Who IS/WAS Del Webb, Anyway??"

Yesterday, McGyver and I drove through Del Webb’s Sun City Texas, which is just about 5 miles from here.  What this amounts to is lots of homes, big, small, fancy, some more austere,…and some areas are like little cookie cutter homes, all looking just about the same..AND, obviously most of us “older adults” like golf…I’m not sure how many  courses there were, but Sun City is called a “golf cart” community….





…and you had better keep an eye peeled because they have the “right of way”, even on the roads ….Literally EVERYONE has one of these little buggies…Boy, it sure would be nice to jump in and drive down Center Street to the local pub back home in Sandwich.I  have a feeling I would get stopped by one of Sandwich’s “finest”, and end up in the Sandwich Hoosgow!!



I’m not sure if they had one continuous huge golf course, or one for every neighborhood..but, as I said, golf is the big attraction here…not for me, but McGyver does swing a club now and again…(even though he swings like a Gorilla). These houses all had very nice well manicured lawns.  I ‘m not sure if that is a perk, or you take care of your own yard…At any rate, the Cave Dwellers would be black listed the first time they lit a fire in a fire pit and turned up “Honkin’ On Bobo” on I-Tunes…not to mention my ensembles!..Could you just imagine the first time a next door neighbor caught a glimpse of me on a quiet prim and proper Texas evening??…Moi….in my Tweety happy pants and Mickey Mouse beverage mug???  “YOU TWO ARE OUTTA HERE!!”
OK…WHO is or was Del Webb, anyway??   “He was a real person and he is no longer with us.  Webb was born in Fresno, CA, the son of Ernest G Webb, a fruit farmer, and Henrietta S Webb. Webb dropped out of high school to become a carpenter's apprentice. In 1919 or 1920, Webb married Hazel Lenora Church, a graduate nurse. In 1920, Webb was a ship fitter.  At the age of 28, he suffered typhoid fever, and as a result moved to Phoenix, AZ to recover.
In 1928, Webb began his namesake company which was a construction contractor. He received many military contracts during WWII, including the construction of the Poston Relocation Center near Parker, AZ. Poston interned over 17,000 Japanese-Americans and at the time was the third largest “city” in Arizona. Webb was associated with Howard Hughes and played golf with Hughes, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope,  and Barry Goldwater.
A lifelong baseball fan, in 1945 Webb and partners Dan Topping and Larry MacPhail purchased the New York Yankees for US$2.8 million. After buying out MacPhail in October 1947, Webb and Topping remained owners of the Yankees until selling the club to CBS in 1964.
In 1948 Webb was contracted to build 600 houses and a shopping center called Pueblo Gardens in Tucson, Arizona. This was a prelude to Sun City, Arizona, which was launched January 1, 1960, with five home models, a shopping center, recreation center and golf course. The opening weekend drew 100,000 people, ten times more than expected, and resulted in a Time magazine cover story.
Webb also developed a chain of motor hotels under the “Hiway House” name, 'formal' hotels called "Del Webb's Towne House", and built the Las Vegas Flamingo hotel for Bugsy Siegel.   He later owned his own casinos, the Sahara and The Mint in Las Vegas, and the Sahara Tahoe at Stateline, NV.Webb was elected to the Gaming Hall of Fame in 2000. The Del Webb Middle School, named in his honor, opened in Henderson, Nevada in 2005.
Webb died at age 75 in Rochester, Minnesota, following surgery for lung cancer, less than two months after Topping’s death.”…NOTICE HOW I SNUCK IN A HISTORY LESSON ON Y’ALL?? ….I’M A BIG SNEAK..GET OVER IT!!
I took a walk through the Cedar trees looking for rocks yesterday afternoon.  Of course, I also hung my camera around my neck.


I need to figure just how many rocks I can stash away in the Hiker without compromising the fuel mileage!
I have always had a desire to have a couple gargoyles to place in the front of our home….Don’t ask me why, I just like them…I think it was just after watching the movie “Ghostbusters” that I got this urge..Well, here in Cedar Breaks, we have our own “dark” messengers looming near…


He sits on the big rock on the cliff behind our Hiker…watching us, and trying to intimidate us with his “wing action”….Dude, you got a face only a mother Vulture could love, seriously…
…and just WHO was he bowing to anyway??  The DARK powers that be????  Maybe I don’t want to know…
Well, that does it for Wednesday’s vaguely textbook-like blog…I took you through Sun City, (sneaking in some history),  on a walk hunting rocks, and the grand finale was Darth Vader dressed up like a Turkey Buzzard Black Vulture (thanks Judy)..Yep, this blog segued so fast it could snap your neck..

"Old age is an excellent time for outrage. My goal is to say or do at least one outrageous thing every week."
--Maggie Kuhn