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6 SOLERA DIAMOND VALLEY | APRIL 2021 By Cindy Ponce de Leon, Resident When we bought our house there was a stain above the outside door in the left corner. We asked our gardener what it was? He said it was a spider nest, which wasn't true. This will be the fourth year of our "Swallow Special Forces." If you've come to our front door between mid-March and the end of September, you'll know why. Not only are swallows good at making noise and diving at you, they may also bomb you! ETA March 20th. It's been our observation that no matter how cold the weather, our tenants always arrive on exactly the first day of spring. Signs of arrival are mud on the side of your stucco. In a few days' time you will see a mud nest shaping up nicely in the corner of your patio or entryway. Our first year as Grandparents we didn't understand what was happening. We spent most of our time taking pictures, wondering when the babies would start to fly? Enjoying the fact that they recognized us. By year two my husband was up to speed. Swallows make two or more breeding attempts. The second "brood" is reared in the same nest as the first. Swallows make the nest higher to contain a larger number of chicks on the second brood. Last year we actually watched our tenants raise three generations. Each brood takes seven weeks to mature. End of September is when our adopted family flies to South America. Always sad to see them go. Swallows feel protected by humans. Once they feel comfortable and get to know you, they love performing their aerial maneuvers for your enjoyment. Our swallows are spoiled. They get daily fresh water from a glass flower stake, which is near their nest in the shade. Hot days they get ice water. The flower also serves as a bathtub, even though we provide a second bowl. We have a metal scroll chair on the porch which provides multiple perches for them to rest on. Putting down pet pads for waste removal is essential. Swallows eat bugs so they're a natural solution for pest control. There's a funny story here regarding our Swallow Special Forces and our Security Guard Brian. Stay tuned… By Dick Roppé, Resident British royalty has certainly been in the news lately. That got me thinking. When American newsprint penners are quoting folks from Great Britain why don't they use the correct British spellings? There are many words in American English that are spelled differently in British English. The following is a short story written in American English and then translated into British English. See if you can spot the differences. Lynn and I decided to leave our Solera neighborhood and do a little traveling down to San Diego Harbor and attend a program on the USS Midway. We organized our day so that we could eat at our favorite restaurant. The weather was cloudy and gray. On the hanger deck we enjoyed seeing the Combat Information Center (CIC to Navy vets). Getting ready to return home, it seems I had misplaced my driver's license. So Lynn had to drive. Toodles! Translation Lynn and I decided to leave our Solera neighbourhood and do a little travelling down to San Diego Harbour and attend a programme on the USS Midway. We organised our day so that we could eat at our favourite restaurant. The weather was cloudy and grey. On the hanger deck we enjoyed seeing the Combat Information Centre (CIC to Navy vets). Getting ready to return home, it seems I had misplaced my driver's license. So Lynn had to drive. Tootles! A Little Humor - Or Is It Humour? Swallow Special Forces By Theresa Rossetti, Resident On February 27th of this year, we celebrated the First Anniversary of The Bunco Box coming to live with us. She (female? Sure, why not?) and we thought she would be with us for less than a month, the next gathering to play was scheduled for March 19, 2020. Plans were made. Emails were sent. Snacks and sweets were in the works. St. Paddy's Day plates and napkins, check. Have enough silverware, check. Lemons ready for iced lemon water, picked from the tree. Irish soda bread baked, working on it. Irish coffee pudding shots, planned. Selections of drink, alcoholic and non, check. Borrow the tables, gotta make a call! But then, well you all know what happened. Even before the official pronouncements, many of us were getting nervous of gathering in large groups, indoors. Card games, dice games, etc., involve by their very nature an awful lot of, to quote one of my favorite songs, Hands Touching Hands. Back then, little was known about what was happening and what was to come. So, the box stayed where it was left in February, waiting to see when she would be needed again. After three months or so, she requested to be placed out of site, so she could rest better without humans and dogs going past her multiple times a day (she was right by the garage door). So now she resides in a cabinet with an odd combination of board games, extra reading glasses, a bunch of random cords, books, bug spray and instruction booklets. But now it's April, spring is springing, and hope is on the horizon. Many of us have been or are in the process of being vaccinated. With nicer weather, the opportunity to meet up with relatives, friends and neighbors is greatly improved. So, here's wishing that by the time you are reading this, our new normal includes a return to some, hopefully many, of the wonderful activities we've been enjoying here at SDV since we moved in. And that the Bunco Box gets released from the cabinet!