[RHClarke]

Well, we went from winter to summer in one fell swoop. Instead of being too cold, too muddy, too wet, it is now too frigging hot. We went from -20oC up to 24oC in less than a week or so. Our thick Canadian winterized blood has not yet thinned enough to handle the heat of the day. We do live in a world of extremes here.

The past few weeks involved a lot of maintenance around the barn. Bob got some sandblasting time in, Grant worked on making up some wooden hip ring spacers, while I busied myself with ground preparation for the eventual move of my container. This involved removing deadfall, a few trees and a whole lot of poison ivy. Next step is to bring in a truck load of pit run to build up the four corners of the container's resting place. Once done, I will top each of the four corners off with gravel, level it out and build piers for support. Bob has a container moving rig already made up, so moving the box should be fairly easy - if the ground dries out enough.

In the meanwhile, we had a visit from Guy Vapeur, who brought along a small naval type replica canon. He made the barrel from an old shotgun barrel and machined up an interesting breech mechanism and firing pin assembly. At 10:30 AM, Hammond was awoken to the sound of gunfire, courtesy of Guy and his gun crew.

Other work accomplished - we ran a test of my alternator and wiring harness. There are a few more tweaks to be done, but we should see a fully running electrical system in the near future. Thanks to my pal Johnny T for taking care of the electrics.

Yesterday was another maintenance day at the barn. Bob and Grant took down a few dead trees and a few that were close to the power lines. Being quite warm (by our standards), the tree felling was followed by a well-appreciated beer.

Next steps - pull out Grant's truck, pull out the Pilot Model HUP for body removal and engine work. Thankfully, the fun never ends at the barn!

Photos:

1 - Guy's naval gun
2 - Same
3 - Johnny T working away on the HUP
4 - The lumberjacks at it
5 - The end product