None the less … Happy 1st Birthday kid …. have a ball!

“The Monster likes the ambiance of pizza and birthday cake. Especially the way it feels on his face. Cousin Maizie and sis Eva are real party girls too. They missed the Gr@ym@n, but are looking forward to the party in June.

I can’t say we closed the place down, but I can say, it was a very good party, and after party.

Life is Good!

Ma loves dogs, and sometimes shops for toys for them so that when we get to babysit one or two, we have something for them to play with.

Her favorites are the ones designed by Chris. Call her biased.

As a tribute to the season, I would like to present my newest work.

I call it Blizzard

“Well, there’s strange things done
‘Neath the Vietnamese Sun
But the time that locked my jaws
Was the night “neath the moon when the third platoon
Gunned down Santa Claus.

Well it started off right, just an ordinary night
We had to spend in the dirt.
Security was out, three sixty about,
With fifty-percent alert.

We had eighty-ones and naval guns,
The tanks were track to track.
An Ontos or so and an arty FO
With barrages back to back.

I froze where I stood, cause out of the wood,
Eight horses came running along.
This may sound corny, but them mustangs were horny,
“My God!” I thought, “Mounted Viet Cong!”

He was coming our way in what looked like a sleigh,
But then you never know what they’ll use.
The flares were tripped, and the SIDs had flipped,
And the TIPSY blew a fuse.

We let him get close, then we yelled, “Who goes?”
Like they do in the movie show.
And the answer we got, believe it or not,
Was a hearty “Ho, Ho, Ho.”

Now those troops of mine, they’d seen some time,
And we’d done some things back-asswards.
They may be thick, but I’ll tell you a trick,
They knew THAT wasn’t the password!

The eighty-ones soared, and the nineties roared,
The naval guns raised some hell.
A bright red flare flew threw the air,
And we fired our FPL.

I’ll give him guts, but that guy was nuts,
Or I’m a no good liar.
He dropped like a stone in the killing zone,
And I passed the word, “Cease Fire!”

I went out and took a real good look,
My memory started to race.
My mind plays games when it comes to names,
But I never forget a face.

He was dressed all in red and he looked well fed,
He was older than most I’d seen.
He looked right weird with that long white beard,
And them stumps where his legs had been.

He hadn’t quite died when I reached his side,
But the end was clearly in sight.
I knelt down low and he said real slow,
“Merry Christmas, and to all a good night!”

We should have known our “cool” was blown,
When the light in the east we seen.
But it looked like flares, and it had to be ours,
Or the damned things would have been green!

So I picked up the hook with a voice that shook,
And said “Gimme the Six and quick.”
“Colonel,” I said “Hang onto your head,
We just greased old Saint Nick.”

Now the ol’ Man’s cool, he’s nobody’s fool,
Right off he knew the word.
If this got out, there’d be no doubt,
He wouldn’t be making his “bird.”

“Just get him up here and we’ll play it by ear,
Make sure of the Med-Evac tag,
Dismantle that sleigh, drive them reindeer away,
And bury that goddamn bag.”

Now by and by the kids may cry,
‘Cause there’s nothing under the tree,
But the word just came back from FMF PAC,
That Santa had gone VC.

Well, there’s strange things done
‘Neath the Vietnamese Sun,
But the time that locked my jaws,
Was that night ‘neath the Moon when the third platoon,
Gunned down Santa Claus.

What an adventure. I got to go to a Car Wrap seminar in Phoenix. I am very eager to teach my students how to wrap cars with vinyl. This is a Rodeo. The class was in Arizona. There are no salt rusted cars in Arizona. But there are a lot of sun baked cars. The clear coat and paint on this car is toast. It was the center of this learning project. We used practice vinyl to get used to the feel of wrapping it. Wrapping a vehicle like this has special considerations. Many of the other people in this class were there to learn to wrap cars. I was there to learn about that and the techniques of wrapping so I could prepare my students in the proper techniques of car graphics. I focused on a new car with many curves to learn how to wrap difficult surfaces (read curvie).

Seen below is the contrast between the sun baked surface of this car, and the vinyl application.

A close-up of the graphic. Basically we took a nasty looking car that no self respecting gang banger would want to a hot looking car that will probably get ripped off in the next two week. Or at least a "one off" car that the cops will immediately recognize. I am betting they will name it the "dragon wagon".

And now for a shot of the finished project…. the Dragon Wagon.

Next Please!!!!