The Lone Ranger Rides Again

The Suspense is building.   

The Promotion is underway.  

Out July 3rd.

It won't be these guys:

It'll be these guys:

And that's great, citizen!

Which reminds me of a terrific bit that's been on The Late Show with David Letterman a number of times, around Christmas.   Jay Thomas tells the story.

 HERE IT IS

Rio Grande! Really?

Rio Grande...the big river....

From National Geographic:

One of the largest rivers in North America, the 1,885-mile (3,033-kilometer) Rio Grande runs from southwestern Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico. It defines much of the border between Texas and Mexico. But the once grande river is looking more poco these days, thanks to heavy use on both sides of the border.

Less than a fifth of the Rio Grande's historical flow now reaches the Gulf. For a few years in the early 2000s, the river failed to reach the coast entirely. All that separated the United States from Mexico was a beach of dirty sand and an orange nylon fence.

Here’s a snapshot taken at Caballo Dam on the Rio Grande. The piddly little puddles are all there is to the Rio Grande near Arrey and Derry! Let’s hope it snows a lot in the next 3 weeks so the runoff to fill the reservoirs can get underway. If not, it’s gonna be hot and dry on all the crops.

Farmers are a hopeful lot. Tractors are plowing the fields near Hatch…hoping!

But.....Hey! 

 Hay for the cows!

World Golf Tucson

It's over, Matt Kuchar has claimed victory at the World Golf Championship Match Play tournament. Now they all head down the road to the next stop on the professional golf tour.

Here are a couple of observations from "behind the ropes" of the tournament.

It is fun to attend - and I've been to a few golf tournaments in my time. Best part, not thousands of people to fight for space.

The winner gets a beautiful trophy (oh and a check for $1,500,000). Second place gets a measly $875,000. 3rd $615,000. 4th $500,000. And so on down the ladder. If you were one of the 64 lucky to get here you got $46,000, if you moved to the 2nd round that became $96,000, if you moved on to the 3rd round you got $144,000, if you made to the 4th round $275,000.

You don't hear them talk about that much on the TV - it would take a lot of luster from the "competition". The TV signals are beamed from this cluster of satellite dishes...



Cadillac Escalades wait to take away the winners and losers when a match is over (these are waiting in the gully off the 16th green).



Then the players leave the grounds and head for airports - some on chartered planes, some traveling like the rest of us.

Oh, I checked...Tiger Woods is said to own a Gulfstream 550. Flying operating cost is estimated at $2,300 an hour. Flying time from West Palm Beach to Tucson (nonstop of course) is about 4 hours. So he puts 8 hours of flying time on the bird. So the plane ride cost about $18,000. He only got $45,000, because he lost in the first round. That leaves some pocket change!

Good event. Good time.

Tucson Parade

At first blush you may think this is about the parade of #1 seeds in the World Golf Championships who had to find their jet planes and head home. Tiger Woods. Rory McElroy. There will be more as the tournament progresses. I'll have more photos later.

One observation, and I wonder what it means for the next few days...

Tiger Woods, seen here on practice day, was easily the focus of half of those of us who tromped along the fairways during the tournament.  Yes,  more than half of the people there were watching one person. The other 63, and the TV and media personalities didn't come close.


A phenomenon.

The other big story in this town, yes 2 big events - even without counting U of A basketball, is the Tucson Rodeo.  Thursday was parade day.  Some schools were even closed for the parade (that doesn't happen in Albuquerque with the NM State Fair parade - why?).  Here are a couple shots of the parade starting with Grand Marshals Mark Kelly and Gabby Giffords..



Watching it all, numerous officials on horseback, and each horse or donkey pulled wagon had a wrangler walking alongside. Great event with community support in an area of Tucson that needs it, rather than high rolling multimillionaire golfers.

Accenture golf snow

Yes, that picture has something to do with golf.

The white stuff on top of the roof tiles in a nearby home is....snow.

Play was stopped, and the whole town of Tucson is in a storm watch mode!

When the sun was out yesterday, it was practice day and golfers actually stop to sign autographs and post for pictures.

Although not a golfer, Tim Rosaforte, a famous Golf Digest writer and now more famous because of his appearances on Golf Channel seemed to really enjoy folks stopping him and then posing for pictures.  That's how to build ratings!  Oh, he does have the contacts in the golf world and knows what's happening.

In this photo of Rosafort, he's wearing a cap.  On the air, he doesn't - and doesn't have to worry about combing his hair.  If you've seen him, you know what I mean.

On to the next day...

Standing By Accenture Golf Tournament

Here are a couple of images from the closest airport to the AGC Accenture Golf Tournament.  Pilots for them have differing desires.

Hoping to fly tomorrow---Snoopy - for birds eye views of the golf course:

The other pilots and planes, if they belong to or are used by the multi-millionaire golfers, are hoping they get to stay around for a few days.

Weather on opening day of the tournament...winter storm warning with snow in downtown Tucson mid-day.

Eeegads!

Incoming meteor

Look out below!

This morning comes news that a meteorite had come to earth, blasting its way into an area of Russia.  I headed for the internet and found the following:

For forty-five years, Chelyabinsk province of Russia was closed to all foreigners. Only in January of 1992 did President Boris Yeltsin sign a decree changing that. Shortly afterwards Western scientists declared to be the most polluted spot on earth.

In the late 1940's, about 80 kilometers north of the city of Chelyabinsk, an atomic weapons complex called "Mayak" was built. Its existence has only recently been acknowledged by Russian officials, though, in fact, the complex, bordered to the west by the Ural Mountains, and to the north by Siberia, was the goal of Gary Powers's surveillance flight in May of 1960.

The city sprang up during the Second World War, when Stalin moved weapons production to the isolated region. It would go on to produce 50% of the Soviet Union's tanks.  This gave the city its nickname, "Tank City."

I guess “Tank City” failed to prepare for an attack from the sky!