guess it won't hurt me to share the opportunity as long as Don had his camera along.

This is Steve....one of the contractors who works with the GPS equipment.

They're establishing where the sprinkler heads will be located on the softball field.

 

This is awesome.  Look closely at this diagram.  The white half of the circles indicates where the spray will go from each sprinkler head.  The total white circles will spray 360 to cover the entire area.

Okay ballplayers....Steve is standing on home plate.

Here are some photos of work being done up at the north satellite building.  Lots of patching and painting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday Update

Tree trimming continues.  The little kid buried deep inside me would love to ride around in that bucket and see the view from up there.....but I don't want them to hand me a chain saw!

 
Our street made the list today.  I'm just amazed at how much gets trimmed off the trees each year.  This is a big pile of branches from just one tree.

 
When you take a close look, you can see the needle sharp thorns that line each and every branch.  Ow!!

 
These berries are what develop from the spring time flower blossoms.  I think berries is the wrong word.  I should say seeds.  Now the streets are covered with them and it sounds like popcorn when we drive over them with the golf cart.  The street sweeper will have a big job ahead to clean them all up.

 
Don took this picture with his cell phone this morning while we were out on rounds.  Looks nice.

 
Congratulations to the crews.  Looks like they have the electric lines connected to the transformer again.  Time to fill in the trenches.

 
Work continues on the sewer lines.

 
The first row of concrete bricks is being set out for the wall that will extend around the pickleball courts.

 

 

 
Here is another of Don's photos from this morning.  I'll title this one:  "Where there's a will, there's a way."