Manager's Update for April 29, 2008

Throughout the property - especially on the West side - we had several places that were really boring and blah. So I've been trying to make them prettier.

This is not the first place we worked on, but it might be the one I'm proudest of. Under the stairs near unit 1001 (on the West side), we created a Gnome Village. Some people may think it's goofy, but I think it's really cute. We poured concrete, painted it grass-green, created a few lakes and a river with blue paint, and permanently attached the gnomes to the concrete.

Each gnome has a name - we are often asked how we "picked" the names. Actually, they came with names - we just made little name tags for them. :o)

Another place we "prettified" was the center island on the West side. It was looking extremely "jungle-y", so we took out the Crotons and the Red Sisters (you'll see in the next section where we replanted some of them), and then re-planted the Mexican Bluebells (also called Purple Showers) and added some Katy. We also re-did the pass-through pathway. It looks really nice now. And matches the East side center island! :o)

On either side of the raised picnic area on the West side (where the canopy is), it was really ugly and blah. So we made some upgrades to those areas. The first picture is to the east of the picnic area. The second picture is the area just behind what's shown in the first picture (these were the Crotons and Red Sisters we transplanted). The last picture is to the West of the picnic area.

These next few pictures were taken in the pool area on the West side. The first one is what we put in to replace the palm tree that died a couple of years ago and had to be removed. The next two are just west of the Jacuzzi. The last two are east of the Jacuzzi, where we removed the sprawling Oleander bushes and replaced them with Carnival Hibiscus.

These next shots show off the work we've been doing outside the pool fence on the West side. If you've been keeping up with my posts, you know we replaced the horrible gravel with river rocks a while back... Now we've added some nice Ixora there, which we're planning to let grow into hedges in each section. We also put in new grass on the West side, and added some stepping stones next to the BBQ grill so the grass won't get so chewed up and nasty looking like it was before we replaced it.

This first pic is the new planting we did in the brick planter in front of the East building. I think I may have mentioned in a previous Update that we were planning to tear down the brick planter on the West side (which was being destroyed by tree roots) and rebuild it, then plant a similar garden to the one on the East side. So the second and third pictures below are the new planter and garden on the West side. (By the way, if you ever need brick work, you want Shaun Kilbane - he does a great job!)

Moving on to the East side... A few months ago, we cut down several trees outside the hedges (next to the walkway). They were nuisance trees, and they really made a terrible mess. Our housemen spent hours every day cleaning up the mess from both the trees themselves and the birds that nested in them. Not to mention the fact that I lived in fear of someone (like me!) turning their ankle on one of those big seeds that were always dropping off. So the trees are gone, and we planted grass next to the sidewalk. We also put in some small hibiscus trees (my landscaper says they're not trees, but they're almost as tall as I am, so I say they are) for added color.

When we got done putting in the new plants and grass, I had to do something about the area behind the putting green. This was another one of those places I considered boring and blah. I gave the landscaper a budget, and the pictures below illustrate what he did. I do have to say that he had no responsibility for the foxtail palms, which we transplanted from next to the shuffleboard court. I think they were getting too much salt wind, and that's why they were dying. We're still not sure if they're going to make it where they are now, but at least they have more of a chance than they did before...

As part of the whole project beside the path and behind the putting green, we also trimmed the hedges. They should be growing back soon. But I wanted to put this picture here to show off the pretty plant that was given to us by a guest at check-out, and which we then planted next to the new garden.

We finally got new tables and umbrellas by the East pool... The West side got them almost a year ago (or more?), and we have really liked them. So now that they're up on the East side, I wanted to show them off a bit. I was really excited when I went out and it was a beautiful day, everything was straightened up neatly, and there were no people to get in the pictures (that combination is VERY rare)! I stopped what I was doing and ran for the camera!

I said a long time ago that we had finally finished repairing all of the damage from Hurricane Wilma. Actually, that wasn't completely true... I sort of forgot that the doors on either end of the hallway by the Owner's Lounge were damaged and needed to be repaired. Since we did need repairs on them, and we couldn't get hurricane shutters to put over them, we convinced the Developer to buy new hurricane impact doors. They were recently installed, and they look really nice. I only have a picture of the one side - but trust me, they look the same on the other side. ;o)

I may have mentioned in a previous Update that we got a bike rack on the West side... Here it is!

This last section is for the animal lovers. If you don't like animals, you probably don't want to bother reading this... Just keep an eye out for the next Update! :o)

For Animal Lovers Only

We have a few stray cats in the area. We don't mind them being around... They don't bother anyone or cause any damage, and they really only come out at night. They're feral (def: existing in a wild or untamed state; having returned to an untamed state from domestication), so it can actually be a challenge to SEE them - touching them is not an option.

I am an animal lover myself, and I particularly like cats. In the past 20 years, I've only been without a cat while I was on vacation and for a few months last year after my Smokie died and before I got my new kittens. I think everyone should have at least two cats (they need company), and I personally feel that cats make better pets than dogs, because they don't require as much maintenance. But that's only the opinion of myself and my cats. ;o)

I also have very strong feelings about stray cats. First of all, once a cat is feral, it's really very unlikely that it will ever make a good pet. And if it does, it will take a LOT of patience and a LOT of work with the animal. I believe that as long as they're not bothering anyone, they should really be left alone to live their lives. I am not in favor of gathering up colonies of feral cats and delivering them to the "Humane" Society, where they will be very humanely destroyed.

HOWEVER, I also do that large colonies of feral cats can become a problem VERY quickly. Therefore, I think it's in everyone's best interest to have stray cats sterilized. Doing so makes it much less likely that the colony will grow, which in turn makes it less likely that the animals will have to be captured and killed.

Believe me, I am not the first person to think of this. Catching, sterilizing, and releasing strays is so common (at least in this area), that there is actually a "code" to let others of the same mindset know if an animal has already been sterilized -- one ear of the animal is "notched" at the time of the surgery. So if a stray animal is caught and it already has a notched ear, it can immediately be released.

With all that in mind, I have taken it upon myself to capture the stray cats in the area, one by one, and have them neutered or spayed. (Don't worry - I'm using my own money, not your maintenance fees, to pay for it! In fact, some of my staff have insisted on contributing to the cause!) I've been talking about doing this ever since one of our resident strays showed up pregnant a while back, and I've finally implemented the program. This week we caught our first stray, and he's already been to the vet and had the "spa day treatment" - full set of shots, tests for feline leukemia and feline AIDS, ears cleaned, nails trimmed (that's mostly for my protection), ear notched, and he even got a shot of antibiotics and a painkiller to help him recover from surgery quickly.

Generally, the cats will never have to leave the trap while they're in my "possession". They'll be trapped, taken to the vet in the trap, picked up from the vet in the trap, left in the trap overnight to sleep off the anesthesia, and released from the trap directly back into the wild. This first outing, though, was a learning experience.

Being the bleeding heart that I am, I decided our first captive needed some water while we were working on getting him an appointment with the vet. So I opened the trap door just a teeny bit to put in a little bowl of water, and out he went. Of course my first instinct was to grab him... And his first instinct was to bite me. Several times.

The vet says it's highly unlikely that he has rabies, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to keep him under quarantine for 10 days to make sure. Fortunately, I know someone who has a bathroom that can be left closed off for the next ten days, so our friend is living there for a short while. When his quarantine is over, he will then be released, by which time I hope to have dealt with at least two of his relatives. (Actually we're not sure how many kittens there were - we've never seen more than one at a time!)

When the little guy was caught in the trap, the person who found him in there said he looked like a leopard, so we named the kitten Spot. When we saw him in the daytime, he turned out not to look anything at all like a leopard (except for being feline, of course), but we kept the name anyway.

So. With all that long story having been told to explain this picture... I now present...
Spot the Killer Kitten.

Footnote: Since the time I started writing this, we've actually caught and released a second cat. He is almost completely black, except for a white "button" on his throat, so we named him Pitch. (Get it? Pitch Black) After his surgery, the vet said he could be released immediately, so I let him go as soon as we got back from the vet. I don't know exactly what time he sprung the trap, but I can say with certainty that he was in captivity for less than 24 hours. I can also say that without a doubt, the second experience went much smoother than the first. :o)

Now if we can just catch Momma Cat...