RAIN

 Hoorah!!  We had our second rain storm of the season!  What a relief to our poor scorched desert.  Our rains are not the same as other non-desert regions.  Rains seem to come in short BURSTS instead of a nice steady prolonged rain that gives the moisture time to soak in.  I guess that's why we have so many flash flood warnings.  Anyway.....it was beautiful to watch and listen to the rumbling thunder.

I'm going to try to keep track of our monsoon season this year.

Saturday 6/18/2022 rain

Thursday 6/24/2022 rain

With the storm, comes the wind, dust, and debris.  We don't complain as we know it's impossible to sweep on a daily basis.  (LOL....at least most of us don't complain but some undoubtedly will.)

Other than the excitement of having some rain, I don't have any other news to entertain you.  So...thought I'd share just a few photos from our daily housewatch routine.

Sprinkler heads get clogged up so have to be brushed or adjusted to get water flowing agian.

Ouch!  This time a big circuit breaker burned up and shut off all power to the house.  Unfortunately, the refrigerator was full of food items.  Several contacts must be made to remedy the problem.

If there is no water treatment equipment in the house, this is what the pails look like as water evaporates leaving the heavy rust and iron.

Small pails are good so we can dump and refresh them monthly.

Owners always like watching their fruit start to grow.

Sometimes we just take silly photos to say hello.

Everyone wants to see their thermostat setting to know how warm it is in the house.

Occasionally we have to reset a circuit breaker.

Potted plants need water if not on an irrigation system.  Not recommended!

Some leave quite a few buckets.

Just an occasional photo to remind them of our pretty resort.

Just saying hello.

More buckets.

It's wonderful when owners leave behind repair items.  Batteries, irrigation parts, glue traps, etc.  Don says this owner must have been a boy scout in his youth as he is prepared!  

Digital thermometers are always fun to show off to the owner.

Back home with Mouse.

Kat tries to help as I vacuum off the cat tree beds.

Always take photos if a heron or special bird appear along our path.

The pond at #13 is still waiting for a new pump.

Friendly owners sometimes leave us a little snack to enjoy on our monthly visit.

If they leave some WD-40, we spray in the garbage disposal to keep it from freezing up.  Vegetable oil works too but gets smelly in the summer heat.

Mouse celebrated his 5th year with us on June 16.

So much for today's ramblings.  

My "helper" and I wish you a GREAT day!

Rainbow

 We awoke to this surprising beautiful rainbow at 5:00 this morning.  No rain in the forecast but we were treated to a colored sky.

We found quite a few of these little white wax worms on the patio too.  It was unusual as we've not seen them so bountiful before.  They're a #1 prime food for the birds so they soon disappeared and we enjoyed watching the doves feasting.  These are the same wax worms people buy in bulk to feed birds, reptiles, and other animals.  Great source of protein.

Here's proof of the great escape intent.  Kat has obviously watched us go in and out through the front door.  He now attempts to go outside by himself.  He steps on the handle lever and "almost" has opened the door on his own.  Good thing we have a screened security door as well.  

Happy Fathers Day (Sunday) to all the Dads and Grand dads out there.

Coffee & Donuts

 We enjoyed a large turnout of summer residents at our morning coffee and donuts today to meet and greet our General Manager, Dennis Jordan.

Dennis started the morning with a final farewell to Marion and JD Nelson as they depart from the Palm Creek roster and head for home (at least for the summer).  We're so sad to see them go as they have done so much for ALL of us during their tenure here.

Later a group met at the 4-way stop to wave that final goodbye.

Dennis talked about the attempts being made for better communication of park-wide maintenance issues through the temporary use of the texting program.

Follow this link to an old page from my blog for full instructions:

https://palmcreekupdate.blogspot.com/search?q=text

A new covered area is being installed by the softball field.  New pavers will be installed and sails will be overhead for sun protection.

The new GetAway cafe is planning to open on or by October 15.  

Dennis announced that Palm Creek was able to secure a beer and wine license for the coming season.  That will make a difference for the BYOB events.

The new Director of Facility will be Terry Fosmore who starts on June 27.  He will live on the south end of the property while Dennis resides at the north end.  That should provide good coverage for both.

Regarding site improvement forms, it was mentioned that they were inundated with requests when people left in April.  There is a backlog so please be patient as the team works through the volume.

Regarding water issues through the lakes, it was mentioned that a well pump went out and is not an easy fix.  A temporary pump couldn't be found and there were many issues in pulling the pump for repair or replacement.  Recent water shut off issues were explained.  

A testing company has been hired to work on the silt and algae problems facing our ponds.  Last year an attempt was made to reposition the silt to the far end of the pond but it was only a short term fix.  More work has to be done starting with the testing process.  

Trimming of the palm trees hasn't started yet but is being addressed.  The quote for trimming has more than doubled since last year.

Dennis mentioned that he will try to hold a coffee like this each month.  We appreciate his time for today and look forward to more.  

We are definitely into summer weather here enduring triple digits on a daily basis.  We can still enjoy the wee morning hours outdoors but we soon head for shelter.

Some relief for the current triple-digit temperatures may be on the way. Meteorologists are predicting thunderstorms for the weekend that may signal the start of the monsoon season and a risk of wildfires from lightning.

Rain! Sort of.

I ventured out into the "storm" last night to prove that we actually had some raindrops fall from the sky.  The pavement never got wet but it was our first sign of rain in months.  Notice the pretty bright blue sky overhead.

Our first hint of the storm was a weather alert about a lightning strike 6 miles away.  Really??  But sure enough, we could finally hear the rain drops.

See the TINY little blurb on the weather map.  Monsoon season has begun!

Dusty Brown held a karaoke session for summer residents Friday night accompanied by a catered lasagna dinner from The Sauce Boss.  Great food!

Oh Boy!!  A new box!

Marion & JD Resign!!

 

JD and Marion Nelson

This is the biggest news of the century for us "creekers".  Marion and JD Nelson are retiring from the Palm Creek staff.  Talk about some BIG shoes to fill. 

Marion was the Director of Resort Hospitality and JD was the Gate and Ranger Manager.  Here's the letter that was delivered to all mailboxes today.

I wish them happiness and certainly thank them for their dedicated years here in Palm Creek.  They will DEFINITELY be missed.  

**************

The WeedCo is here in full force spraying the entire 300 acres to keep weeds from popping up all over.  The spray vehicles run over the large gravel areas and a tech person sprays each individual site throughout the park.  

Doug Blakely sent this sketch after reading about our triple digit temps.  It seems quite apropos for our upcoming forecast.