2011 at the Hammond Barn

[RHClarke]

Just to add to Bob's observations on the Hammond Barn's longest (in duration) recovery to date, here are a few highlights. Bob and I (Grant was indisposed) left Hammond fairly early on Saturday morning. After scraping off a really resistent layer of frost from the windshield, we headed to the world famous Chicken Ranch to pick up Bob's latest treasure.

Despite the cajoling from the sidelines here on MLU, we found the trailer and truck as we had left it. No sooner had we pulled into the Chicken Ranch yard, then Brian and Mel pulled in and sealed off the escape route. Once convinced that we were harmless and their stock was safe, Mel headed off, but Brian stayed back to make sure that only the CMP truck left the ranch.

Bob and I removed the tires from the damaged side of the trailer. Then Bob cut off the old nuts (on the trailer...) and punched out the bolts. After fitting new plates, we remounted the tires and tightened up all of the wheel nuts. Bob manoeuvered the Ford into position and we winched the CMP onto the trailer bed with little fuss. We knitted the truck to the trailer with chains and load binders (all securely wired) and did a safety check before heading back to Pickering.

Brian rode shotgun to make sure that we had indeed left the vicinity and when we stopped for lunch in Pickering, he dutifully kept an eye on us. Shortly after lunch, we said good bye to Brian and hit the 401 for an uneventful run back to the center of the CMP universe in Eastern Ontario.

While dieseling down Ontario's superhighway, Bob tuned into an oldies radio station. The song? "The good, the bad and the ugly". Both of us broke into laughter as we both noted at precisely the same time, we were missing Grant. You can speculate on who is who.

Photos:

1 - Preparing the trailer for repair
2 - Bob hard at it
3- The offending bits
4 - Repair completed
5 - Brian pointing out the facilities