Maintaining Landscape in the Desert

You can reduce your landcape watering 30 to 50 percent by simply adjusting your irrigation each season. " Landscape Watering by the Numbers: A Guide for the Arizona Desert" will help you to determine how much water to apply and how long to run your system.  You may request a free copy at www.chandleraz.gov/water or visit the interactive website at www.wateruseitwisely.com.  

Inaugural IronOaks Club Championship

The inaugural IronOaks Club Championship was conducted on March 28 and 29, 2015 in order to crown men's and ladies' gross champions. The tournament was a 36 hole event conducted at Oakwood and Ironwood golf courses. Several of Oakwood's and Ironwood's best men and women players competed for the chance to become IronOaks first Club Champion in their respective division.

Perfect weather and conditions provided a shootout on the first day of play held at Ironwood Golf Club. In the men's division, Ken Gaylord took the first day lead, shooting a one under par 66. There were 10 players within 6 shots of Gaylord going into Sunday's final round at Oakwood. Gaylord had the early lead after a few holes on Sunday and was cruising towards the finish line, until he was derailed by a couple of late doubles and ended up in third place. Bill Swed, a ten time, and current Men's Oakwood Golf Association Club Champion, started the day three strokes behind Gaylord. His steady play and familiarity with the Oakwood Golf Course made for a great finish. Swed's front nine score of two under on the Lakes helped close the gap between the two men as they made the turn toward the Palms nine. A steady dose of pars on the final nine, led to a final round 2-under par 70. Swed's final round play, along with a with a late collapse by Gaylord on the back nine, produced a two stroke victory. Peter Yoon who started the day one back of the leader shot a closing round of 74 to finish in second place.

In the Women's division, seven players were within seven strokes of first day leaders, Jan Kelleher and Sharon Bowditch who shot matching 70s at Ironwood. Sunday's round at a longer and narrower Oakwood golf course proved to be the difference, as Kelleher's length off the tee proved too much for the rest of the field. Kelleher took control of the lead after the front nine and never looked back as she posted a 2 over par 74, to win by seven strokes over second place finisher Bowditch. Mary Figgis, who started the day in 6th place, put together a solid round of 77 to climb her way to a 3rd place finish.

We would like to thank all of the participants who played in the Inaugural IronOaks Championship and look forward to growing and improving the event for 2016!

Life Line Screening Offers Valuable Tests

On Wednesday, July 29, Life Line Screening will be here at IronOaks offering five screenings that scan for potential health problems related to:

1) Blocked carotid arteries, a leading cause of stroke

2) Abdominal aortic aneurysms, which can lead to a ruptured aorta

3) Hardening of the arteries in the legs, a strong predictor of heart disease

4) Atrial fibrillation or irregular heart beat, which is closely tied to stroke risk

5) Bone density screening, for men and women, used to assess their risk of osteoporosis.

If interested in getting screened, call 1-888-653-6450 to schedule your appointment.

Life Line Screening will also be offering the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit which is FREE to QUALIFIED Medicare beneficiaries (no co-pay if you have Medicare Part B). This is not a physical, but a personal wellness consultation designed to help you and your doctor keep you healthy, safe and independent for a long time. Medicare is billed for this visit. Pre-registration is required. CALL 1-866-579-5069 to schedule your Annual Wellness Visit.

Sun Lakes Fly Fishing Club

On April 11, 2015, the Sun Lakes Fly Fishing Club (SLFFC) hosted an outing for disabled veterans from Project Healing Waters at the East Lake in Cottonwood. Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc.™ is dedicated to the physical and emotional rehabilitation of disabled, active military service personnel and disabled veterans, through fly fishing and associated activities, including education and fly fishing outings. Nearly all veterans landed multiple fish and everyone had an outstanding time. Veterans enjoyed donuts and coffee. After more than 3 hours of fishing, the veterans and volunteers from Healing Waters, enjoyed a lunch sponsored by SLFFC at the Cottonwood Restaurant.

On Saturday, May2, 2015, the SLFFC will be hosting veterans at the East Lake in Ironwood from 8:00 am to 11:30 am. IronOak's General Manager, Faye Stone, is providing breakfast burritos for the veterans, courtesy of IronOaks. When the fishing is done, the veterans will enjoy lunch at one of the IronOaks restaurants. An anonymous Oakwood resident is paying the majority of the cost and SLFFC is paying the balance. Arrangements for lunch are being handled by Danielle Bowls, IronOaks Banquet Sales Manager.

In the picture, it looks like I'm telling one of the veterans how big the fish was that got away. Of course, all fly fishermen have many stories about the big ones that got away. Actually, I was explaining how much line he needed to strip in a woolly bugger fly.  

During our outing at Cottonwood, several residents stopped by to say hello and one resident dropped off 3 cases of ice cold soft drinks for the veterans. I really encourage our residents to do the same. If you or your group would like to sponsor lunch for the veterans at one of our outings, please contact me.

Fish On! Fish On!

George Abernathy

480-521-1060

Apachescout@gmail.com