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Better if listening "Evening star" from the motion picture soundtrack of the "Lord of the rings - The two towers".
Dedicated to all those people who always see the light in love, even when the clouds are threatening rain and pain.
Niccy and I just got back from a transatlantic cruise so I've finally got some shots to post!
Early morning at the dock in Fort Lauderdale Florida. Saw the Oasis Of The Seas:
www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/oasis-of-the-seas
docked and got a shot of her.
Now if you're looking for a floating resort this is what you're looking for. So much to do onboard there's no reason for most to get off the ship!
Seeing this makes me wonder what the pirates of olden days would have thought had they seen this sailing towards them?
When life gives you lemons take the advice of Richard Harvey and just shoot them!
The clouds were building up last night and they looked real good for a storm so I packed up and headed out.
No storm, but I took Richard Harvey's advice and shot what I had and this is the result.
This is a pano of 4 shots, hopefully this will give you an idea of what an Arizona sunset can look like during the monsoon season.
In case you want to see an example of Richard's advice:
www.flickr.com/photos/bigharv/53102660726/in/dateposted/
BTW, this shot is NOT posted in YCPTPH, I've had enough of Jim's wrath for the month!
promenade /prŏm″ə-nād′, -näd′/
noun
1. A leisurely walk, especially one taken in a public place as a social activity.
2. A public place for such walking.
3. A formal dance; a ball.
Holland America Line has a Promenade Deck on all their ships that goes completely around. A nice, quiet place to go for an evening stroll. Many people also go out during the day to read, I guess the sunlight and waves make great companions for bodice rippers!
When I first saw this shot it just spoke to me. I can't tell you why or define what it is that I like, it just spoke to me and I knew I had to post it. For me.
"A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or "rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloop-of-war."
Thanks to Wikipedia for this:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvette
Niccy and I took another long weekend over to the Point Loma Annex where I was lucky enough to get this shot!
This is actually called a "Jetcar":
which looks like a real eye catcher! Great if you're out to get the chicks I suppose. Supposedly you can do 60 MPH with no worries but I don't think I'd take a chance with it!
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!
This is a shot from the Rim Trail, right outside the El Tovar Hotel.
www.grandcanyonlodges.com/lodging/el-tovar-hotel/
If you've never been to the Grand Canyon the train trip is a great way to see the place. You'll have a 2 1/2 hour trip each way on the train and about 3 1/2 hours for exploring at the Canyon, more than enough time to take in the sights. We took the advice of Jim Frazier and booked the Luxury Parlor car which offers plenty of luxurious seating and amenities (for Niccy) and an outside observation platform (for me).
This is a combination of 4 shots, stitched into a panorama. To be quite honest it would really be a challenge to truly show just how massive the Canyon really is, hopefully this gives you a bit of an idea but the best way to truly experience it is in person.
BTW, this shot is SOOC other than the stitching and a pretty cool feature I found in my software i use to convert from TIFF to JPG called lens correction. For some reason my camera body sees this Tamron lens as a Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8 which it definitely is not. The lens correction actually flattens the image just a bit and makes corrections that more closely represent the Tamron lens. This is also a handheld shot, I used the far rim as a guide to focus on!
Morning reflections of Paperbark trees (Melaleuca) in a Top End billabong/lagoon. The sun is just coming over the tops of the trees to the left. I am resting on a tree at the lagoon edge in ankle deep water. There are no crocodiles here.
Working off little lap top screen after my desktop AllinOne conked out. It certainly pays to backup regularly. I only back up photos tho.
Exactly what I did since it wasn't time for them to eat yet!
The dogs always seem to want to be wherever I am so I've put a dog bed down next to my PC. It's large enough for both and they'll share it after grousing at each other for a bit.
I had my new lens on the camera and decided to give it a go. I'm still trying to figure out the focusing on it though. It seems to like a single point of focus much better than multiples but getting the single point in the right spot to fit everything in is a challenge. I suppose that with time, patience, and endless shots I'll find a happy medium.
It really is a great time of year to be in the Southwest!
Niccy is on the mend from having some back surgery and starting to get a little cabin fever so I suggested a short trip out of town. We wound up going to Saguaro National Park on the East side of Tucson:
The weather today was lovely, 80 degrees and sunny with a slight breeze that kept us cooled down. The park wasn't too crowded so we were able to drive the 8 mile loop with ease. We stopped about half way through and had a picnic lunch while looking at the desert starting to bloom out. All in all a good day for us (and the doggos enjoyed it as well)!
This was a surprise for me, didn't even know I got them!
The storm last night finally brought us a decent amount of rain, at least here at the house. Plenty of lightning but up in the clouds for the most part. At least that's what I thought till this pair popped up on the monitor!
We've got a new Ramada at the upper pool and luckily enough that's where the majority of the lightning was showing up. Can be hard to shoot from since the wind was blowing the rain in under the cover but I didn't get too soaked!
"In 2010, Charles "Skip" W. Bowen, who was then the United States Coast Guard's most senior non-commissioned officer, proposed that all 58 cutters in the Sentinel class should be named after enlisted sailors in the Coast Guard, or one of its precursor services, who were recognized for their heroism."!
Good job for recognizing the enlisted guys!
Parked outside of the U.S. Coast Guard Base Los Angeles / Long Beach you see 3 of their Sentinel Class cutters with the USCGC Robert Ward (WPC-1130)in the lead, the USCGC Forrest Rednour (WPC-1129)sitting middle of the pack, and bringing up the rear is the USCGC Benjamin Bottoms (WPC-1132)!
All three are good looking ladies and all three are doing a great job of protecting our coastal waters from all the baddies.
It really is a great time of year to be in the Southwest!
Niccy is on the mend from having some back surgery and starting to get a little cabin fever so I suggested a short trip out of town. We wound up going to Saguaro National Park on the East side of Tucson:
The weather today was lovely, 80 degrees and sunny with a slight breeze that kept us cooled down. The park wasn't too crowded so we were able to drive the 8 mile loop with ease. We stopped about half way through and had a picnic lunch while looking at the desert starting to bloom out. All in all a good day for us (and the doggos enjoyed it as well)!
Kind of like a Magic Tee for RF!
When you get to the Grand Canyon you get an opportunity to traverse the Y, something that made no sense to me until I took a good look at it on Google Maps.
Since there's no turntable at the Grand Canyon and only one way in they've got to have a method to get you turned around and that's the Y. If you look at the Y on Google Maps:
36.05477145405851, -112.14325235407148
and follow the tracks out you can see how they accomplish the turnaround. Pretty interesting feat of engineering and much easier to understand than an RF Magic Tee:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_tee
Unless you're an RF Engineer I would recommend not checking out the link above, you'll probably wind up more confused than when you started...you've been warned!
It was non-stop action, almost as fun as watching Pro Wrestling!
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.
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!
You think your job is hard? Try keeping up with these guys!
In Mazatlan we took a tour that got us out of the city and out into the countryside to see the non-toursity side of things.
Our first stop was a brickyard where they were making traditional adobe bricks for new contstruction. Adobe consists of clay, water, and an organic material, usually straw or in this case dung. The three are mixed together, placed into molds then left to dry for a month or so. On average each worker makes 1000 bricks a day which is pretty crazy since the whole operation is done by hand!
I want to note that this was not a show or staged setting for tourists, this is the every day job of the guys! I sure feel for them when they get older, hopefully they've got some sort of retirement plan.
I was going to title this Twisted Sister but I didn't wan to confuse any Metalheads out there!
This is a shot from the 31 July storm that blew through. It was a good storm, stayed in the Southeast for a good long while, didn't make it to the house till after 11 PM so I didn't have to worry about getting rained out. According to the weather guessers things are supposed to quiet down for the next week or so which means downtime for me and the lightning!
Thanks to Jim Frazier this shot isn't nearly as grainy and noisy as a night shot with a Canon T7 at high ISO normally is, unless you're a pixel peeper!
See, I forgot to check my settings in my rush out the door to get the perfect shot, luckily our benevolent admin put me on the right path!
The community in the foreground is where I live, luckily there were no direct strikes in the park!
This was shot @ f/13 with 27 seconds on the clock, ISO 800 and 32mm zoom.
But it's not in a church!
We went and stayed a couple of days in Athens Georgia with some friends there and they gave us a tour of the surrounding area.
This door is located in The Rogers House Museum in Madison Georgia.
visitmadisonga.com/rogers-house/
The house was built circa 1809, and the Piedmont Plain home showcases the standard for middle-class houses of the era. Over 200 years later, the house still sits on the original lot it was built on and has never been moved.
Our guide told us that this is called a Church Door which made no sense to me until she explained why. There's two reasons, can you guess them? Read on to find out more....
If you look at the top 4 panels you'll see that there's the shape of a cross where the panels come together. That's reason number one. The second reason is that the two lower panels give the appearance of an open Bible. Supposedly these were very common in houses from this era. Now you know!
Shooting this door was interesting to me in that it showed me how much lens distortion my Tamron 18-200 has. I had to do a little work in post to get the thing looking like a door.
A really pleasant find on our Thursday drive!
NIccy had the day off so we had made plans to go down to the Tubac, AZ Festival of the Arts. We'd gone once before Covid reared it's ugly head and thought it would make for a nice relaxing day. Boy, were we wrong.
I knew that it was going to be a problem when I saw a sign on the interstate saying Festival Goers USE THIS EXIT. The exit is about 2.5 miles from where the festival was being held. Well, we took the exit, went about 1/2 mile and abruptly stopped thanks to the traffic jam on the siding road we were on. We slowly creeped our way down to where the parking area was and once we saw the sea of cars Niccy said "Oh hell no, I'm not paying to park in that mess!" so we went right on by.
We got down past the mess and decided to get back on the freeway, head north and go check out the Historic Canoa Ranch, a place we hadn't (and haven't) been yet.
About that time we came up on the Tumacacori Historic National Park, another place we hadn't been before. Since it's a national part and I've got a national park veterans pass we decided to stop there instead.
They have docent led tours but we decided just to wander on our own. It wound up being pretty interesting looking at the old mission church and outbuildings. There weren't many people when we got there but it did get a bit busy as we were leaving.
I'm glad that Tubac was such a mess, it gave us a chance to check out the mission and have ourselves a really nice picnic lunch!
If you'd like to learn about the park:
If you'd like to learn a bit more about the church:
www.nps.gov/tuma/learn/historyculture/the-church.htm
As a side note the weather was fantastic today, 65 degrees and sunny with a slight breeze!
I don't break them but I'm not above testing their limits...
In You Can't Post That Picture Here! we have rules that we generally follow. One of those rules is Rule 40 and it states:
Stereoscopic pictures (3D using parallax) where you must either cross your eyes, or use special optical gear, are not allowed. Crossing eyes is uncomfortable. And why the heck should we use something unusual just to see your picture? If you want to post something weird in the comments, go ahead on.
Ok, so we know what we can't post but there's nothing about posting the device you need to see the shot!
I saw this in The Rogers House Museum in Madison Georgia and Rule 40 came to me in a flash!
.
visitmadisonga.com/rogers-house/
The house was built circa 1809, and the Piedmont Plain home showcases the standard for middle-class houses of the era. Over 200 years later, the house still sits on the original lot it was built on and has never been moved.
Bright lights and lightning on a back road in Tucson.
When I first scouted for my new spot to shoot from I thought I'd try the parking lot of Worldview Enterprises since it was fairly big and if it did start to downpour I'd be on asphalt instead of a muddy field. If you look on the map you'll see that Worldview is right off a road called Aerospace Parkway which is definitely not a main road so I figured it would be quiet, especially on a Tuesday night at 9:30 in the evening. Boy was I wrong!
Evidently this road is used a lot by Boy Racers to do their thing on, especially since it isn't a main road. There was plenty of traffic going by so I decided to find another spot where I'd be a bit more hidden from the road and wouldn't have to worry about any security folks coming by and asking questions.
This shot was 65 seconds in BULB Mode, well over my normal 30-35 seconds. I suppose I left it open for so long on the off chance there would be more than one big strike but evidently there wasn't. Either that or I was just busy watching the show and forgot about the time!
I have no idea what the type, make, or model is on this engine, I'll leave that to the Train Buffs to fill us in!
We were getting ready to leave the Grand Canyon Station when I saw this engine. I'm pretty sure it's a static display since there are some red stoppers of some sort in front of it to keep it from moving.
NIccy and I took a long weekend trip up to Williams Arizona to ride the Grand Canyon Railway. We've always been fans of train trips and getting to see the big hole in the ground was a bonus!
If you\'ve never been to the Grand Canyon the train trip is a great way to see the place. You've got a 2 1/2 hour trip each way on the train and about 3 1/2 hours for exploring at the Canyon, more than enough time to take in the sights. We took the advice of Jim Frazier and booked the Luxury Parlor car which offers plenty of luxurious seating and amenities (for Niccy) and an outside observation platform (for me).
Had to do a non-standard crop on this shot, guess I was holding the camera vertical when I took it and wound up with way too much headroom!
Thanks to Jim Frazier for showing me another way....
This is a REDUX of the previous shot. I was unhappy (and still am) with myself for not checking my settings and winding up with a nice (but very noisy) shot. Jim got me thinking about ways to repair it and this is one way. I suppose it works. the software definitely makes some color changes but it\'s definitely a lot less noisy!
is definitely not like the others...
Saw this scene as we were walking along. Don't know if this was caused by pirates or captain's incompetence?
We walked out of the port of Fuerte Amador Panama for a bit then found out there's no way to make it to town without taking a shuttle. Hmm, another port that's not tourist friendly....
If you do decide to walk you'll run into Calle Amador, which is the main street of the area.. Go left and you'll find a couple of tourist places and a couple of restaurants, go right and you'll find a couple of tourist areas. Looks like this might be the place to book a tour if you really want to see anything!
For some unknown reason I really like this shot. I wish I could distill the Umami in it and add it to all my other photos!
Fred, Daphne, Shaggy, Velma, and Scooby weren't the only ones with a mystery machine!
Our mystery machine, camping next to the Watauga River in Elizabethton Tennessee.
This is our transportation for this wonderful road trip, a 2024 Entegra Ethos 20T Class B van.
www.entegracoach.com/motorhomes/ethos/
With 2 twin beds, cooktop, microwave, AC, heater, refrigerator, and a wet bath shower/toilet combo in the back it's all we need to get out and see all the wonders of the USA.
She's not like a class A or class C RV, it's meant for you to live outside the RV and enjoy your surroundings. We look at it like a hotel room, not a place to live but a place to take a shower and put your head down after you've spent the day exploring.
We found this spot down on the Watauga River in Elizabethton, Tennessee. Not a place that's on anyone's travel bucket list although it should be. Very quiet, peaceful, and a real pretty place altogether!
Who knew lifeboats came with such sweet features?
The last stop for us was in Cabo San Lucas. Evidently they're not set up to handle cruise ships so the ships anchor out and ferry people back and forth. It's a quick little ride, not enough time for anyone to get too seasick!
While there are some dedicated boats that will ferry guests it seems that Holland America decided to put a couple of their lifeboats to good use and have the crew ferry us back and forth. Nice for the crew since it gives some of them a break from their work routine and gives them practice should there ever be a need to actually use the lifeboats.
Once again lifeboat 13 comes into my life. If you're curious about what I mean you can see this previous shot:
www.flickr.com/photos/nyalr/52817282619/in/dateposted-pub...
My, how the time (and fur) flies when you're having fun!
It's been 7 months since we brought Casey (now known as Tater Tot, She/Her) here to her forever home.
She has to be the wireiest (is that a word?) dog we've ever had and certainly the most energetic. She's found her place in the pack and is happy to be a part of our family! It's too bad we don't live in the UK, I'm sure she'd get along just fine with Richard Harvey UK's Freddie:
www.flickr.com/photos/bigharv/52905174756/in/dateposted/
She's ready to run and play, unfortunately our Tiffany is a grouchy old fart who doesn't tolerate that sort of nonsense.
I was experimenting with my camera when I took this since I just figured out I could control (somewhat) the output of the onboard flash and give a little fill light to some of the dark areas.
Now is this the shot that's going to send her viral and score loads of endorsement deals? Pretty sure it's not but she's certainly open to any collaborations you might have to offer!
A series of shots I got during our passage through The Big Ditch!
The vessel CERRO ANCON (IMO 9669603, MMSI 357160000) is a Tug built in 2014 (11 years old) and currently sailing under the flag of Panama. One of the many, many tugs I saw during this passage.
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.
© All rights reserved
18mm - f.22 - 1/80 sec - ISO 200 - Tripod - Wireless trigger - Circular Polarising
The rotting leaf creates methane gas that gets trapped in the ice, like gaspockets. When you make a little hole in the pocket, and lights it, it burns. I use a match. (No manipulation)
Psa 105:39 God put a cloud over his people and a fire at night to give them light.
Well, everybody knows that the bird is the word!
Our walk along the waterfront finally led us down to the docks where the fishing boats were. I saw the Margaret, thought she was a fine example of a fishing boat and snapped the picture.
It wasn't until I looked at the photo on the computer that I saw a seagull had decided to photobomb the shot, probably hoping to go viral and become rich and famous. Sorry bird, that's just not going to happen here!
A series of shots I got during our passage through The Big Ditch!
The vessel ESTURION (MMSI 352817000) is a Passenger ship and currently sailing under the flag of Panama.
When I thought of the Panama Canal it was always the big bulk carriers and megafreighters that came to mind, not boats like my little friend here. I now know that it's not just a playground for the big boys, there's a fair amount of small boat traffic as well.
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.
Just Like Romeo And Juliet:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycCZX-olchU
Two ships (not passing in the night though), one on it's way to exotic ports, one on it's way back to the safe harbor of home.
This was an early (for me) shot outside of the Fort Lauderdale Cruise Terminal.
I guess I should thank the sunset for the pink(ish) bolt!
This storm blew in last night (26 July 23) as we were out to dinner in town. It really dumped the water up in the Speedway/Wilmot part of town but nothing out at the house. I was seeing little flashes off to the West on the drive home so I decided to grab the gear and head out once we got back. This is one of the shots that I got.
The lightning was popping all around, not focused in any one spot at all. The clouds were just one huge bank with no real definition to them so I wasn't really sure where to shoot, I just took a chance! This was shot looking toward the Northwest which is the direction the storm seemed to be headed in.
Had to do a weird crop on this since the storm was pretty much just a big monocloud and I didn't want an acre of grey above the lightning. This was shot with 35 seconds in BULB at f/9 with 29mm. I zoomed a bit, hoping to get a little tighter shot but its a pretty futile exercise to be honest. Mother Nature doesn't seem to care where your focus is!
A series of shots I got during our passage through The Big Ditch!
ASTRO GRUMIUM (IMO 9714719) is a Dry bulk/Ultramax ship built in 2015 and is sailing under the flag of Marshall Islands. She has an overall length (LOA) of 199 meters and a width (beam) of 32 meters. Her summer deadweight capacity is 61,305 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 aro
Kugira means "Whale" in Japanese. To me, it sounds like it should be pronounced in the same tone and manner in which you would pronounce "GODZILLA"!
One of the largest caisson-building docks in the world is the Kugira (‘whale’ in Japanese). This herculean machine from ACCIONA measures the equivalent of an 18-floor building (56 metres tall, 74 metres long and 49 metres wide). A team of between 140 and 200 high specialised professionals work on the Kugira around the clock seven days a week, and it can manufacture concrete caissons weighing up to 24,000 tonnes. This means that it can create a seawall or a berthing dock 200 metres long from scratch in just one month.
Once a caisson is completed, it is launched by being partially sunk until the caisson can float, and then it is taken by tugboats to the place where it will be placed over the platform on the sea floor, where tonnes of material has previously been laid to create a uniform base. Once it is in its exact position, the caisson is secured in place by filling the cells with water, and later they are filled with sand to make them completely stable. Although this procedure may sound cumbersome, it does not interfere with port activity.
www.acciona.com/updates/articles/worlds-largest-caisson-d...
When you're walking down a large dock you don't normally think about the way the dock was built or who it was that built it. Reading about the Kugira gave me a whole new appreciation of the things that go into building a dock!
At first I thought this was just a Jackup Rig for deep sea oil eploration. Boy, was I wrong on that.
1. and now testing another one, 2. IMG_0164, 3. Xristmas is her fave, 4. Learing by imitation
-
Created with fd's Flickr Toys.
Better than any 4th or July show!
Talk about light up your life!
Another shot from the storm that blew in on 3 August 2024. The action really was hot and heavy with bolts popping up all over!
This is a SOOC shot other than a small crop in GIMP to lose some extraneous bits on the side and bottom.
This was shot @ f/10 and ISO 100 with 30 seconds on the clock.
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!
The real workhorses of any port!
The storm subsided sometime overnight and we made it back to San Diego. I was up on deck early and got to see a bit of the morning light which sure is pretty.
C-Tractor 10 met us along the way and didn't have anything to do with us getting docked in a timely manner. Cruise ships are extremely maneuverable and usually don't need assistance to get themselves to the dock!
BTW, if you'd like to see her sister, C-Tractor 8 you can find her right here:
I'm sorry if you came here looking for anything related to Disney's Three Caballeros. Thanks for having a look anyway!
It's Rodeo time in Tucson and as we have done in years before we're parking cars in our lodge parking lot.
www.facebook.com/nelsoncbledsoe74/
The money we raise goes out to community projects we have like providing school supplies to South Tucson's community K-12 charter school.
Since it is a rodeo I figured I should post something rodeo related, hence this shot for your enjoyment.
A dispute between the railroad and the city has altered the parade route significantly which means we don't see nearly as many parade entries going past as we did in previous years. Sad for us, sad for the spectators but it is what it is.
Once again, you see a cowboy with his face glued to his little electronic leash, I equate this with Harleys having coffee cup holders, some things should never go together!
Evidently there was more to this storm than I knew about!
The rains passed through quickly but the lightning persisted. I'm used to seeing it out in front and leading the storm, not following behind like this set.Little did I know there was something much bigger going on!
According to the National Weather Service we had a small tornado (F1) touch down to the North of the house, about a mile away. It supposedly traveled several Easterly before dissipating.
www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/national-weather-ser...
Now I know that those of you who live in Tornado Alley are thinking "F1? We don't even bother to use the sirens for an F1!..." but for us this is a pretty big deal since these things don't happen here and we're glad of it. Guess it's got to be part of that "Global Climate Change" thing people talk about. Personally, I get the feeling that it's just Mother Nature doing a little house cleaning, something that we all do every so often.
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!
A series of shots I got during our passage through The Big Ditch!
ST GUADELOUPE (IMO: 9476381) is a Tug registered and sailing under the flag of Panama. ST GUADELOUPE was built in 2009.
ST GUADELOUPE vessel length overall (LOA) is 28.67m, beam is 9.8m. One of the many, many tugs I saw during this passage.
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.
While I was walking the dogs I was presented with this!
Another pretty view from the Point Of Rocks RV park right outside Prescott:
In my opinion this place was a little spendy but you need to remember that I'm a cheap ass. Were it up to me I would have found a spot up in the National Forest and camped out. Yeah, there were several wildfires burning in the hills but we weren't near them and aren't you supposed to smell like burning wood when you go camping?
It seems like anyone with a boat was out on the water this day!
As we were waiting on the dock for the tender back to the ship I took a bit of a wander to see what I could see. Out at the end of the dock I came across this scene, and thought it was picture worthy.
As I said above it seems that everyone with a vessel that could float was out on the water this day. If they weren't ferrying folks between the Carnival Panorama and the shore they were taking people out to see Los Arcos and the associated beaches. Not quite a traffic jam but I did see a couple of close calls.
As I also said before the Zaandam was using the ship's lifeboats to shuttle us back and forth, not relying on the locals to possibly get us back aboard! I think I've got a couple of shots coming up that will really show you the difference!
No saguaros, but some really pretty rocks!
When people think of Arizona it seems they tend to think about saguaros, deserts, and John Wayne herding cattle amongst and across the previous. As you can clearly see there's more to the state than that, especially when you get up North!
This shot was taken from the North boat ramp on Watson Lake, right outside Prescott Arizona. Spoke to a couple of folks who were hiking the area that told us not to let the dogs get in the water, something about bad bacteria. It did look sort of green and the dogs really aren't into swimming so no worries there.
Really pretty place and easy to get to with a big park and parking lot at the top of the boat ramp.
Niccy and I just got back from a 5 day trip up to Northern Arizona. It's a nice way to get out of the Tucson heat and into the mountains where it's cool, cool, cool. Only a 5-6 hour drive so it's affordable as well.
BTW, I was messing with the camera and came across the LANDSCAPE setting in the menu. Since this is landscape I tried it out and this is the result.
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 is a combo of three shots that just happened to fall in the right place. with a combined total of 130 seconds between the three. 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!
"Also known as Coast Guard Craft 1132!"
USCGC Benjamin Bottoms (WPC-1132) is the 32nd Sentinel-class cutter built for the United States Coast Guard. She is the fourth of four Fast Response Cutters homeported in San Pedro, California.
Benjamin Bottoms is named after Benjamin A. Bottoms, who died in November 1942 while attempting to rescue the crew of a crashed USAAF bomber. He was assigned on a Grumman J2F-4 Duck floatplane as the radioman, and after receiving a radio message that a B-17 crashed, and accompanied pilot John A. Pritchard to search for the downed plane.
The pilot spotted the crashed bomber, and landed it as close to the wreck as possible. They were able to assist two of the injured crew back to their plane and back to the USCGC Northland. On their second trip, the plane encountered bad weather, causing the plane to crash, killing both men.
She's a real sharp looking lady who's very spic and span, and certainly looks squared away.