7/13/15 Derby Week Begin…..Day One

(Show Low, AZ)

I was up and at ‘em early this morning because Derby Days starts at 8 a.m..  I had my blue  outfit picked out as blue is our team color.  I had my bag with my team lists, the week’s schedule and blue bandanna all ready to go.

We were to meet in the Grand Lodge and after our Pledge of Allegiance to our flag the Derby Week officially started.

An outline of the games and rules were given and then we took our oath for the games.

This is my special buddy, Ed.  He such a nice man.



These are judges for the games.


It was at this time we had to debut our songs or cheers.  Ours was based on Camp Town Ladies Sing This Song,,,,Doo-Dah, Doo-Dah.  Remember that song?  We changed the words to suit us.  Ours was all written out because it was kind of difficult to remember all the words.  We wish we had one something like the Orange Team did.  They had a short cheer:

Orange Sherbert, Orange Sherbert, Orange is a sure bet!

Since I am, once again, the park photographer for the Facebook page I was quite busy not only getting pics of my team but running all around getting pictures of all the teams.  In addition to me there was a professional photographer also taking pictures.  Mike is a resident of the park and was called upon to take pictures too.  His weren’t for Facebook however.  Oh, how I wanted his camera!

Our first game today was horseshoes.  I’m used to heavier, steel shoes and these were rubber.  Just not the same!  Give me the steel shoes any day!

This is Margaret O’Brien,,,,yeah, like the movie star!  She is such fun, I really like this lady!



From horseshoes we went to Ladder Golf.

One of my jobs as Blue Team leader was to keep the team in line in the order they were going to play.  I think I did a real good job of it!

We did pretty well at this event, and of course we don’t know how the other teams did, but we won’t know the Place we took until tomorrow morning.

Next up, and the last game for today was indoors at the Grand Lodge.

We had to have a bouncer and then everyone on the team was at the other end of the playing field.

Our bouncer had three tennis balls and he had to have them bounce one time and team members, playing one at a time, had to catch all three balls, or as many as  they could, in the tin the tennis balls came in. 

I thought this would be difficult but actually it was easier than it looked.

This was our first day of Derby Week.  Fun, so far!

7/12/15 We Are Lovin’ Juniper Ridge!

(Show Low, AZ)

As the title says, we’re lovin’ it here.  The wind is gone, the days are in the 80’s with very low humidity, we’re involved in the community and making new friends.  Life is good.

Judy and I have been spending time at the pool and in the hot tub.  We’ve also gotten into checking out all the park models for sale in the park.  We hit every open house there is and we ooh and ahh over the ones we really like and roll our eyes at each over the ones we don’t.  Judy and I also will go to town at the drop of a hat.

Bob has been golfing several times with our friend and neighbor from Quail Run, Mike.  Bob also likes to take rides around this huge resort in the golf cart.  He meets more people this way.

The four of us have this Activity down pat now.  It’s gotten to the point that we anticipate each others moves and we’re working like a well oiled machine. 

Over the weekend there was another Craft Fair.  This is our most difficult set up.  Once again there was a great crowd.




Our Activities Leader made a delicious lunch that was served after the fair.


 
Derby Week start this week and I, for one, am really looking forward to it.

7/9/2015 Christmas in July

(Show Low, AZ)

The morning started out with a meeting of the Derby Days team to finish up our Derby Days bonnet.

Horses racing around the track…



The makings of the track fence, although this didn’t end up on the finished product.  We just couldn’t make it stand as we had envisioned.



Forming the crowns as the Belmont Stakes is part of the famous trio.


So we ended up with the horses on the track, our color blue in flowers, the triple crowns and a big B for Belmont.  The hat is to reflect “Derby Days”.


We were all glad when this was done.  So now our bonnet is ready to be turned in, the song is written and we’re ready for the games to begin.

In the afternoon I attended Christmas in July in the Grand Lodge.  This event is sponsored by Doc & Lynette as a thank you to the park for their support in the business they own.  Doc & Lynette are funeral planners.  I don’t mean to say that plan all the funerals for the people in the park although I’m sure they have helped many do so.  They do hold seminars and the park residents do attend and probably refer friends to them.  So this fun event is a thank you.

Lots or door prizes will be given away.





We had cake!



So that no one walked away without a gift of some sort, everyone was given a cremation starter set.

There was an Ugly Christmas Sweater contest too.

 

 

 

 

We also played “Christmas Pictionary” which was a lot of fun.

It was a fun two hours.

7/7/15 Crafters Show Their Stuff

(Show Low, AZ)

This park has all kinds of craft classes.  Residents can learn card making, my favorite so far, pottery making, silversmithing, weaving and the list goes on.  Today was the day that the crafters put their creations on display for all to see.

The sewing room was abuzz matching, pinning and sewing quilts.





The Wood Shop had their wares on display.


The weavers were busy.

 

The card makers had been busy too!

After this event my Derby Days team gathered to get started on our Derby Hat creation.


All kinds of crafts will come into play.

And the day wasn’t over yet.  This evening our Farmers Group held a silent auction as a fundraiser.

Connie was busy things set up and the auction slips in place.

 

All kinds of things were up for auction.


I wish I had gotten one of these crystal animal figurines now.


This certainly was a busy day!

7/6/15 We Are Belmont Stakes!

(Show Low, AZ)

Today at Monday Morning Coffee the Derby Week teams were announced.  This is Juniper Ridges Summer Olympics.  I signed up to be on one of the teams.  Bob, however, has decided to sit this Olympics out.

They do the Olympics much differently than we do in Quail Run where most of the residents participate in at least one event if not a half dozen or more.  Here there are teams which consists of 16 members each.  This years theme is Derby Week. 



All the teams are named after famous races or stables and each team has a color, ours if blue.

Each team must complete extra tasks in addition to the games themselves.  Our first task was to decorate a derby hat.  It must reflect Derby Days, Belmont Stakes and the color blue.  Whew!

Our second task will be to come up with a song or a cheer for our team.

As soon as the Monday Morning Coffee was over I met with my team members to get started on the tasks.  I had met a few of them already but most were new to me.

Our first task was to nominate a team leader.  This person is responsible for informing the team of any changes in schedule, to make sure the teams members are where they are supposed to be at the appointed time, to schedule team meetings to complete the given tasks and to make sure all the team members are in line and ready to play during game time. 

As soon as the Derby Days Leader finished giving all the instructions chatter broke out all over the Grand Lodge as the 96 team members all worked frantically to get their team leaders chosen.

For me it was a bit overwhelming because it seemed everyone had been through this process before and they all seemed to know each other except for me.  I decided to just sit back, let them decide the leader amongst themselves and it would all be good as far as I was concerned.  Besides, I didn’t know Jim from John or Margaret from Rosemary anyway.

So I’m sitting there and they are all chattering and I’m looking around the room to see who’s on which team and I hear, “I nominate Snookie as our leader, do I hear a second?”   “Second!”  “All in favor….”   Fifteen hands shot up in the air.  A done deal.  Oh Em Gee!  What the hell have I gotten myself into.   Ok, I need to get everyone’s name, phone number, lot number, email address and I don’t have paper or pencil!   

I called for our first meeting to be the very next day to get started on our song or cheer and to toss ideas around about our derby hat and how we were going to do that.

What the hell have I gotten myself into?

7/4/15 A Fourth of July Feast

(Show Low, AZ)

While I and many others were in the 4th of July parade in downtown Show Low, Juniper Ridge was having their own parade to celebrate our nation’s birthday.  Of course I wasn’t here to get pictures of it but I hear there was a good turnout and golf carts and bikes and participants were all decked out in red, white and blue.

Though we missed the parade we were here for the potluck dinner.  The ladies here go out in decorating their dinner tables for the holidays.  Here are some examples.

Festive, and creative, aren’t they?

Now that the wind is all but gone and we’ve gotten to know more people our minds have been changed about this place.  We really are enjoying it here.

We’ve got a great working relationship with our co-workampers, Judy and Dana.  We just seem to know what the other one is going to do and everything falls into place.

Yep, this is going to be a good summer after all methinks.

7/4/15 Fourth of July

(Show Low, AZ)

Happy Birthday USA! 

The day for me started very early as I had to be at the Grand Lodge by 7 a.m. to meet up with my carpool into Show Low.


We all wore some combination of red, white and blue or at least two out of three.  Some were really decked out for the day.


We got busy right away loading up.


On the way to the staging area we took notice of how many chairs and tent frames we set up for the parade already.  One of he ladies I was riding with spoke up and said she was in town the evening before and they were set up then.  I had to wonder to myself in just how many towns across this land of ours would those chairs and tents still be there in the morning if set out the night before.




We arrived in our staging space and got to work right away decorating our pickup truck that towed the trailer and the trailer itself.  We were lucky enough to pull slot number 13 in the parade.




All done, just waiting to get underway now.


The ones positioned ahead of us in the parade were a Renaissance group.  We all enjoyed talking with them.

I loved this picture!

 

On a potty run before the parade started I met this little girl.


 
Here we are, ready to go, the parade is starting!



And we’re off!




It was a really good parade.  It was estimated that over 15,000 people lined the two mile length of parade route.

As we got to the end of our route we quickly got into our carpool vehicles and made our way back to Juniper Ridge.  There was no way we wanted to get caught in the traffic of all the other parade participants and parade goer’s all leaving at once.

I got to thinking about the last parade I was in and figured it was when I was 23 years old, in the National Guard and I drove a jeep in a parade in downtown Wilmington, DE.  Back when the streets of Wilmington were safe!