[RHClarke]

Finally! Some time to breathe. Now that the election in Canada is over (but not the whining from the lefties) and the pace at work has slackened, I have some time to play catch-up.

Last weekend, on Saturday morning Bob, Grant and I piled into Bob's truck at stupid o'clock in the morning to ensure that we got to Stirling Ontario for their swap meet/flea market/show and shine. We got there early enough to get a prime parking space near the entrance to the show. It turns out that it was a good thing getting there early. The second vendor we went to had a pristine one gallon POW oil can just sitting there. It was snapped up immediately for the princely sum of $10.00. A few other treasures were picked up by the boys, and they can chime in if they so desire to do so with their finds. I also got an oil bath breather for $5.00 and other little bits and pieces.

The Stirling show was very interesting as it was way smaller than the Barry Ontario shows, and for the most part, the vendors had local goods to swap/trade/barter/sell. Stirling did not offer up any CMP specific items, but we enjoyed the trip to Stirling immensely.

On Thursday this week, Ottawa and region was hit by a strong wind storm. Thursday was paper recycling and garbage day. The wind made a hell of a mess. A few of us collected the garbage that a few of our neighbours couldn’t be bothered to pick up. The winds were strong enough to topple some trees and to blow off patches of shingles on more than a few roofs. Small potatoes compared to the natural disasters in other parts of the world.

Sunday was spent fixing the damage caused by the Thursday wind storm. One of Bob’s shelters actually moved. The frame of the shelter was bent and a few legs broke free of the heavy boxes used to anchor the frame. A number of the feet at the end of the frame legs were broken and required repairs. After returning the anchor boxes to their original positions (about a foot of movement happened), Bob and I restrung the tarps on the shelters. Overall, the damage was quite light compared to the barns that got blown over just north of Bob’s place.

Since the sun was shining, Bob decided to fire up the sandblaster to clean up some CMP parts. While Bob was having a blast, I continued my HUP parts search for some rare sliding window flanges. Things are coming along nicely at the barn. More later.

Photos:

1- Bob's shelter in the foreground, my shelter in the background - post windstorm
2- Bob doing something to the sandblasting hood