WENT TO A DIAMONDBACK'S GAME AND A JOHN McCAIN SIGHTING BROKE OUT!

YEP, RIGHT THERE FOR ME TO PHOTOGRAPH, JOHN McCAIN, IN THE FLESH. IT'S AMAZING, ALL THE PEOPLE THAT TURN OUT FOR ME AND MONICA. HIS WIFE IS TWO SEATS TO HIS LEFT (USE YOUR LEFT CURSOR BUTTON IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME.)

SO ANYWAY, MONICA AND I WENT TO PHOENIX TO DROP STEVE OFF AT THE AIRPORT (HE WAS NICE ENOUGH TO MAKE HIS HOMEWARD BOUND FLIGHT RESERVATIONS FROM PHOENIX) AND THEN WE WENT TO CHASE FIELD TO WATCH THE METS PLAY THE DIAMONBACKS. LUCKY US. WE GOT TO SEE SANTANA PITCH. AND HE DIDN'T DISAPPOINT!

NEITHER DID DAVID WRIGHT! HE'S JUST AN ALL AROUND EXCELLENT BALL PLAYER.

HERE'S DAVID SWINGING AND AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT, HE HIT A HOME RUN ON THIS PITCH. HOW LUCKY CAN I GET WITH MY PHOTO KARMA?

AND HERE ARE THE FANS FIGHTING FOR THE BALL IN THE LEFT FIELD STANDS. THE GUY WITH THE WHITE SHIRT SEEMS TO HAVE A BEAD ON IT. BUT HE'S NOT THE PERSON WHO ENDED UP WITH THE BALL. IT'S THE PERSON OVER HIS LEFT SHOULDER IN A RED SHIRT WHO CAUGHT THE BALL ON THE RICOCHET. TRY YOUR LEFT CURSOR AGAIN FOR A BETTER LOOK.

EVEN WHEN THE DIAMONDBACKS BENT THE RULES A LITTLE AND TRIED FIELDING 13 PLAYERS, THEY COULDN'T BEAT THE METS.
WHAT'S THAT YOUR SAYING? THOSE EXTRA RED SHIRTS AREN'T BALL PLAYERS? THEY'RE GROUNDS CREW?.....OH......COULD'A SWORN ONE OF THEM GUYS CAME TO BAT.

DEARLY DEPARTED, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN BY THE FAITHFUL.

JUST TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA WHERE WE WERE SEATED.
VERY, VERY HIGH UP. THIRD DECK. IT'S NOT A REALLY GOOD PLACE TO TAKE PICTURES FROM. TRUTH IS THOUGH, WE ENJOYED THE LOCATION VERY MUCH. I DON'T THINK THAT THERE'S A REALLY BAD SEAT IN THIS STADIUM. WELL, MAYBE IN THE MANAGER'S DOG HOUSE.

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE, IT'S BIKER MADNESS IN TUCSON!!! MAKE WAY FOR "TUCSON THUNDER."

ONCE A YEAR IN TUCSON COMES AN EVENT CALLED "TUCSON THUNDER." THAT'S WHEN BIKER BOB AND BARB (IF THOSE FOLKS FOUND OUT I CALLED THEM THAT, THEY'D FIND MY HOUSE AND FIRE BOMB IT) TAKE OVER DOWNTOWN WITH THEIR HARLEY DAVIDSONS AND HAVE A BLAST. AND SO DID WE.

JUST TO PROVE THEY WERE REALLY HERE IN TUCSON, I INCLUDED THIS SHOT SHOWING THE RIALTO THEATER IN THE BACKGROUND.

AND TALK ABOUT NUTS (NO, NOT THE HUMAN KIND) THE AROMA FROM THE ROASTING PEANUTS WAS OVERWHELMING. ESPECIALLY THE CINAMOM FLAVORING. WOW, THAT SMELLED GOOD.

HEY, LOOK WHO CAME ALONG.
STEPHEN!
STEVE CAME IN FOR A VISIT AND TOOK IN TUCSON THUNDER, AS WELL AS A TWENTY SOMETHING MILE BIKE RIDE. STEVE HAD HIS BEAUTIFUL TITANIUM FRAMED BIANCHI CYCLE SHIPPED IN FOR THE OCCASION. IT LOOKS LIKE HE HAD A GREAT TIME. I KNOW THAT MONICA CERTAINLY LOVED HAVING HIM HERE. ME TOO.

WHOA! LOOK AT THIS. MONICA AND ME, IN MY FANCY NEW FEDORA. I GOTTA PUT SOMETHING OVER MY CHAPEAU, CAUSE OTHER WISE IT'S GONNA TURN BRIGHT RED! MONICA IS LOOKING GOOD. AND SHE'S STARTING TO REGAIN HER STRENGTH AFTER THE OPERATION. EASY DOES IT.

AFTER A NICE LUNCH AT CAFE ROMA AND A STROLL AROUND ROLLING THUNDER, WE STOPPED OFF AT BEAUTIFUL ST. AUGUSTINE'S CHURCH. THIS IS THE FRONT VIEW OF THE JUST REPAINTED CHURCH.

AND THIS IS ANOTHER VIEW OF THE FRONT OF THE CHURCH. JUST A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE. HONEST.

I THOUGHT THIS WAS A FITTING WAY TO END THE TUCSON THUNDER POST, GIVEN THE SUBJECT MATTER. YOU MAY NEED TO LEFT CLICK THE PHOTO TO SEE WHY. AND BELIEVE ME, THAT'S NOT ALL THAT WAS THERE BEFORE I WAS (STRONGLY) ADVISED TO EXERCISE A LITTLE CENSORSHIP.
HAVE FUN YOU BIKER BOB AND BARBS! THE CONGRESS HOTEL AND BAR AWAIT YOU ONLY A FEW DOORS AWAY.

DESERT BLOOM

The word desert, as in Sonoran Desert (that's where we live,) conjures up the color, "drab brown" in most people's minds. Mine too. Before I moved here. In fact, there's a riot of color going on now. Yes, we have spring, but not quite like everyone else.

Some would consider this to be a thorny beauty. I guess it's just nature's way of protecting what must be a delicious bloom, that is if you're a native animal to the Sonoran Desert.

Some blooms are pretty bazaar. Growing from the most unlikely source.

Like the ground? At least that's what this looks like. Buried under that sea of orange blossom is a tiny cactus somewhere. The one with the purple flower is a "hedgehog" cactus, as it's commonly called around here.

My favorite? The Ocotillo. Or as I like to call them, the dead sticks. That's because in the winter, the leaves fall off and it looks for all the world like a dead stick with thorns. But come the rains and these masters of surprise grow leaves like a standard poodle grows hair.

And although it's tough to see in this photo (unless you put your cursor on the picture and left click) the dead sticks also produce the BRIGHTEST orange flower at the very top of the individual sticks. You gotta see em to believe it.

And the color isn't exclusive to the desert cacti. You'll often see a lake of color, if the rains have come at the right time (this year's bloom is far superior to last years, thanks to some well timed rain back in January.) This splash of color is courtesy of the brittle bush.

So, if someone tells you that all the desert is good for is a whacking good thorn in your side, well, you know better now.

AND SOMETIMES, THEY DON'T FLY AGAIN

What would you think if you stumbled upon "Air Force One" sitting forlornly in a field scattered with the debris and remnants of half a dozen derelict aircraft from the 1950s?
Welllllllll, welcome to my world.
OK, I never said that it was going to be THIS President's "Air Force One," did I? No.
However, you are staring at "Air Force One." In fact, this was the FIRST official Air Force One, ever. The one that established that call sign. And it is just sitting in a field in the middle of the Sonoran Desert, slowly (it seems to me) losing it's tenuous grip on its existence.
Alright, a little history is in order. I went to the Marana Regional Airport to see some WW2 vintage bombers (see my previous post. They were teriffic!) I was chatting with a very nice guy (Carl, a retired Delta pilot) who was sitting under the wing of the B-17 (he's the pilot of the B-29 from this group but as the B-29 wasn't there, Carl's main order of business was to get out from under the hot sun). After talking about many aviation and non aviation subjects, Carl points way yonder and says, there sits President Eisenhower's former Air Force One. Now, I happen to know, that's not possible. Why? Because that Air Force One was sitting at the Pima Air & Space Museum, about 40 miles due south of here. Carl responds with, "Aha, so you didn't know that Ike had THREE Air Force Ones?"
So, I jumped in my car and bumped down the road to the gate that Carl said was closed. The gate was open. No one around. An accidental push on the gas and I'm suddenly behind the gate on a dirt and gravel road. A quick turn to the right and..... There it was. Unmistakable. It was Air Force One. Ike's Air force One.
How was I so certain? See that yellow blob under the cockpit of the beautiful, shiny Lockheed c-121 Tri Star Constellation? That there blob spells out "Columbine." The name that Ike's wife chose as the name for their official plane. Wanna see the clincher?
OK, I know you really can't see this on line (unless you put your cursor on the above picture and left click. That'll really blow the picture up.) So trust me here. Just above the nose wheel is a number printed on the nose gear door. That number says 8610. The tail number of one of Ike's three planes was 48-610. No doubt about it, this is the plane. This is the Air Force One that carried Ike from January 1953 to November 1954. The one that took Ike 18,000 miles on a secret mission to Korea. And the one that was first to be called "Air Force One" (the reason: An Eastern Air Lines flight # 8610 was confused with Ikes 8610 and was mistakenly given permission to fly into the restricted air space around Ike's plane. That probably really disturbed Ike's security folks and from that incident forward, every President's plane was always referred to as Air Force One.) In fact this plane is Columbine Numer Two. Number one is the one sitting at the Pima Air & Space Museum (a wonderful place if you love aircraft of all vintages.) Number three? I don't think that it exists any more, although I'm not sure. There are VERY few Constellation Tri Stars in existence now. This plane's journey to a small patch of sandy earth in a backwater regional airport is quite long. I'll shorten it (as much as I'm able to-it's not in my nature to take the short way.)
After 1968, it was grounded and was stripped of any and all markings (other than 8610) to denote its historic past. It was slowly stripped of parts to keep other Tri Stars in service. In the 1970s, the plane was sold to a crop dusting company, along with 4 sister planes. Columbine was the only one that wasn't refurbished to fly and again was used for her spare parts.
In 1980, the owner of the company received one of those phone calls that can only be described as, "you've got be kidding me." The call was from the Smithsonian in Washington asking him if he knew of his plane's history? Well, he felt terrible, but what could he do? He stopped using its parts for spares. In 1990, this man decided that he was going to scrap the plane. Over a cup of coffee he and his partner changed their minds and decided Columbine deserved a better fate and vowed they would fully restore her. After her restoration, she proceeded to participate in several air shows and in 1998 was put up for auction, hopefully to an air museum. The asking price was $1.5. The best bid was $1.4. The plane was withdrawn from the auction. It was then flown to New Mexico and sat for a number of years. Then refurbished again for the flight to Marana, where it sits today. It's obviously been used for parts again. The rumor has it that the plane is for sale. For $3.5m. I'd say, it'd be a shame for this plane to sink into the Arizona desert. It's really an historic aircraft.

Anyone have any spare change?

One last picture of Columbine and my baby (in car years, it might be nearly as old as Columbine.)

Maybe one more aviation post to come. After I took this picture from the gravel road, I turned around and caught a glimpse of an aircraft that got my heart a thumpen.... Later.

THEY FLY AGAIN

Hello everyone. Long time no post. As some of you know, I love WWII aircraft and the aura surrounding the men and machines. So on Friday, I visited the Marana Regional Airport (a very small airport with one 6500' landing strip) after hearing that WWII vintage bombers were going to spend the weekend there. The group consisted of a B-17 (pictured below, in flight over Tucson at sunset,) a B-24 and a B-25. You could take a ride on these planes, but two things discouraged me. First, let's not forget that these airframes are over 65 years old. Are they safe? Probably. Would I take the chance? Probably not. Second, it cost $400 for the ride. Case closed!

For those who don't know what a B-17 looks like, here it is. The pilots and crew loved them because they had a reputation of being able to take enormous damage and still bring their crews home safely.

Another view of the B-17. Although built for an ugly (but necessary) purpose, the plane can look very pretty from certain angles.

Which brings me to this story. I cannot authenticate it. It was told to me by one of the crew of this B-25, below. This type of plane was made famous by Lieutenant Colonel Doolittle and his squadron of B-25s that bombed Tokyo ("The Doolittle Raid") in the early part of WWII. If you're too young to know of this story then......shame on you and look it up! If it weren't for these brave people and many more like them, we probably wouldn't be here today under anywhere near the same circumstances that we're enjoying (sorry about that. Carried away as usual. Here's a link to a useful web site explaining the Doolittle Raid. http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/misc-42/dooltl.htm Anyway, the story. This plane was named after an early 1940s movie starring Dorothy Lamour. Quite the glamour girl back then. This B-25 and two other B-25s were chosen for a raid on the Japanese occupied Island of British New Guinea to bomb the harbor there. The raid was initially successful. They sunk a 6,000 ton Japanese freighter (hence the ship painted on the side of the B-25) and were on their way out of the harbor when the other two B-25s saw 50 Japanese "Zero" fighters about to attack them. During the initial attack, the other two B-25s were shot down and the pictured B-25 had one engine destroyed and two of it's crew killed outright. The Tondelayo's pilot had few choices. He decided quickly to put the plane in a dive and pulled up 30' over the ocean. He reasoned that now he didn't have to defend the belly of his aircraft and perhaps of more importance, the extreme dive helped them pick up speed which was critical due to having to fly with only one engine. The first four Zeros to attack miscalculated their dive and hit the ocean. For the next 75 minutes, the Tondelayo and crew had a running gun battle with the 46 remaining fighters. In the end, 10 Zeros were destroyed (you can see the 10 rising sun flags painted just forward of the cockpit) and the Tondelayo made it back to home base. All crew members received the "Silver Star." A hair raising story!
Well, I saw other interesting things at the airport Friday. One in particular involving some American presidential history. But enough for one post.

SPRING IN TUCSON

THERE'S NOTHING LIKE THE THRUMMMM OF A HUMMING BIRD BUZZING BY YOUR EAR.

AND THE FLOWERS ARE BECOMING MORE NUMEROUS AND BEAUTIFUL. MONICA AND I VISITED TOHONO CHUL PARK YESTERDAY, AND THIS IS WHAT WE SAW.

WITH THE BRILLIANTLY BRIGHT LIGHT IN THE TUCSON AFTERNOON SUN, IT WAS EASY TO SHOOT THESE GUYS AT F3.2 TO ISOLATE THEM FROM THE COLORFUL BACKGROUND. WELCOME TO SPRING IN TUCSON.

PHOTO FAVES OF THE DAY

HAVE I EVER MENTIONED THAT I LOVE THIS GAME OF BASEBALL?

WE WENT TO A BALL GAME TODAY. ROCKIES AND THE CUBBIES. EXCELLENT GAME.
ROCKIES OUT EXECUTED THE CUBS, AS EVIDENCED BY THIS SEQUENCE OF AN ATTEMPTED STEAL OF SECOND BY THE ROCKIES.

HIGH THROW FROM THE CATCHER THAT COULDN'T BE HANDLED.

EVEN WHEN MISTAKES ARE MADE, BASEBALL CAN BE A BEAUTIFUL BALLET. LUCKY FOR THE CUBS THAT THEIR 2ND BASEMAN WAS ALERT ENOUGH TO BACK UP THE PLAY.

PERHAPS WE'RE WITNESSING THE PASSING OF THE LOVE FOR THIS GAME OF BASEBALL, FROM ONE GENERATION TO THE NEXT.

OH.......AND THE ROCKIES WON 7 TO 4. IT REALLY SEEMED CLOSER THAN THAT.
MUST HAVE BEEN A LONG BUS RIDE HOME FOR THE CUBS. LOU WAS ON THAT BUS!

HELLO FROM TUCSON, HOME OF THE HUMMERS!

SO NICE OF YOU ALL TO VISIT US HERE IN TUCSON. MORE SPECIFICALLY, OUR BACK YARD. US HUMMERS LOVE TO GIVE YOU A WARM WELCOME! WE'VE GROWN SO USED TO MONICA AND LEIGH (CAUSE THEY FEED US EVERY DAY AND MAKE SURE THAT YUMMY FLOWERS GROW IN THE YARD) THAT WE LET THEM GET REAL CLOSE TO TAKE PICTURES.

WELL, WE'D LOVE TO HAVE YOU COME FOR A VISIT, BUT RIGHT NOW I'VE GOTTA SAY, GOOD BY. HEY, DO YA LIKE MY SNAZZY NECK FEATHERS?

THE SUNS GOING DOWN AND WE'VE GOTTA GET THAT LAST BIT OF NECTOR OUT OF THE FLOWERS AND FIND OUR WAY HOME.

NOW YOU COME VISIT, YOU HEAR?

WHAT'S IN THE SKYS ABOVE TUCSON?

IT'S A LONG STORY, BUT ON THE WAY TO AN ANTIQUE MALL, WE SPOTTED STRANGE AIRCRAFT OVER TUCSON. WE GAVE CHASE! WE CAUGHT UP WITH THEM.

IT TURNS OUT THAT DM AIRFORCE BASE OFFERS THE ONLY CERTIFICATION PROGRAM IN THE US THAT ALLOWS PRIVATELY OWNED VINTAGE AIRCRAFT TO FLY ALONG SIDE CURRENT US AIRFORCE PLANES FOR THE PURPOSE OF PARTICIPATING IN AIR SHOWS (AT LEAST THAT'S WHAT SOME GUY TOLD US.)I'VE GOT OTHER PHOTOS OF OTHER PLANES (ALL TOLD I TOOK ABOUT 400 SHOTS AND TRASHED ABOUT 250 OF THEM) LIKE F-15s AND A10s, BUT I MISSED THE F22 RAPTOR (WE WERE IN THE CAR CHASING THE PLANES-MONICA TOLD ME TO PULL OVER AND I SAID NAH, WE'LL GET ANOTHER SHOT. ENOUGH SAID, PLEASE.)ANYWAY, NOW YOU KNOW WHAT'S IN THE SKY OVER TUCSON, AT LEAST ON ONE SUNDAY AFTERNOON.

WOMAN WITH CAT, CIRCA 1975

EQUALLY HAPPY LADY AS PRECEDING POST, THIRTY THREE YEARS EARLIER.

WHOSE HAPPY NOW?

WITH APOLOGIZE TO JIM, WHO TOOK THIS TERRIFIC PICTURE OF MONICA, I JUST HAD TO POST IT, I LIKE IT SO MUCH.
PLEASE IGNORE THAT COPYRIGHT ON THE LOWER RIGHT. IT SHOULD READ JB.
AND I KNOW WHY SHE'S HAPPY.
1. SHE'S WITH HER FAMILY IN NYC.
2. SHE'S ABOUT TO TEAR INTO BREAKFAST AT A NYC DINER.
WHAT COULD BE BETTER?!!!!

OUR HOUSE

OUR HOUSE IS A VERY VERY FINE HOUSE,

WITH TWO CATS ON THE STAIRS.............

Thank you and apologies to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

WANTED: CAR NUT

OK CAR NUTS, HERE'S YOUR CHALLENGE:

CAR YEAR

MAKE

MODEL

OWNERS

BONUS POINTS:

WHERE

GUESS

GUESS WHERE

GUESS WHEN

GUESS WHO

GUESS HOW

WHY IS THIS PHOTO BEING POSTED?

I DON'T KNOW.

THERE'S JUST SOMETHING ABOUT IT THAT I LIKE.