Sunday, July 31, 2011

Sunday–A Day of Rest

It was rather a quiet week…no storms, no rain, no trauma….nice and quiet but work continues.  Still lots of palm trees to be skinned. 

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Work continues on the sprinkler systems.  Must keep those greens looking good for you golfers!

landscape blog

A new park model home just arrived on one of the few remaining spots on Oasis.

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Looks like three more lots are being prepped for village homes back on Shimmering Sand Lane. 

construction blog

I saw Neil from the maintenance crew parked under an umbrella as he was working on a water line.  I stopped by to chat and see what he was doing.  It’s always interesting to learn more about what it takes to keep our park in shape.

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I learned a LOT.  The umbrella was not just for Neil’s comfort and respite from the hot sun.  He had a generator going so he could freeze the water pipe.  While the pipe is frozen, he can cut it off and replace the part that had split and started leaking.  That way he didn’t have to shut off all the water in the surrounding area.  He carefully explained how he had to adjust the pipe fittings so he could upgrade to a better quality…………..or something like that.  I’m not a mechanically inclined wizard but I think I got the gist of what he was trying to tell me.  Thank you, Neil, for your patience with my silly questions.

Neil blog

Neil blog

I enjoy watching the great efforts people go through to try and keep the doves from roosting on their house or patio.  I saved two photos to share with you.

These folks went to quite the extreme of home made spikes all along their eave to discourage the doves from nesting……to no avail I’m afraid.  Mama dove is determined!  Bless her heart for enduring the direct sun and prickly surroundings.

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Ever since Marlene Martin moved into their new home here, she has wrestled with discouraging the doves from building on her porch light fixture.  Mama dove managed to tear off the cardboard that was affixed to the fixture and she ignores the bright strings of ribbon.  The big July 5 haboob almost downed the fixture and I can tell from the mess on the steps below that the nest was downed several times….but mama dove has overcome all obstacles and is still there!

Martin 680

Martin 680

 

It is quiet around here this weekend (except for our crazy cat, Hiway, who is craving for more treats than she is permitted.) 

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Don is in his ‘man cave’ flying across the country on his flight simulator program and I have been curled up with a good book (Game of Thrones) while the sun above has spiked at 109 so far – (1:30).  It still has a few hours to go higher as it tops out around 4:30 – 5:00 before the hot star starts it’s downward trek across the clear cloudless sky. 

 

We spend these hot days indoors, of course, and venture out only during the cooler hours of early morn.  To stave off cabin fever, we went to Harkins Theatre yesterday and saw “Cowboys and Aliens”.  The Sci-Fi genre is not my favorite but curiosity made me want to see the flick because of all the good actors in the cast.  I must say that it was VERY entertaining and I enjoyed it!  Steven Spielberg would be happy to hear me say that I almost jumped out of my seat several times.  He’s really good at sudden surprises.

 

After the show, we stopped at Mimi’s for dinner.  I admit to enjoying free food so wanted to be sure to use my Buy One, Get One Free coupon I received in my email from Mimi’s.  In today’s electronic age, most restaurants have a nice website posting their hours, locations, menus, etc. and if you sign up for their email program, they graciously email you a coupon now and then for a big discount or a free meal.  If you haven’t already discovered that, be sure to check it out.  Eegees, Mimi’s, and Dairy Queen have a birthday club so if you sign up with them, you get an email for a free meal the week of your birthday.

 

Speaking of email:   I cautiously use an anonymous Hotmail address when shopping or browsing the web as I want to avoid getting on an annoying spam roster.  Even with caution, you can still get bugged…………..as I was this past week when a Trojan hacked that hotmail account and sent out an email to everyone in my hotmail address list.  If you received something from me with a hotmail address, just ignore it.  Virus has since been wiped clean.  It’s nice having Don’s expertise so close at hand to eradicate those nasty virus issues. 

 

casserole dinner blogWe had a wonderful pot luck dinner up at the clubhouse Wednesday afternoon.  There weren’t many people in attendance as I don’t think anyone wants to cook in this hot weather but the food was fantastic!  I became an instant fan of Lynne Rogers and her chili recipe!  I hope she submitted it to the Palm Creek cookbook….which should be coming out soon.  I’ll be sure to post the announcement when it comes.

 

That’s all my news for today.  Tomorrow starts another interesting week.  Have a GREAT day!

 

 

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