Niccy and I just got back from a transatlantic cruise so I've finally got some shots to post!

In the foreground is either the Star Clipper or the Star Flyer coming into port, not sure which. The two are sister ships owned by the Star Clippers Line:

www.starclippers.com/us-dom/

They are true sailing vessels, using wind power whenever possible to navigate between islands of the Caribbean and other ports of call. If you go to their website you can request a personalized quote for costs, just like you would do when buying a castle or a Ferrari.

In the background is the Spanish frigate Álvaro de Bazán (F101) heading out to sea. The frigate Álvaro de Bazán Álvaro is the lead ship of the Álvaro de Bazán class of air defence frigates entering service with the Spanish Navy. She is named after Admiral Álvaro de Bazán:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_frigate_%C3%81lvaro_de_Baz%...

I'm glad that I got this shot, just wish I'd gotten them in closer proximity. It was early morning and I hadn't had my tea yet so I was a bit late on the shutter!

A series of shots I got during our passage through The Big Ditch!

MAERSK WILLEMSTADT (IMO 9362401) is a Container/Intermediate ship built in 2007 and is sailing under the flag of Singapore. She has an overall length (LOA) of 254 meters and a width (beam) of 32 meters. Her summer deadweight capacity is 53,160 tonnes.

Going through the complete Panama Canal was definitely a bucket list item for me. I spent the entire day (8 hours) outside on the deck along with a bunch of other folks, my shutter happily clicking away!

We had a Canal Guide onboard who pointed out all the interesting locations, couldn't tell you one thing he said because I wasn't listening I was too busy shooting!

Have to commend Princess Cruises, they were really nice to us outside in that they had stewards coming around regularly offering up cool drinks, sandwiches, and such.

It's Rodeo time in Tucson and as we have done in years before we're parking cars in our lodge parking lot. The money we raise goes out to community projects we have like providing school supplies to South Tucson's community K-12 charter school.

www.southgateaz.org/

Since there was a parade going on I thought I should probably shoot some of the participants and this fellow seemed to sum things up pretty good.

I can imagine him riding out through the desert herding the cattle, fighting it out with the rustlers, dreaming of a pretty senorita back home, and desperately searching for a cell signal, Such is the life of a modern day cowboy.

I should have had my Nifty Fifty on when he rode by but this was not the case. I really need to just glue that thing on.

Imagine our surprise at seeing Spiderman drop in from nowhere!

What's more, imagine my surprise at seeing a so-so shot get explored!

Walking along the Malecon in Puerto Vallarta when Spiderman decided to drop in for a visit. Didn't expect to find any Superheros in Mexico other than Luchadores which I totally respect!

I looked over the wall to see the kid that was flying this and boy was I surprised. The guy on the other end of the string was probably as old as I am and seemed to be enjoying himself immensely.

I imagine he was an itinerant Spiderman Parachute Kite salesman, trying to drum up a little business. At least I hope so....

As kids we flew kites and had many, many kite fights. I can only imagine how many more I would have won having a Superhero on my side!

GOOD EVENING, DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, THE APOSTLE OF NONVIOLENCE IN THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT HAS BEEN SHOT TO DEATH IN MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE. A WHITE MAN WAS SEEN RUNNING FROM THE SCENE. OFFICERS ALSO REPORTEDLY CHASED AND FIRED ON A CAR CONTAINING TWO WHITE MEN.

From the CBS News Broadcast, Walter Cronkite was the anchor.

Clock is part of a static display at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia

This is all the zoom I had with me!

Had a storm blow through yesterday evening but it stayed well to the South and was headed West. There was nothing going on here at the ranch but I headed up to my shooting spot just in case something strayed our way.

Well, true to form the storm stayed South and headed West, put on a pretty good show that I was able to catch a little of. Very weird set of clouds, they were real flat and real spread out.

This is a single shot 32 seconds on the clock, f/6.3, ISO 100 and 200mm worth of zoom! I had my Tamron 18-200mm glass on and had it sticking out as far as it would go. Rough measurements in Google Maps say these bolts were about 10 miles away (as the crow flies) so I'm pretty happy with the results!

Hopefully no one got hit with a direct splat!.

The USS IOWA represents the largest — and last — class of battleships built by the United States Navy. The IOWA class battleships served in every US conflict from World War II through the Gulf War in 1991.

pacificbattleship.com/

I knew about the Iowa being a museum and right next door to where we were docked in the port. My plan was to check in on the Coral Princess then jump off and walk over to the Iowa to spend a few hours. Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men....

In my planning I forgot to factor in one crucial element, that being we were docked in a working port. Evidently the government doesn't exactly like everyday folks just wandering around on the docks and they put up some BIG fences to prevent it so I had to settle for a couple of photographs.

The Iowa is definitely on our (actually my) list of places we need to visit once we get on the road.

I shot this in AP, wasn't quite using Manual Mode yet so there's some motion blur from us sailing by. At least now I know how to fix it!

A series of shots I got during our passage through The Big Ditch!

LOS SANTOS is a Tug boat with IMO number 9256573 and MMSI number . It was built in 2002 and has a deadweight tonnage of 145 metric tons. This vessel was constructed at the EAST ISLE SHIPYARD - GEORGETOWN, CANADA shipyard..

It really was a treat to see so many tugboats on this journey! I feel a real connection to them, they're what I'd call a real blue collar boat.

Going through the complete Panama Canal was definitely a bucket list item for me. I spent the entire day (8 hours) outside on the deck along with a bunch of other folks, my shutter happily clicking away!

We had a Canal Guide onboard who pointed out all the interesting locations, couldn't tell you one thing he said because I wasn't listening I was too busy shooting!

Have to commend Princess Cruises, they were really nice to us outside in that they had stewards coming aro

Double your pleasure, double your fun!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7hwvWIK1eM

Had a great storm pass by last Friday night with bolts aplenty! It was about 9:45 PM when I heard the first rumble. Looked on my lightning app and nothing spectacular was showing up so I figured it was a one off. Boy, was I wrong!

Something said to go out and take a look so that's what I did. Once I got outside I saw the sky was flashing to the North, South, and West so I ran in to grab my camera and let Niccy know I was headed out. She was stone asleep so I headed out to my usual spot, hoping for a couple of shots. That was close to 10 PM and I didn't pack it in until it started raining just after Midnight!

This is a single RAW shot with a crop in GIMP and the eradication of a couple of blatant hotspots. It seems that the area right behind the prison seems to be a lightning target, I wonder if it's the substation or maybe the solar farm?

There were bolts everywhere, hard to pick a direction to shoot. I was lucky enough to catch a few which I'll be posting shortly.

PS:

For those in the Show Your EXIF group you should note that the actual lens used is a Tamron AF 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 Di-II VC All-in-One Zoom for Canon APS-C Digital SLR. For some crazy reason it always shows up as a Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8, a lens I've never owned or used!

Tubingue

Tübingen Waldhausen, Holderfeld, Brachland

- mit Tümpeln und leichten Sümpfen sowie vermutlichen unterirdischen Verschmutzungen durch Munitionsreste; Tübingen

-

da ehemaliges Militär -Schieß-Übungsgelände der franzosischen Garnison Tübingen

"Place de Tübingen-Reutlingen"

.en

---------------

Tübingen Waldhausen, "Holderfeld" , fallow

with ponds, swamps and probable underground and light pollution from munitions remnants, Tübingen

--

since former military gunnery practice area of the French garrison of Tübingen

Nature it was!

2016

Umzäunt und abgesperrt - nur noch für Mitglieder der Sportvereine

Fussballplätze mit Tribühne

Mini-stadion des multi-kulti Vereins SSC Tübingen

und der Red Knights of Tübingen

-

Gone: Now they are playing Rugby and Football here.

-

Schade!

The surfing of the early morning in Miyazaki

Since we're technically tourists I thought I'd shoot a tourist type shot!

Niccy and I just got back from a cruise that took us to Puerto Vallarta Mexico, Huatulco Mexico, Puerto Chiapas Mexico, Puntarenas Costa Rica, Puerto Amador Panama, through the Panama Canal, on to Aruba and ending up in Fort Lauderdale.

Our trip style is to bypass the tourist spots and try to get a feel for the city/state/country we're in but being on a cruise it's difficult since cruises are all about "tourist spots". Hence, this shot.

Maybe that's something I'll try out in the future, shooting "tourist type shots" but with a little artistic flair. Something that sets them apart from the typical Iphone shots you'll see here on Flickr. Always trying to expand my repertoire....

Sorry, haven\'t seen any cathouses yet although there were a couple of places in Nevada......

This was shot in Florence Oregon, down on the Siuslaw river. There were several of these bird condos around but this was the only one that was occupied.

I\'m hoping that Jim Frazier or another of the birder ilk can identify the inhabitants. Whatever they are they seemed to be scrapping with the seagulls that were divebombing their shack!

A series of shots I got during our passage through The Big Ditch!

I personally like this shot because it shows that no matter who you are, where you are, or what you look like a wave and a smile always translates to good times for all.

Going through the complete Panama Canal was definitely a bucket list item for me. I spent the entire day (8 hours) outside on the deck along with a bunch of other folks, my shutter happily clicking away!

We had a Canal Guide onboard who pointed out all the interesting locations, couldn't tell you one thing he said because I wasn't listening I was too busy shooting!

Have to commend Princess Cruises, they were really nice to us outside in that they had stewards coming around with sandwiches and cool drinks for everyone.

She's the second Naval ship to be named after the 16th President of the United States.

As the ship left San Diego we passed by NAS North Island, home to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72). Abe is sitting at the old dock for the USS Kittyhawk (CVA 63) where I did my time in the Navy.

The Abe Lincoln suffered a minor fire that injured 9 sailors on 29 November 2022. The cause is unknown and an investigation was launched. This may be repairs from the fire or just scheduled maintenance, don't know for sure.

In the background you can see the Coronado Bridge that connects Coronado Island and NAS North Island to downtown San Diego.

This was shot at 5:19 PM, hence the reason for the smoggy dull sky. I can remember sitting on the Kittyhawk, looking over at San Diego and seeing a huge grey smog cloud hanging over the city. That was many years ago and it doesn't look like that cloud has moved at all!

Vatican

Not in the Al Bundy sense!

Had a storm blow by to the East at about 10 last night, put on a really good show. There was lightning bolts-a-plenty with thunderclaps to match! It was a pretty slow mover and gave me lots of opportunities to see the show!

I got a new tripod at the thrift store the other day and I believe it's going to be a great addition to my arsenal. It's an old Vivitar tripod, pretty sure it was made for an old school Video Camera, the kind that recorded on a VHS tape. It's much heavier than my other tripods and so far it's been rock steady in the rain.

This is a composite of 2 shots. I started shooting at f/3.5 and it was overwhelming the camera. I bumped it up to f/7.1 and tried a shot, better but still a little blown out so I bumped it up to f/10 and that seemed to work OK. Between the 2 shots I had a total of 29 seconds on the clock and I was using M mode (BULB) with a wired remote.

Almost exactly kinda close to the shot I was looking for!

To my old eyes the water looked pretty still so I thought I'd try to get one of those mirrored off the water shots and this was the result.

Didn't see the little bit of ripples that distorted everything in a funhouse mirror sort of way. If I'd had my ND Filter with me I would have thrown it on for a shot or two but without it there was no chance of a slow shot, even at f/32. The sun was just too much!

A shot from the storm that blew through on 11 July 2023.

The monsoon season officially started on June 15 and lasts through September but up until last Tuesday we've had nothing but the hot!

The rest of the week was forecast to be dry with little chance of any rain (and it certainly was) but that's just a forecast and Mother Nature doesn't pay any attention to forecasts. Everything I've seen and heard is saying tonight might be a good night, we'll have to wait and see.

I've found myself a new place to shoot from that should give me a better view of the storms as they roll through Tucson. No guarantees since lightning hits where and when it wants but with any luck I'll get a few more good ones!

The thing I found interesting about this is how it's much brighter from the middle down to the ground. From what I've read a powerful negative charge (called a step leader) shoots down and makes contact with a positively charged object on the ground (called a positive streamer) reaching up.

When the two connect, a strong discharge occurs with a loud cracking sound. This causes a powerful and violent current, resulting in a return stroke, racing back to the cloud at 60 000 miles per second. The return stroke is the bright flash we observe as a lightning strike. Maybe it's the junction where the the leader and the streamer met?

For those who are interested this shot is SOOC other than a conversion from RAW to JPG. I had 26 seconds with the shutter open to catch this bolt.

For those who are interested the color is SOOC. Did a little crop since this was a LONG shot!

Had a storm pass by last night that took the usual path from East to West, totally bypassing me. Good thing about this is I don't have to worry about getting rained on, bad part is I've got to zoom a bit which limits the real estate that the lens can catch. You could be pointed in the right direction and have a bolt that hits right out of frame so this truly is a hit or miss situation!

This is a single shot, f/14 with 50mm of zoom, ISO 100 and 25 seconds on the clock. The sky was full of lightning but it hitting all around, not focused in one place.

Niccy and I just got back from a transatlantic cruise so I've finally got some shots to post!

We arrived real early in Cadiz at a working part of the port. Nothing touristy to see here. There's a Royal Caribbean ship buried in the background but I don't know which one it is. There's also a Spanish Navy ship in the foreground, again I'm not sure which one it is.

Cadiz is a beautiful place and if I were to live in Spain I'd certainly consider living there. Very walkable but we did have to take a shuttle bus to get out of the port.

A summer getaway from the Phoenix heat!

Houseboats moored on Lake Roosevelt, AZ. A great place to escape from the summer heat and enjoy a riparian aside.

Were we filthy stinking rich we'd have a boat here ourselves. Either here or down in Grand Cayman (my preference) Since we're not all we can do is stand by and admire the opulence.!

Niccy and I just got back from a transatlantic cruise so I've finally got some shots to post!

SAR MASTELERO (IMO: 9525730) is a Tug and is sailing under the flag of Spain. Her length overall (LOA) is 40 meters and her width is 12 meters.

She belongs to the Sociedad de Salvamento y Seguridad Marítima (literally: Maritime Safety and Rescue Society), also known as SASEMAR or Salvamento Marítimo, is a sea search and rescue agency that operates in Spain.

SASEMAR is the body in charge of maritime traffic control, safety and rescue operations, and protection of the maritime environment but lacks any law enforcement responsibilities.

The agency runs 20 rescue coordination centers (RCC), employs a staff of 1,500, and operates a fleet of 19 vessels, 54 boats, 11 helicopters, and 4 airplanes.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_Safety_and_Rescue_Society

Brushy Mountain is another Youtube rabbit hole that Niccy and I fell down!

A static display of the uniform worn by the prisoners while working in the mine and quarry.

Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary, last named Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex, (or, unofficially, Brushy) was a maximum-security prison in the community of Petros in Morgan County, Tennessee, operated by the Tennessee Department of Correction. It was established in 1896 and operated until 2009.

Perhaps the best-known escape attempt occurred on June 10, 1977, when James Earl Ray, the assassin of Martin Luther King Jr., escaped with six other inmates by climbing over a fence. Ray was captured less than 58 hours later in rugged mountain terrain 81⁄2 miles from the prison.

Brushy Mountain was another of our stops on the Tennessee portion of our adventure. Thank you Youtube!

One of the things we found interesting is that the prison was actually built by the inmates using stone mined by prisoners from a quarry on the property. Imagine being forced to build the place that's going to be your punishment. That's some real hard labor and hard time.

Fukuoka Japan

There weren't any grocery stores in the neighborhood so they had to grow their own.

This is the gate and path to the old orchard at the Mission San José de Tumacácori. Like I said above there wasn't any infrastructure here in the 1800s so if they wanted to eat they had to grow their own.

"Between 1801 and 1828, a 4.6 acre orchard and garden was in use at San José de Tumacácori. Historical evidence such as missionary records and journals from ‘49ers on the way to California indicate that fruit trees, including peach, quince, pear, apple, pecan, walnut, fig, mulberry, and pomegranate, contributed to the sustenance of mission communities along with grape vineyards, grain fields, vegetable and pharmacy gardens, and livestock.

www.nps.gov/tuma/learn/nature/heritage-orchard.htm

The National Park Service has worked with the "University of Arizona, and Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum to launch a collaborative effort called the Kino Heritage Fruit Trees Project. The objective of this project was to locate historical documents in Mexico and the United States to identify communities where fruit trees descended from the Spanish Mission System might still grow. The results identified 21 towns in Arizona and Sonora which fit the criteria. During visits to these towns eleven fruit cultivars were identified as being appropriate for the project. Seeds, cuttings and grafting material were then collected for propagation from the suitable trees.

www.nps.gov/tuma/learn/nature/heritage-orchard.htm

Pretty cool that they went repopulated the orchard with heirloom varieties of fruit that would have been grown there at the time.

Some happy little trees, a happy little mountain......

This is Mount Shasta, shot on 15 May 2025. We were flying up I-5 and saw a pullout that said viewpoint. This is the view they offered us and I decided to take it.

Nothing special about it, kinda looks like the other 28,985 shots of Shasta you can find here on Flickr!

A series of shots I got during our passage through The Big Ditch!

AAL SINGAPORE is a General cargo/Heavy Lift vessel built in 2011 by HUANGHAI SHIPBUILDING - RONGCHENG, CHINA. Currently sailing under the flag of Liberia. Formerly also known as AAL SINGAPORE. It's gross tonnage is 23930 tons.

Going through the complete Panama Canal was definitely a bucket list item for me. I spent the entire day (8 hours) outside on the deck along with a bunch of other folks, my shutter happily clicking away!

We had a Canal Guide onboard who pointed out all the interesting locations, couldn't tell you one thing he said because I wasn't listening I was too busy shooting!

Have to commend Princess Cruises, they were really nice to us outside in that they had stewards coming aro

fotografata in pieno giorno...

This would be our idea of a "Cruise From Hell!"

"The Marigalante Pirate Ship is an exact replica of the Santa Maria, made entirely of wood. It weighs approximately 700 tons and has three wooden masts with triangular sails.

The ship has four impressive decks with a total capacity of 240 passengers. It is equipped with professional light and sound equipment and 40 five-litre tanks filled with ABC extinguishing liquid. It also has eight ladies' toilets, four gents' toilets and three urinals."

pirateshipvallarta.com/en

Plain and simple this is a booze cruise for spring break college kids and cruise ship tourists. The same folks who go to Señor Ranas (Señor Frogs) for an "authentic Mexican food and drink experience", nothing more and nothing less.

I get it, this is a tourist area and you're going to have tourist traps. I just have a hard time keeping a straight face when someone tells me that they got to know the real Mexico on this trip and they can't wait to come back and do it again. Sometimes I wish I could just wake up in their dream world and see what they're seeing but every time I try reality slaps me across the head and says not today.

It was more like a wet firecracker than it was thunder!

If I told you we were going to the Thunder and Lightning Over Arizona Air Show what exactly would you expect? Lots of screaming jets, incredible acrobatics, maybe a Wing Walker and a couple of sonic booms that rattled all the windows in town? Yeah, that's not going to happen, not even close.

On the weekend of March 22-23, Davis Monthan AFB opened the gates and invited everyone to enjoy a free, weekend-long event packed full of entertainment. You could come out and see dynamic aerial displays, memorable planes, and SO much more!

Now I didn't go to the base to see the show, in the years past I didn't have to. All the flights passed right over the house so we could sit outside and enjoy but not this year.

I don't know if it's because of budget cuts, environmental issues, or malaise on the part of the organizers but the flight pattern was changed to keep everything pretty much centralized over the base. Maybe people complained to the city council about the noise? You know how those NIMBY people can get.

Whatever the cause it sure put a damper on the show for those of us who chose not to fight the madhouse of the base to find a parking space and spend the day sitting in the blazing sun to see a couple of jets putting through the sky.

This is the best shot I got of the whole show. Look at the EXIF and you'll see I had my 200mm lens pushed out as far as I could and the speed at a nominal 1/320 of a second.

A series of shots I got during our passage through The Big Ditch!

Vessel ST ARUBA is a tug ship sailing under the flag of Panama. Her IMO number is 9366706 and MMSI number is 370120000. Main ship particulars are length of 28 m and beam of 10 m.

If you're a fan of tugs then a trip through the Panama Canal would be perfect for you! It takes a lot of horsepower to keep traffic going and these workhorses are the ones to get it done!

Going through the complete Panama Canal was definitely a bucket list item for me. I spent the entire day (8 hours) outside on the deck along with a bunch of other folks, my shutter happily clicking away!

We had a Canal Guide onboard who pointed out all the interesting locations, couldn't tell you one thing he said because I wasn't listening I was too busy shooting!

Have to commend Princess Cruises, they were really nice to us outside in that they had stewards coming around regularly offering up cool drinks, sandwiches, and such.

Apologies to DEVO and their No. 14 Billboard chart hit Whip It!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_QLzthSkfM

Monsoon storms are like a box of Cracker Jack, there's always a prize inside but it may be at the bottom of the box (or end of the storm). This storm was fast moving and blew over quickly, really didn't pick up until it was well past me and my camera. I hung around for awhile just in case something decided to pop off and this is what I came up with.

When I saw the shot on my monitor the first thought I had was Mother Nature cracking her cat o' nine tails, ready to inflict some punishment on the City of Tucson which might not be a bad thing. I luckily live outside the city limits so I'm not affected by the cities decisions which are quite often misguided and every now and then just flat wrong.

This was shot with 25 seconds on the clock @ ISO 100 and f/9. For those who are curious the glow on the horizon is lighting from the city of Tucson.

A series of shots I got during our passage through The Big Ditch!

MAERSK EL PALOMAR (IMO 9964481, MMSI 563220200) is a Container Ship built in 2024 (1 year old) and currently sailing under the flag of Singapore. Maersk El Palomar has an LOA of 335 metres (1,100 feet), a beam of 51 metres (170 feet), a depth of 27.1 metres (88.9 feet), a draught of 16 metres (52 feet), a gross tonnage of 127,832, and space for 30 crewmembers. The main engine is a Mitsui-MAN-B&W 7G95ME-C10.5 diesel.

Going through the complete Panama Canal was definitely a bucket list item for me. I spent the entire day (8 hours) outside on the deck along with a bunch of other folks, my shutter happily clicking away!

We had a Canal Guide onboard who pointed out all the interesting locations, couldn't tell you one thing he said because I wasn't listening I was too busy shooting!

Have to commend Princess Cruises, they were really nice to us outside in that they had stewards coming around regularly offering up cool drinks, sandwiches, and such.

She's the second Naval ship to be named after the 16th President of the United States.

Getting close to our dock we passed by NAS North Island, home to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72). Abe is sitting at the old dock for the USS Kittyhawk (CVA 63) where I did my time in the Navy.

The Abe Lincoln suffered a minor fire that injured 9 sailors on 29 November 2022. The cause is unknown and an investigation was launched. This may be repairs from the fire or just scheduled maintenance, don't know for sure.

In the background you can see the USNS John Lewis (T-AO 205), the Navy's newest John Lewis-class fleet oiler. I've got a better picture of her that I'll post!

Again, that early morning light in San Diego was beautiful!

I love all boats and I can't deny!

Pilots have a duty to ensure the safety of ships, crews and cargoes entering the waters they're in charge of. I can appreciate that and say Thank You for making my passage as safe as possible! This was the pilot that took us into Mazatlan, Mexico.

Mother Nature finally decided to give us a show but not everyone appreciated it.

I love shooting lightning and I could watch it for hours but last Friday night (2 August) I was reminded of how bad a storm can be.

We had a storm blow through Friday afternoon/evening that caused a lot of damage here in the park where Niccy and I live:

https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/mobile-home-park-recovering-from-friday-night-storm-damage

I'm not posting any damage pictures out of respect.

We were lucky in that we only lost a few shingles off the roof, others weren't as lucky. What was good about this though is that it showed how a community can come together to take care of it's own. People were driving the streets, checking on damage and neighbors were checking on neighbors. Our clubhouse was left open all night as an emergency shelter for those who had no electricity so they could have a cool place to sleep and plug in any medical devices they might need and right now neighbors are out helping neighbors clean up the mess.

You might hear that this country is divided and being torn apart. If so, come on by our park and you'll see just exactly how our country is coming together.

BTW, this shot is from a storm that blew by last night, not the Friday night storm. I'll post a few more from last night shortly. The wind and rain was so bad on Friday that there was no way anyone was getting a shot.

Something we don't get to see very often here in the desert!

It seems that overnight Mother Nature decided to bless Tucson with a dusting of snow! Locally in Tucson, the National Weather Service reported 1.5 inches of seasonal snowfall—more than some east coast cities this year including Philadelphia and Washington D.C.

Supposedly a persistent blocking pattern over the Pacific Ocean plus cold air migrating south from the Arctic have created the conditions for widespread snowfall along the West Coast.

The nice part for us is that when it does snow it usually falls in the late evening and once the sun comes up it melts off real quick, so no worries about shoveling!

You can see how the sun was already out and the skies were a gorgeous blue. We're supposed to be looking at 71F (21.6C) by Friday which is all right by me!

A series of shots I got during our passage through The Big Ditch!

Vessel PANAMA XIV is a Tug ship sailing under the flag of Panama. Her IMO number is 9363596 and MMSI number is 356342000. Main ship particulars are length of 27 m and beam of 12 m. I got the chance to see a LOT of tugs on this trip!

Going through the complete Panama Canal was definitely a bucket list item for me. I spent the entire day (8 hours) outside on the deck along with a bunch of other folks, my shutter happily clicking away!

We had a Canal Guide onboard who pointed out all the interesting locations, couldn't tell you one thing he said because I wasn't listening I was too busy shooting!

Have to commend Princess Cruises, they were really nice to us outside in that they had stewards coming around regularly offering up cool drinks, sandwiches, and such.

My birthday is on the 7th so this is an early present!

Finished watching the local news and it didn't look good. Weatherman said there's only a 10 percent chance of any storms so it looks like another dry night. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

Took the trash out and saw a couple of clouds and flashes to the South. Hmm, maybe that will turn into something so I packed up and headed to my regular spot, just in case.

Ran into a guy named Mike who was packing up and heading out. He said it didn't look like a good night, clouds were falling apart as quick as the formed so he was heading home. I told him I was going to stick around for awhile in case something developed, he said Good Luck but the storms just aren't there today. Mike, it looks like you missed the mark on this one!

Set up my camera and waited, waited, waited with little to no luck. Thinking about calling it a night when a huge bolt announced it's welcome with a thundering CRACK!!! Well, thank you very much, may I have another? CRACK!!! Your wish is my command. Wound up being a pretty good show, a perfect present for me that I know my Dad arranged for me. This was the grand finale, after this things just kind of petered out.

This is a combo of 5 shots that just happened to fall in the right place, with a combined total of 240 seconds between the five. These were shot @ f/7.1 with ISO 100 and 52mm worth of zoom. The bolts seemed to be hitting in the same general area so I thought I'd chance the zoom, probably would have been a great place to use my Nifty Fifty!

The lights in the background are a bit blurry since I was fighting with outflow winds and trying to handhold the tripod steady. I can live with a little blur!

A series of shots I got during our passage through The Big Ditch!

The drilling barge Barú was named after Panama's only volcano. Entirely manufactured by Panamanians, the Barú is 51 meters long and 15 meters wide, nearly the size of two basketball courts. The new, state-of-the-art barge will play an instrumental role in the Canal's dredging initiatives.

The Barú is equipped with four drilling rigs that can bore holes up to 30 meters in a single pass. The drilled holes are loaded with explosives and detonated to fracture the rock. The blasted material is then removed by floating equipment.

Going through the complete Panama Canal was definitely a bucket list item for me. I spent the entire day (8 hours) outside on the deck along with a bunch of other folks, my shutter happily clicking away!

We had a Canal Guide onboard who pointed out all the interesting locations, couldn't tell you one thing he said because I wasn't listening I was too busy shooting!

Have to commend Princess Cruises, they were really nice to us outside in that they had stewards coming around regularly offering up cool drinks, sandwiches, and such.

We need more places in the world like Ejido Miguel Aleman

Some interesting reading about Ejido Miguel Aleman:

www.milenio.com/estados/ejido-miguel-aleman-el-oasis-de-c...

(you'll have to translate from Spanish to your native tongue.)

We left the school and traveled a short distance to the processing plant to see how bananas are harvested, packaged, and shipped. We've seen this process before down in Guatemala but this place was different. The workers all seemed to be very happy with their work, laughing and joking about the gringos watching the process. I figure it's because they're the owners of the company, not some corporate conglomerate riding shotgun over them.

I found the article referenced above and I have to say I'm very impressed with the people in this town. They live in a beautiful place and they are really working hard to keep it beautiful. I respect them for that and I'm very appreciative of them letting us come in to have a glimpse.

I would also like to extend a hearty handshake and Thank You to Explora Caribe Tours for being an ethical tour company with values I can certainly get behind:

explora-tours.com/sustentability/

Now I can't be sure but I thought I heard her say "#*%&@ you and the horse you rode in on"!

It's that time again, time for the 98th annual Tucson Rodeo Parade!

Our lodge is directly across from the rodeo grounds which means the parade passes right down the street in front of the building.

The Tucson Rodeo Parade is believed to be the nation's longest non-motorized parade dating back to 1925. All the parade entries are horse pulled other than the marching bands and the street sweepers who always end the parade by cleaning up the landmines left by our equine friends.

If you enjoy seeing traditional dance costumes you would certainly enjoy seeing the parade. There are several different dancing groups that participate and the outfits they wear are always quite striking with lots of brightly colored dresses for the ladies and sharp looking suits for the gents.

I would have liked to get her legs in the shot but from where I was shooting they were blocked by the folks sitting on the curb.

A small series of photos that I took while driving down the road in Mexico.

Gotta love the independent busimessman. No storefront, just a mobile Raspado stand. For those who may not know a Raspado is shaved ice, made by blending and crushing ice, then topping it with homemade fruit syrup. Very common in Mexico but I wouldn't recommend trying them off the street unless you're interested in learning about Montezuma's Revenge!

In Puerto Chiapas Mexico we signed up to take a tour outside of the port area. We went to a place called Miguel Aleman

GOOGLE MAP COORDINATES:

14.558926371866079, -92.21688314383077

right down on the border of Mexico and Guatemala. Miguel Aleman is a company town but the people who live there own the company. Their main revenue stream comes from growing and packaging bananas for export.

Well, when we went to get on the tour van the driver stopped me and told me to stand back. I wasn't sure why at the time but I'm glad he did. Once everyone was in the van he opened up the passenger side and asked me to sit there. He gave me a front row seat and I let him know I appreciated it.

The next few photos are all taken as we drove to Miguel Aleman. They may be a little blurry because I was shooting through the windshield. There might also be some blur on the bottom of the photo because he had his dash full of papers and I was getting a bit of a reflection off them. I didn't want to move them, might have messed up his filing system!

A series of shots I got during our passage through The Big Ditch!

GLOBAL JOURNEY is a Bulk carrier built in 2013 by OSHIMA SHIPBUILDING CO. LTD. - SAIKAI, JAPAN. Currently sailing under the flag of Panama. It's gross tonnage is 31872 tons.

The GLOBAL JOURNEY was making her way out and on to foreign ports. I've got a shot coming of another Japanese ship that surprised me a bit!

Going through the complete Panama Canal was definitely a bucket list item for me. I spent the entire day (8 hours) outside on the deck along with a bunch of other folks, my shutter happily clicking away!

We had a Canal Guide onboard who pointed out all the interesting locations, couldn't tell you one thing he said because I wasn't listening I was too busy shooting!

Have to commend Princess Cruises, they were really nice to us outside in that they had stewards coming aro

A series of shots I got during our passage through The Big Ditch!

ADEBOWALE (IMO 7518977) is a Oil service/PSV ship built in 1978 and is sailing under the flag of Tanzania. She has an overall length (LOA) of 66 meters and a width (beam) of 13 meters. Her summer deadweight capacity is 2,646 tonnes. From the looks of her she seems to have lived a very hard life!

Going through the complete Panama Canal was definitely a bucket list item for me. I spent the entire day (8 hours) outside on the deck along with a bunch of other folks, my shutter happily clicking away!

We had a Canal Guide onboard who pointed out all the interesting locations, couldn't tell you one thing he said because I wasn't listening I was too busy shooting!

Have to commend Princess Cruises, they were really nice to us outside in that they had stewards coming aro

One of the benefits of having the RV. We get to see the Sea World fireworks without paying the Sea World price!

After shooting The Streaks of San Diego:

flic.kr/p/2qanHr6

I started hearing some big booms coming from the North. Thunder?? No, it was the end of the day fireworks display from SeaWorld:

seaworld.com/san-diego/

They put on a pretty good show, even better since we didn't have to pay admission to see it!

The downside to the whole thing is we discovered that our Meisha (aka The Big Chalupa or MushiMushi) has a fear of loud sounds. She was shaking like a leaf and wanted nothing other than to be sitting in my lap. Since then we've discovered that thunder sets her off as well. Since dogs have such good hearing she can hear it long before us. When she starts shaking, whining and begging to be up we know there's a storm in the area. May have to wind up giving her some Children's Benadryl.

Now, before you say we're going to poison her take a look at this please:

www.caninejournal.com/benadryl-dosage-for-dogs/

One of the side effects (at a proper dosing) is that the Diphenhydramine may help relieve symptoms of mild-to-moderate anxiety in pets (calm her nerves). We're looking out for her, believe me! The Tater Tot on the other hand isn't bothered a bit.

Looks like the hills West of town took a hit or two!.

Had a storm blow through yesterday evening but it stayed well to the South and was headed West. There was nothing going on here at the ranch but I headed up to my shooting spot just in case something strayed our way.

Well, true to form the storm stayed South and headed West, put on a pretty good show that I was able to catch a little of. Very weird set of clouds, they were real flat and real spread out.

This is a combo of 2 shots with a combined total of 42 seconds on the clock, f/7.1, ISO 100 and 200mm worth of zoom! I had my Tamron 18-200mm glass on and had it sticking out as far as it would go. Rough measurements in Google Maps say these bolts were about 10 miles away (as the crow flies) so I'm pretty happy with the results!

Now I might be wrong but in my mind LA (and San Francisco) is as far from the Delta as you can get!

Built in 2009, by Nichols Brothers Boatbuilders Incorporated of Seattle, Washington (hull #S-155) as the Delta Billie for Bay and Delta Maritime Services Incorporated of San Francisco, California.

In 2022, the tug was chartered to AmNAV Maritime Services of Oakland, California. A subsidiary of the Foss Maritime Company of Seattle, Washington. Where she retained her name.

Powered by two, Caterpillar 3516C diesel engines, with Rolls Royce US255 z-drives for a rated 6,800 horsepower.

Her electrical service is provided by one, 215kW generator set. Driven by a single, Caterpillar diesel engine. And, one, 50kW generator set. Driven by a single Caterpillar diesel engine. The tug's capacities are 70,000 gallons of fuel, 8,000 gallons of water, and 1,400 gallons of sewage.

The tug's towing equipment consists of a single drum, towing winch. Outfitted with 2.5(in) towing wire.

Got a glimpse of the Delta Billy and had to give her a shot, maybe she'll become Flickr Famous?

At f/8 I must've been shooting in AP mode. I still hadn't become the Master of My Domain!

Niccy and I just got back from a transatlantic cruise so I've finally got some shots to post!

Not sure why but I happened to wake up real early this day and decided to do a walkabout up on the deck. Glad I did!

The SUNRISE (YCPTPH requirement) was very pretty this morning and several of us early risers happened to be out and try to catch it.

Now I'm not there for the sunrise, it's been done a million and two times, I'm there to catch the folks who are there to catch the sunrise. These two ladies happened to wind up in my viewfinder so I decided to make them Flickr Famous.

I was going to title this "The House of the Rising Sun" by the Animals:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4bFqW_eu2I

But Light My Fire by the Doors:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKd6yarfkxA

seemed more appropriate. BTW, I believe this is the one and only appearance The Doors made on the Ed Sullivan Show!