This past week was a fun, fun week with sports competitions between the Canadian residents and USA residents. 

In a closely contested game, the US eked out a narrow win in volleyball (there were a number of semi-pros playing for both sides.) 

Kay and I watched the Lawn Bowling competition on Tuesday, a sport with lots of participation here in the resort. Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a “jack” or “kitty”. It is played on a bowling green which is close-cropped, neatly manicured grass surface (or sometimes artificial turf). It is hugely popular in the United Kingdom. The USA squeaked out a narrow victory. 

Softball is also a “big-time” sport here at Palm Creek, with several teams being made-up of residents. Two games were played for the tournament. The Americans lost the first game, with “B” team members, in an error-plagued seven innings while the Canadians were near perfect. The second game with “A” players was outstanding with really good athletes—men and women—on both sides. Their throws and running was not hampered at all by age, and the women were just as good as the guys. The US won big. 

Pickleball was by far the most popular event. Played on Saturday afternoon to a standing room only crowd of several hundred, the 5.0 ranked women and men faced off in women’s, men’s, mixed doubles, and singles matches. It was incredible pickleball and after watching these folks play, it is easy to understand whey they are considered expert. There were a number of former pros—men and women—playing. The US barely won for the day, but the Canadians were very, very close in number of games won.

There were also contested matches in golf, tennis, pool, poker, shuffleboard, and horseshoes.

While the CanAm week was big, our resident pickleball tournament this next week will be even bigger with almost 500 entries.

Kay and I got a late start Sunday, and traveled to Sweetwater Wetlands in Tucson.

Our previous trips there did not yield many birds to photograph, and with the day’s late start—arriving after lunch—didn’t seem to be a formula for success. However, we were pleasantly surprised by the number of species and birds. We saw Black Phoebes, Chipping Sparrows, and White-crowned Sparrows.

Also present were a number of Anna’s Hummingbirds.

And then a Red-naped Sapsucker flew to a nearby tree.

several Yellow-rumped Warblers were flitting around, and one even landed out in the open, a rare occurrence.

A beautiful Vermillion Flycatcher kept darting up to catch an insect.

A Cassin’s Kingbird. only my second spotting of this species, posed nearby.

A family of raccoons also made an appearance. This one got “shot” (with a camera, of course.)

After a couple of hours at Sweetwater Wetlands, we shopped briefly at Costco’s, and then returned to the resort. Kay watched the Super Bowl Sunday evening and I read.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were filled with pickleball, and topped off with a Valentines Dinner and Dance. Monday’s pickleball included “4 + 1” training which was really good. It involved four players and 1 mentor/trainer. We worked on “No Volley Zone” or “Kitchen” tactics which was awesome.

Kay and I hosted the HSV group happy hour on Thursday, serving brats and buns, while others brought sides and desserts. A great time was had by all. After a busy week, Friday was anticlimactic. Kay did go out for dinner with the HSV folks, while I remained at the motorhome watching YouTube VLOGS. Saturday featured a return to pickleball, followed by extensive laziness!

Our 3.75 mixed doubles began on Tuesday at noon with ominous skies. Six games were played before the first sprinkles and then the court got a bit wet; we ended the seventh game at a 3-3 tie. It continued to rain Tuesday afternoon and night, most of the day Wednesday, and Thursday bringing in much cooler weather. Our only “fun” activities were bridge on Tuesday evening and Hand and Foot on Wednesday evening. By the way, the men won at Hand and Foot, tying the series at two apiece. Admittedly, we got really good cards. Happy hour went off without a hitch on Thursday afternoon, but it was inside for the second Thursday in a row because of weather.

Pickleball courts were too wet to play Friday morning, but dry enough such that the HSV folks played at our usual Friday time, 4:00 pm. After pickleball, we all had dinner at Texas Roadhouse—really cold beer and great food! Texas Roadhouse is perhaps our favorite chain restaurant.

It rained from about 3:30 am to 7:30 am Saturday, negating pickleball and most other outside activities for the day. With everything wet, we stayed inside for the most part, and vegetated, watching a few YouTube VLOGs and a movie (Kay watched My All American which included footage of the 1969 Big Shootout between Arkansas and Texas; I was at that game!) It was cool all day, even with the sunny skies showing through by mid-afternoon. This winter season at Palm Creek Resort has had remarkably more rain than the previous four years we’ve been here.

The title about says it all. Kay played pickleball on Thursday morning.

Happy hour was at the Seitz’s and because of the wind we gathered inside their spacious motor coach. Steve and Mary served pulled pork with slaw and there were assundry food and snacks from which to choose.

Too windy for pickleball, Friday was a “wash” as far as outside activities were concerned. We did enjoy dinner with the HSV group at Airport Inn.

A break in the weather allowed for pickleball to be played on Saturday and golf on Sunday. My pickleball game is picking up a bit, but I still need to work on dinking and returning more to the center, and to being more deliberate in play. As a former pro and current 5.0 player said a couple weeks ago, you “have more time that you think.” Kay is playing really well and fits in with her 3.0 group just fine, holding her own in most games. And, golf is getting more comfortable, though there are a lot of mental and physical mistakes in both our respective games.

Monday was a fully scheduled and busy day: photography at Gilbert, cycling parts of the Indian Wash Bend Path, and shopping at COSTCO. We drove north fairly early Monday, arriving at the Gilbert Water Ranch (aka Riparian Preserve at Gilbert) south and east of Phoenix about 9:00 am. No woodpeckers were hanging out on the large Saguaro Cacti as we entered, but European Starlings, Anna’s Hummingbirds, and Curved-bill Thrashers were numerous.

The “ponds” have been low this winter, so water birds were limited. A few Neotropic Cormorants were sunbathing, and a Green Heron was lounging on the pond bank. A Snowy Egret was wading nearby, but the Black-necked Stilt stayed far away. .

Flitting about among the small limbs of several trees, a Yellow-rumped Warbler (aka Butter Butt) paused for only a couple of seconds, but long enough to snap a photo.

As we neared the bathroom facility situated near the center of the pond array, a brightly-colored bird appeared in the low branches of a nearby tree. Hoping it was a Streaked-back Oriole, I was happily surprised to learn that it was an immature male Vermillion Flycatcher. This is only the second one I’ve observed, having seen the first at Falcon Lake, Texas, in late January 2018.

On a tight timeline, we departed just before 11 am, driving to meet up with other HSV folks for lunch before cycling in Scottsdale. Lunch was at Clancy’s and it was really good, and they had Guinness draught beer on tap, a rarity (at least for us) in the US. After lunch it was short walk to PedalJetz E-bikes. Steve, Mary, and Kay rented e-bikes and Norm and I used our own.

The ride took us to the Indian Wash Bend Path northward to the “horse heads.” These sculptures deserve a bit more explanation. Situated at its dramatic narrowing point, the horse heads sculpture titled Water Mark crowns the Indian Bend Wash and Scottsdale’s innovative flood control greenbelt. A series of five 14-foot high aluminum equine gargoyle sculptures spaced 125 feet apart graces the drop structure in the north basin atop stepped charcoal gray concrete plinths. Directed towards the passing traffic, each gargoyle strikes a different pose and stands sentinel, some with ears pricked back to hear impending flows, which can envelope but never overtake them. During dramatic flash flooding, water pours from the gargoyles’ mouths. Can you imagine something like this being recommended by the US Army Corps of Engineers?

Turning around, we rode south along the edge of the Chaparral and Camelback Parks and a couple of golf courses. Just a couple miles south of PedalJetz, we stopped for an afternoon “suds” before pedaling north and returning the rented cycles.

Kay and I left the group at this point and shopped briefly at Costco before driving to the resort in Casa Grande, ending a full and tiring day.