Spring has sprung in Arizona. How do you tell?

Spring has sprung in AZ.  How do you tell?

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As one looks around the resort where we live you can tell because the "snowbirds" are "flapping their wings" (packing their RV's and vehicles) and preparing for their trip back from where they came.  For example, on April 1, 27 residents left to head home and each day since more and more are leaving.  Each one we talk to has a little remorse in their voice but also looking forward to "getting" home.  For many Easter is the date to be home so many got an extra week or two due to the late date for Easter this year.  Those who live in Canada or the Great Lakes regions are still looking at the weather reports which state in many cases the winter still hasn't left those areas.  Each says "Spring is just around the corner" and it will be good to be home but it has been a great winter in "Snowbird Heaven" and we can hardly wait to come back this fall or winter.  And that's the way it is each year.  What a cycle!

For those of us who wait a little longer before heading north the resort seems strangely quiet.  Homes are closed up with sunshades in each window, water is turned off, electricity unplugged and it seems a little like a ghost town.  The hundred permanent residents sigh and say, "well they're finally gone but we miss them and will look forward to getting them back."  They enjoy their solitude for a few month and just enjoy their small little group.

Our little group of regular golfers are still getting out as the courses are getting better all the time as the grasses grow in the warm weather of spring.  We did get blown off the course on Wed. after playing nine holes.  The only time we have had that happen all winter but when a cold front goes north of Tucson the wind blows like its going somewhere other than here.  Dust in the air completely obscured the mountains and valley and drove the Tucson residents inside.  Being out is not healthy for man nor beast.  This is also the conditions which brings about "Valley Fever" which is a fungus found in the soil of the southwest and causes a flu-like condition and severe cases can locate fungus in your lungs which leads to pneumonia and more serious illnesses.  This is not one of the good things which can happen in "Snowbird Heaven" but fortunately it is rare.  Many residents of the southwest get Valley Fever but never know it other than to feel like they have a slight flu feeling.

Temperatures have been unusually high for this time of year with some reaching the century mark.  Like most desert areas as soon as the sun sets it cools right down and makes a night for good sleeping.  Another one of the benefits of "snowbird heaven" I guess.  The temperatures and just being spring is causing other phenomenons in the desert.  The one everyone looks forward to is the "blooming of the desert."  Wild flowers and cactus blooms appear as if by magic.  One day not there, the next day, there they are.  Snowbirds who are still here drive to various places in the desert to see the natural beauty.  They can be spectacular.  The winters when we have more rain than this year, the flowers are even better but even now they are worth getting out to see.  They are short-lived, some only one day or night, so you have to get out or miss your chance.

Well, we too will be heading back to Oregon in less than a month.  We are both anxious but also regret having to leave our little "home away from home."  It has been a great winter for us.  Other than a minor cold and Barbara spraining her ankle, rather severely, we have been healthy but not any wealthier or wiser.  We do enjoy ourselves a lot and it doesn't take much to keep us satisfied and if we don't have anything to do we write our blogs.  I teased Barbara and ask her why she is typing her "daily" blog and I only do it once in a while.  I won't tell you what her answer is.  I love her anyway and hope she does me.  So long for now till next time I tell you about "Snowbird Heaven" from my perspective.

Laying low in "Snowbird heaven."

Like everyone else in the USA, Arizonians too have been thinking that winter, with its cold weather, has settled in on us.  Last week we "enjoyed" the coldest temperature on record for that date, 15 degrees.  Let me tell you it did take its toll.  The desert is certainly not made to take that cold.  As we drive around a week later and look at the vegetation it is really beginning to show its effects.  Cactus are flopped over or laying on the ground, leaves on the trees are curling up and beginning to fall off.  Desert plants are turning brown and even the palm tree fronds are twisting and turning brown.  The hummingbirds, finches, chickadees and other small birds are all fluffed out trying to stay warm as they search for food.  They may have to become "snowbirds" again and head for Mexico, farther south.  So you see, "snowbird heaven" can also have its problems when a cold spell hits here.  We also had power outages, gas outages, water pipes frozen and broke resulting in no water and now residents are screaming about their power bills and gas bills.
     We complained like crazy for a whole three days while the temp only got up into the 40's and 50's but yesterday, Mon., it was back to 73.  Oh, the tough life of an Arizonian.  If you watched the Phoenix Open golf tournament you saw the long frost delays for Thurs & Fri which ultimately delayed the finish from Sun to Mon.  The weekend was lovely again though.  I played golf Sat. in my short sleeved shirt and was plenty warm.  We are very lucky when I watch the weather reports on TV about other sections of the country.  Us "snowbirds" do not miss the -30 to -40 degree chill factor winds or snow several inches or feet deep back home.  My son was on a teacher recruiting trip to Cedar Rapids, Iowa last week and called for a phone visit.  He said the high was 13 degrees and low was -10 and the wind was blowing.  He could hardly wait to head back to Shanghai, China where he lives even though it is cool there, not cold like Iowa.
   I mentioned that we played golf on Sat. in warm weather but didn't say where so I need to do so as it is an unusual golf course, not only here in AZ but almost anywhere.  It is located in Marana, just west of Tucson, and was built around and in an abandoned gravel quarry.  It is called "The Pines at the Quarry".  The front nine is like a links course and pretty upfront golf but the back nine is very interesting as you start at #10.  You hit from up on the edge down into the quarry and around the edge and up part way to the green.  Not a long hole but trouble is waiting to happen on right, left, and end of the fairway.  Second shot uphill toward the elevated, severely sloping green with mounds, rock cliffs on each side, and a drop-off over the back.  And that's just the first hole on the back.  The next hole is back up on the edge, across the end of the quarry (about 180 yd-par 3), to a two tiered green with a rock cliff on the back and drop-offs on each side and a steep bank below the green.  How fun can that be???  As you make your way over to the green you can't help but look down into the environmentally protected areas on each side and see, conservatively, perhaps a hundred golf balls which never made it to that green.  I'm sure there were many choice words spoken on that shot across the quarry.  The course then makes its way on around the quarry, up and down and around but I'm sure you get my drift about this one.  Play it, you to will like it and have many great stories to tell.
    As I type this blog I can't help but to glance at the related articles that magically appear on my screen.  I see an article from Savannah and their comments about the "free-spirited 50 and 60's-something "snowbirds loving the Georgia sunshine.   Another from Canada with the question, "Have you always wanted to escape the harsh Canadian winters in favour of the sun-soaked south?"  And when I think of the large contingent of Canadians, from almost every province of Canada, who are here in our resort/park, I know that is a good question.  Canadian "snowbirds" are limited as to how long they can stay and how much money they can bring into the US but they are great people and we love to see them each year.  Other articles relate to the many, many places anywhere the sun shines during the winter that "snowbirds" "fly" to and I find it amazing that so many do it.  Yet, I think, we have been doing it for almost 15 years and seem to be spending more and more time here.  We are 6 & 6'ers but working on 7&5.  Oregon will always be home for us though.  Rain or shine!!!
   Tucson has one of the largest Mineral & Gem Shows in the US annually during the month of Feb.  As a result our little Resort/Park is full of RV's of both buyers and sellers of every type of mineral and gems.  Buyers from jewelry stores all over the US converge here to get gems to take back to be mounted and sold in their stores.  Many of the displays are open to the public but also many are open only to business dealers exclusively.  It is one big business and brings many dollars to the city of Tucson.
   I will tell you more about Tucson and the Southwest in my next blog.  Keep watching.  I'm not very faithful about doing it but once I get started, look out.  See you later.
   

Why we love southern Arizona in the winter.......

The end of January, the 29th to be exact, found the residents of Rincon Country East Resort very early in the morning already enjoying the warm sunshine of Tucson, AZ.  After sleeping in this morning after a day of golfing yesterday on the Robert Trent Jones, Sr. at the Rio Rico Golf Course just north of Nogales, AZ and a delicious dinner at "Wisdoms" near Tubac, we enjoyed our breakfast sitting in the sun on the east side of our home.  It is almost a daily routine we have; breakfast while we watch the early morning "Pickleball" players bat the ball back and forth at each other, laughing, sometimes other words come out very quietly, and enjoying each others company.  It is our morning entertainment.  We have a view the Rincon Mts. to our east, Catalina's to the north and Santa Rita's to the south as we look across the valley in each direction.  We are very lucky to have one of the best locations in the resort of about 450 spaces for Park Model homes and RV's.  Once in a while we even watch some early morning Bocce Ball players practicing their "art" of rolling the balls preparing for their turn in the practice round robin tournament which is going on.  The big tournament for the Resort championship will be starting the first week of March.  Kind of like the NCAA basketball tournament.  "March Madness" reigns in its own form here too!
   I had to chuckle to myself when I read one of the comments someone wrote on my wife's blog asking if all we did was play golf.  We do play our share and I probably play more than I need to but what the heck, "someone has to do it" and it might as well be me.  Besides I usually only play three days a week.  But when you have such great courses which are affordable and have friends who also love to play, why not.  Weather cooperates and we enjoy each others company and the competition.  Since our group is all over 70, except for one young fellow who is only in his 60's, we play pretty even.  Other than playing golf, we also play in the Bocce Ball tournament once a week, enjoy the many things to do in and around Tucson, sometimes just laze around the swimming pool, in the sun, or sit in the sun and read; just enjoying life.  We found out you don't always have to be doing something.  When you are 70+ it doesn't take much to keep you happy I guess.  At least I am and I think the other 400+ people who live here at RCE are too, they act like it anyway.  Besides we always have "Happy Hour" with our neighbors at 4:30 every day or as often as we want to.
   Anyone who has not tried this "style of living" should try it.  You will probably be surprised how good it is for your mental health as well as your physical well-being.  I will say we have known people who did try it and just could not slow down enough to enjoy it and did not stay but they are few and far between.  You know what, after they were gone we couldn't even remember what their names were after a couple of days.  Oh well, obviously it is not for everyone but we aren't giving it up and neither are the other people from all over the USA and Canada who are here and keep coming back every fall and winter.  "Life is good in sunny, southern Arizona."
   Will type at you more later and tell you what we are up to.  E.