[RHClarke]

The boys were out to the barn on Saturday and they took care of shelter maintenance, snow removal and playing with a box. Bob can elaborate. Today was a very nice day with the mercury hitting -3 oC. The sun was out, so the first thing I did this morning was start up the HUP.

Bob arrived shortly after the HUP had warmed up and headed into the barn to spark up Lucifer. I jumped in the HUP and took a ride to the front of Bob's property where Grant was just pulling in. After turning the truck around, I headed back to the barn and out to the wagon line for some fun in the snow. I started out in two wheel drive with the intent of getting stuck in the snow, which was about a foot deep. Even with ice under the snow, the HUP chugged along nicely. After a spell I put her into four wheel drive and had some fun "dashing thru the snow".

On the way back, I decided to get into the deep snow at the rear of the barn. The truck had no problem going over the hills of snow Bob left after plowing around the barn. I noted with some amusement that the HUP was sort of like a male Basset Hound - its lower dangly bits left a small path in the deep snow... We had a quick lunch in Rockland at the local Tim Hortons, and as usual, chatted about the issues being discussed on MLU. After Bob finished his tea, we headed back to Hammond.

Back at the barn Bob and Grant made a spectacle of themselves by disassembling a lens grinding machine that Grant had obtained. We figured that there was no use for it as our glass man takes care of all of our glass needs - including beveling etc... My task was to do some welding on the HUP divider wall kick plate. The bottom lip had rotted from rust, so I replaced it.

Later, Bob and Grant designed a set of steel ramps to replace the old wooden ones that have come to the end of their lifecycle. They spent the remainder of the afternoon cutting up steel tube to prepare for the upcoming welding marathon. That will have to wait until next week, as Bob had a date with a Nun, and I headed home to watch the NHL All Star game. Grant was left behind to tend to Lucifer and lock up the barn for another weekend.

Photos:

1- Bob and Grant repairing Lucifer
2- HUP post snow frolic - someday I'll put the nose back on...
3- Grinding machine being worn down
4- New ramp parts being cut
5- Deep snow and "Basset" marks