I went down to Socorro to do my annual duty of torturing the young kiddies at the state science fair, and again enjoyed the hospitality of my friend Bob (also known as massa bob and sideshow bob). He likes Landcruisers and old cars too.

Bob is a man of many talents; radios and the unicycle are but two of them...

One of the highlights of any return to Socorro is heading out to Box to check out new bouldering and climbing. This is what we decided to do, and when we got to Box, we found Mike out at Spook getting rid of many rounds of ammunition. He was quite polite and packed up the guns and dogs and went shooting elsewhere so we could climb in peace, quiet, and safety. Bob, being the ever-prepared man, brought along some beers. Mmm, beeeeeeer.

Springtime in NM. The cactus blooms, the rocks beckon, and the flies are awakened from their winter slumber and seek a sip of beer. Hey, what you doing in there?

Bob is not one to waste a good beer for the sake of one puny little fly, so being an engineering genius, Bob scans the area and locates a suitable material to be fashioned into a fly extrication device. With a grass loop in hand, he begins the rescue of his beer from the wayward little insect.

Got 'im!

Now we can do some bouldering. I actually got up a few problems, and got close on a few others. Bob is very strong and conditioned to the tough Box rock. I am much wimpier now than I was when I was in school at Tech and climbed at Box more often. Paul showed up after sunset, and when we got back to the boulder he was playing on, it was pretty much dark, but Paul kept doing a few laps as he escaped the day's physics and students. A fine evening was had by all.