The heat is on as the temperatures are nearing the 100s and will be in excess of that regularly throughout the summer months. Many of our winter residents have left to go to climates with more tolerable temperatures, either back home or to visit family and friends. The work and planning at SunBird continue year-round, and the outdoor work becomes much more challenging but moves forward.
Most of the indigenous desert plants and trees in Arizona normally enter into a dormant-type state with very minimal growth during the cooler months. Of course, this does not exclude the weeds, which various species can thrive all throughout the year. When the spring and the summer months arrive changing the temperatures, the desert plants and trees begin to explode with rapid growth. The annual common area major landscape tree trimming will begin this month by access pruning and thinning the over 300-plus trees. Tree trimming is very important in preparing the trees for future growth and shape, the monsoon season and strong winds that can damage them. Tree trimming includes thinning the tree branches from the interior and access pruning other branches away from homes and the cart/walking path. This type of trimming seems very aggressive to some but is a common practice of landscape maintenance in Arizona and performed by a contractor each year in SunBird. The growth season of these trees and plants has arrived and will cause them, after trimming, to grow back fairly quickly to a full condition. During the months of June/July, in the common area 126 palm trees will also be trimmed. Trimming of the bushes and plants in the common areas has begun. It takes about two months to trim all of the bushes and plants in the common area. This trim cycle begins at the north section of SunBird working south, and will be repeated three time this summer.
The Board of Directors set 10 annual goals for this year to be studied and completed by the end of the year. Six of the goals have to do with community education and involvement. One of the educational goals has to do with the history of SunBird from the beginning to the current time. This has been an insightful project looking at old documents and pictures of SunBird under construction, reviewing past SunBird News newspapers, board minutes and other items. The end result is to have a time line of significant historical events in SunBird and also create a book with photos and other information to have available for all to view. Another goal is to educate the community on how the financial operations are conducted. Articles of information will be published in the SunBird News, website, email blasts and presented at board meetings. Many of these goals set are directly for the benefit of assisting the community learning of how SunBird came to be, how it operates and how to get involved at various levels of service.
Last month, the Marketing Committee completed the new SunBird advertising brochures and business pass-along cards. These are great tools for sharing with your friends, neighbors and other acquaintances outside of SunBird or where you live, stay or visit. The best tool for marketing is word of mouth. What better way to show people where you live, either full or part-time, than with a business card with pictures and ways to lead them to more information and pictures if interested. We have several pass-along cards for all to take a handful. Keep them in your wallet or purse at all times. You never know when the right opportunity presents itself to share this community with someone else.
Activities were at the height of its peak these past couple of months with bus trips all over the state and even to Mexico, tribute concert bands in the ballroom, new events and games in the Horizon Room, concerts, patio parties and more in the works. The clubhouse and recreational facilities have been at near capacity almost each day and night. We appreciate all those who have participated and enjoyed these truly fun events.
SunBird’s email group has 1,310 people on the list; are you? This is over 80% of SunBird’s membership. The service is free to the recipients and is an excellent communication tool to keep our membership notified of information and important notices quickly. To subscribe, go to the SunBird website sunbirdhoa.com and click on the monkey/chimp icon at the bottom of the home page. Register and submit your request to join. Next, a confirmation email will be returned to you to verify delivery and authorization. If you do not receive a confirmation email, please check your spam email box or contact your email service provider. (Large email groups are sometimes filtered or blocked by them as a precaution against large group emails.) For further assistance with this, please contact the SunBird office.
SunBird’s website is also very insightful for the SunBird community and residents. It has the latest information, including activities, news, contacts, meeting dates and times for committees and the board, financial and audit reports, food and beverage menus and specials, pie charts displaying where funds come from and allocation of expense, pictures of events and activities and other useful information for SunBird residents to know. Check us out!
We are looking forward to a productive and fun summer. We wish all SunBirders, wherever they may be, at home or away, a safe and healthy summer!