My niece, Jill. This is just a post so she can say she has been on Moonpie. Xoxo.

Happy Fall time. Go to a local farm this weekend and check out the corn maze. Have fun.

Robin Williams Dead?

Really? Holy fucking shit.

Not that it necessarily surprises me. He always seemed like one of those laughing-through-the-tears guys.

In later years I think he kind of became a parody of himself and I thought his recent TV show was lame. Really, I think his best work was his serious stuff. Dead Poets Society, The Fisher King, and Good Will Hunting. I also like the much forgotten Being Human.

Birthday wishes

I proclaim this day to be R.R. Day in the great State of New Mexico. July 9th will forever be a day of eating tacos and drinking beer. Step up, fill your plate and glass. Happy day of birth to R.R.

I say good-day.

Ricks camper restore project

A few weeks ago I posted a "Before" photo of the camper my wife and I are restoring.

Here's the "After"shot. We're going minimalist on the design. Lots of windows and an "open" floor plan.

Check out the real progress at my How Hard Can It Be? blog.

~Rick

Blunt Force Trauma

About 5 months ago, Allison and I were taking out a spare room we'd built a few years earlier. I was up on the ladder cutting into some drywall and the next thing I knew, I was on the floor. I thought I'd cut into the electrical with my sawzall and electrocuted myself. My head was pounding and then... then there was blood all over my fingers. WTF?

Well, there was a lot of dust in the room and so I'd left the ceiling fan on. Apparently as I was cutting the drywall, I leaned back into the fan blade.

You know you're a parent when all you can find to put on a bloody gash is a freakin' Tigger bandaid.
This is the worst accident I've had in working any of my DIY projects, so I count myself fortunate.
How we took the sheet metal skin off our trailer without slicing off one of our heads is a miracle in itself.
~Rick

Rebuilding A "Wee Hoosie."

Rick and his wife picked up this quasi-kick-ass 50's vintage travel trailer a few weeks back and are in the process of renovating it. This is certainly a Moonpie-Worthy vehicle -- especially since the inside is totally gutted.

The happy couple are taking the summer off work and sort of dedicating themselves to doing this thing right.

You can check out the progress on this beast at Rick's blog: How Hard Can It Be? Rebuilding A "Wee Hoosie."

Monty Python in the early years. We would spend, oh I don't know.......hours listening and reciteing line after line of Python. The practice has served me well 'or these many years.

Growing the Santa Beard

Here's a little video -- that should work -- showing the progression of my beard growth from last September to a few days ago.
~~Rick

Off the wall

A group that Rick and I went to high school with. I had a photography class with Vaughn and Jeff (top and bottom of photo). We would leave class to "take pictures" and go down to their Boxcar storage facility and hang out. Good times.

sunscreen

Summer time is here. Don't forget sunscreen.

Spanglish

This is why people in New Mexico can't figure out which language to speak. Even the billboards are in Spanglish!

When attempting a back flip off of a kicker ramp, ALWAYS try to get enough air to actually complete the rotationbefore returning to earth. Just sayin'.....

"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."- Mark Twain
Back in 1982, Mom and I went to see Joe and aunt Anita in S.F.. Nice trip and saw some nice shows and had a drink with Al Pacino who was performing "An American Buffalo" at the Orphium Theater were Joe was the house man. After the show, across the street at "Curtain Call", a nice piano bar, in walked 'little Al' as Joe would call him. Fun times.

Martin O'Malley (Maryland Gov.) to sign a bill today to de-criminalize small amounts of marijuana. Take it from old Bing, "you're gonna like that pipe again old friend." Remember to wear a bow-tie with that first bowl. Boo boobo doo......

Back in the 70's, rock climbers, as a rule, were a bit off. What with the smoking and climbing and smoking and climbing and smoking and climbing and............

Back in the early 70's, Ricky, Mark and myself started a climbing club in Memphis, Tn. We called ourselves the 'Raliegh Climbing Club'. We meet each week, had dues and bought ropes and 'biners every month. When I moved to New Mexico, Mark and Ricky came out for a week of camping and climbing. Climbing clubs were everywhere by the mid to late 70's. This group found a unique way of uping the membership- nude climbs. Hey, it was the 70's man, dig-it?

The older I get I sometimes think that I don't care what other people think of me. Then, sometimes I DO care. Whats up with that? Probably just mood swings that can spin on a dime. Either way, I'm having a fun life even when I make it harder on myself than need be on occasion. Live and learn? Maybe.

The other thing is I do think about others.....all the time. I need to find a big bag of money and just start driving for about 6 months and just go everywhere I want to go. Memphis, Albuquerque, Texas, Colorado and Alaska. Then, the coast highway from Canada to Baja. Go to Rossa Rita and have a drink and then get the hell outta Mexico. Peace.

He must have taken Elvis' advice. Eveytime Elvis returned home from a concert, he wanted a "cherry pie a mile wide."

Miss ya Johnny.

It's the time of year to think about your pets and fleas. Check your pet to make sure they are healthy.
My dog is clean as a whistle.

Feel the need to go cross country this year on a motorcycle. I'm thinking about a set up like this.
Tent, cooler,spare parts and a canoe. What could possibly go wrong. See ya on the road.

Maryland is getting closer to accepting mary jane for medical. Just a few more short years away for going legal I'm sure. Not a surmon, just a thought.

I no longer am Vance the shrubber. I am now Vance of Chutes International. I design, qoute,install and bill internal chutes of two varities. The linen chute and of course, RUBBISH chutes of all sizes.

I say goodday.

Video update from Rick