2010 at the Hammond Barn

[RHClarke]

Winter prep. Two words. Important work. Bob and Grant spent a good portion of the last few weekends clearing brush from the trailer parking area and the road to the wagon lines. A few large trees will now feed Lucifer on those rapidly approaching cold days. Bob also spread some gravel over the driveway near his house and on the road leading to the barn. They did a great job as you can now see the wagon lines from the trailer park. I missed out on these activities to recover from a run in with a large tree branch (it went down with a good fight...).

This weekend I finally got long-haired niner's authorization to go to the barn. The first order of business was to clean out the 45 HUP shelter so that I could move around in it. The 43 HUP shelter also needed a cleaning out. Storage space is becoming somewhat tight at the moment, so we had to make due with the resources at hand. My old car shelter (used for the infamous BBQs) got damaged in a recent wind storm. The fabric was shredded in many places rendering it useful only for covering engines etc... The frame was repaired and set up next to the 45 HUP shelter. Since I had some of Greg Wright's famous modular tent pieces, they were used to "wrap" the shelter. It would have taken three center sections to totally cover the shelter frame, but I only had two available. However I did have two end pieces and the result can be seen below. Today I spent a few hours moving various HUP pieces into the "new" shelter. I still have to put some shelving together, but overall the new shelter has given me the space to move around freely in the other shelters. I suspect that that space will be taken up with future acquistions (I hope).

Photo 1: Bob and Grant bleeding babbits
Photo 2: The "new" shelter
Photo 3: The first rule of HUP Club is "You always talk about HUPs"...

[RHClarke]

Whew! MLU is back up and running...withdrawal is bitch. Anyway, Saturday was dedicated to a bit of maintenance. Bob's tractor required some work on its power steering pump. We broke down the pump and found that one of the many small and delicate gaskets had ruptured, thus permitting the pump fluid to leak past the drive shaft and into the crankcase. After new gaskets and a seal were installed we put everything back together. The acid test came later in the afternoon when we moved some trees to the cutting pile near the wagon lines. The oil level dropped somewhat, but there were no noticeable leaks or loss of power. Fingers crossed!

Following the pump maintenance, our attention turned to the 45 HUP. I took the truck out to the mud hole near the wagon lines and had some fun trying to get her stuck. During the ride, I was having problems with the engine when shifting from first to second. The engine would labour and then stall. The issue turned out to be timing. Back at the barn, Bob adjusted the dizzy and showed me the two adjustment nuts that had to played with to ensure that things worked well. The following test drive showed a dramatic improvement in speed and engine performance. Bob came along for the ride and wisely grabbed ahold of the OJC handle on the passenger side of the truck. We tried starting out in second gear and the truck took off with no hesitation whatsoever. Some day soon, we will be taking the HUP back to the big field for some more cross country fun. I'll be sure to bring the video camera.

A big thanks to Bob for the timing adjustment and the subsequent adjustment lesson.

Photo: The HUP warms up (-2oC at 1300hrs) while Bob heads over to chat with Joyce

[RHClarke]

I ran into a former co-worker at the recent Ottawa Militaria Show. I wasn't aware of his interest in things military of a historic bent, but Mike recently got interested in the historic military vehicle scene. I showed him the photo of the C15 I bought at the show and he mentioned that he had a number of photographs taken by his grandfather during WWII .

Mike's grandfather was with the Canadian Ordnance Corps stationed at Peper Harow, Surrey, England. This was the location where vehicles and equipment were readied for both the Dieppe and Normandy operations. It was also the Headquarters for the Cdn Ordnance Corps in England.

I got 10 small photos and five slightly larger photos showing Canadian Army vehicles and equipment parked in the beautiful English countryside. Please note that these photos are the property of the owner and are not to be used without his permission (thru me).

You Ford nuts will love these shots, but there is something there for everyone. The first is a close up of a row of Fords:

[RHClarke]

More of Mike's photos - A HUP in the background...drool! There is a baseball backstop in the background of photo number one. A quick search of the internet revealed that there was an active competition between the Canucks and Yanks stationed in the UK. While the Canadians had some success beating the Americans at their own game, the US prevailed in the ultimate championships. No word about how our southern cousins fared in the hockey championships...

[RHClarke]

Next installment - More HUPs...

[RHClarke]

Many thanks to Mike for providing access to these wonderful shots.

[servicepub (RIP)]

Thanks to Rob and Mike Cassie (owner of the photos posted above by Rob) I offer the following 'then and now' comparison. The manse is located at Peper-Harow, location of an RCOC vehicle dump prior to the invasion.