Furious Truckstop Waitresses

Back on July 20th, I attended my first Tucson Roller Derby bout.  It was pretty cool -- serious competition.  The Tucson Furious Truckstop Waitresses (FTW) played Phoenix's Surly Girlies.  Then Tucson's VICE team had a bout with Phoenix's Bad News Beaters.

I enjoyed the challenge of trying to take some pictures of the action -- actually pretty challenging since the well-lit to the human eye arena was actually pretty dim to my flash-less camera, especially for capturing action shots.  Most of these photos were taken at ISO 6400.  Besides liking the competition itself, I like the challenge of taking photos under these conditions so I plan to return to enjoy a few bouts and work on my photo technique challenges as well -- good times.

The Tucson Roller Derby has a great venue in a warehouse just across from the Tucson International Airport.  They had food trucks outside and good seating inside.  For more information on the Tucson Roller Derby, check out their website or Facebook page.  Definitely worth checking out a bout sometime for a nice change of pace.  Here's a great promo video from Youtube.

Night blooming Echinopsis on the patio last night

The night blooming Echinopsis cactus (Easter Lily cactus) on my back patio really outdid itself last night.  About a week ago it had started expanding 12 stalks (above) which had been stalled for about two weeks.

Last night at about 6:30 PM it was clear that all twelve were primed and ready to bloom that night:

I checked on them at about 10:00 PM and found 12 fresh Echinopsis flowers, very nice!  

 Each stem is about 8 inches long from the base to the top of the flower.

PorchFest Armory Park (June 30th, 2013)

 A friend and I went down to PorchFest Armory Park Sunday evening and really enjoyed it.  This was the first (of hopefully many) PorchFest events here.

Nineteen musical acts played on 12 neighborhood porches.  Residents offered up their porches to musicians and folks just walked/biked between houses, perhaps stopping at a food truck or ice cream vendor along the way.  It was a really nice evening, great people, great music, and great weather since a summer monsoon rain had cooled the temperature down just before things got started and provided refreshing breezes throughout the evening.  I'm definitely looking forward to the next one.

The home of KXCI Community Radio, also one of the performance venues of the night.

Tucson Modern Streetcar track construction at Speedway underpass

Warren Ave / Speedway underpass (south)  (5/15/2013)

Here are a few recent photos of progress in modifying the Warren Avenue / Speedway underpass to accommodate Tucson's new modern streetcar line.  This was one of three pre-existing pedestrian tunnels under Speedway Blvd on the University of Arizona campus.  Once completed, the streetcar will run on the right side above, with an adjacent pedestrian sidewalk.

Looking down from Speedway on south exit of Warren Avenue underpass

North side of Speedway underpass (5/19/2013)

Here we are looking south toward the underpass from the north side of Speedway Blvd.

The underpass is shown at the beginning of the following video simulation.  Note that the simulation shows a bicyclist riding through the underpass -- my understanding is that they have recently decided to make this stretch a "dismount and walk" for bicyclists.

something to sneeze at

UofA parking lot, 5/12/2013

I didn't intend to do any sole searching on my way into the office this morning, but nevertheless came up with these one-liners behind a Fraternity house on the UofA campus.  It kind of depicts the old days of the telephone party lines running over twisted pair, don't you think?

I imagine their parents might see these and say: "You know, shoes don't grow on trees".

How did I spot these?  Well, it's allergy season in Tucson and while trying to stifle a sneeze I tilted my head back and...   A Shoe!  A Shoe!

another blooming night on the patio...

Easter Lily Cactus, Tucson, Arizona (04/21/2013)

I was out on my patio tonight and for the first time ever was able to watch my Easter Lily Cactus go from closed bud to full bloom in a little over an hour, way cool!  Obviously I had to take a night picture of it to share.  My blog readers may recall some daytime photos I took of it blooming in July, 2012.

Cyclovia Tucson 2013

Cyclovia, Tucson, Arizona (4/7/2013)

Here are a few pictures from Cyclovia in downtown Tucson / South Tucson.  Cyclovia is a fun, free, all ages, all community event where about 5 miles of streets were closed off for the day, absent of cars and open to bicyclist, skateboarders, and walkers.  There are two Cyclovia community events in Tucson this year, the second one will be held on April 28th.  Well worth attending for a short bike ride or walk among your greater Tucson neighbors,

Great Horned Owl

"Departure"
Great Horned Owl @ Free Flight @ ASDM, Tucson, AZ  (4/4/2013)

I had the day off work on Thursday and spent part of the day out at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (ASDM) where I took this series of Great Horned Owl pictures during their Raptor Free Flight demonstration.  During the cooler months of the year, twice a day, they put on a very impressive flight demonstration of a number of larger desert birds.  Check out the talons above!

"Arrival"

"Landing with flare"

It's really nice to be able to see these birds close up as they land for food from their trainers, then take off and soar high overhead.  On this particular morning, the demonstration included Ravens, a Prairie Falcon, Great Horned Owl, and a Red Tailed Hawk.

Click on any picture for a larger view...