The house you will be staying in is beautifully situated on the Owl Preserve between two golf courses. This lovely designer home has tiled floors, vaulted ceiling, lovely furnishings - you will feel at home here. You can watch cable on two flat screen televisions plus DVD movies. Bring your laptop for easy connection to our Wi-fi network.

For the convenience of any guests, the second bedroom area has a sliding door which gives full privacy to this side of the house. The kitchen is fully stocked with all utensils and dinnerware for dining at home.

From the lanai, you have a beautiful view of the Owl Preserve and the first hole of the Hacienda Hills Palms course beyond. The preserve was designed specifically to harbor the burrowing owl. But there are plenty of other inhabitants, the burrowing gopher tortoise, sandhill cranes and myriad waterfowl that you might see crawling, flying or walking about. A bald eagle often eats a meal on a perch in the preserve. Relax on our lanai, pour a glass of your favorite beverage and relax in your comfortable chair in complete privacy. Look to your left and you will see, hanging over your backyard, Florida's finest - grapefruit and oranges. This is the good life!

Relax, but not for long. When the sun gets low in The Villages, the golf carts start streaming home from the courses and The Villages comes alive. Your wife is ready for dancing. The live bands start their evening gigs at 5 in all three town squares. So take your choice. Spanish Springs square is only a mile from your front door and Morse Blvd with its wide multi-modal trails only 6 doors away. Your gas golf cart (provided) should be ready. Don't worry about coming home in the dark or the rain. The cart is fully equipped with lights, weather covering and even locked compartments for any valuables.

The town squares are teeming with revelers every night, the outdoor dance pavilion rocking. Grab a beer, cocktail or glass of wine at the outdoor kiosks and join in the fun. When you get hungry, you can choose from dozens of fine restaurants in the square or close by. We especially like Gators Dockside for wings and sports at Spanish Springs and the outdoor bars at Sumter Landing: City Fire, Red Sauce and Cody's or RJ Gators for happy hour or outdoor dining.

You will no doubt want to play golf while you're visiting and you have plenty to choose from. Twelve championship golf courses with names such as Arnold Palmer and Nancy Lopez and 36 executive courses are located in the Villages. Look out the back door to the right and you will see the closest course, and one of our favorites, Hacienda Hills. Chi Chi Rodriguez calls the opening holes on two of the 3 nines his favorites to play. Each of the championship courses has a beautiful clubhouse and recreation facilities, including tennis and swimming. As our guest, your are automatically a member of all 12 country clubs. Enjoy their fine restaurants and bar areas.

There are so many other activities to choose from: both adult and family pools, shuffleboard, boccie, pickleball, tennis, horseshoes, basketball and billiards to name a few. Watch a polo match, play bridge everyday, take dance lessons, try your hand at archery or skeet, or choose from myriad social clubs and recreational activities at one of the Villages' regional recreational centers.

We were initially skeptical of retirement communities, but after one visit we were sold. The Villages is not your parents' retirement community; no one is retired here except from the humdrum of a 9 to 5 work schedule. Welcome to our home at the Villages. You will love it!