Went down to the Three Hills show and shine/cruise night, a whole 10
miles from my door. Arrived about noon, in the middle of a
thundershower. By the time I got parked, the rain had quit, so I used
one of those "microfiber" towels that come with DWG to dry the GT off.
Worked great, too.

Did the rounds, saw a few more Studes there. In total: my 63 GT, a 62
GT with 4 speed, a nice 52 Champion hardtop, a '57 Champion sedan
(very nice) belonging to Francis Prefontaine, who some of you may have
met at SB in 2002, and a very pretty '53 Commander coupe with a
big-block Ford engine in it. A hot rod done right. Dick Steinkamp
would approve.

Came back to the GT, and there was a guy looking it over. Turned out
to be the body man who had done a bunch of repair work to the front of
the car after it wrote off a Volvo station wagon years ago. Not just
any body man, either, but a master "panel beater" trained in the trade
in England. I invited him to come up for a visit, and as Francis
wanted to come see the new shop, I left Three Hills about 3 PM, and
headed home. Listening to the radio on the way, I heard that there was
a tornado watch out for most of western Alberta, and that funnel
clouds had been sighted at Airdrie, Strathmore, Breton, and
Wetaskiwin, none of which are much more than 100 miles from me as the
crow flies.

Arrived home, and gave Francis the grand tour. His visit was brief, as
he had a long drive ahead of him to Bonnyville, about 6 hours away.
Shortly before he left, the bodyman, JP, showed up. He stayed for
several hours, and seemd to greatly enjoy himself. I will likely give
him a shot at straightening the frame and body on the '63 Wagonaire
that I bought from Kelly Marion. He seemed sure that he could bring it
back. If that turns out good, I'll turn him loose on some other Stude
projects....

I fired up the US6, and gave JP a ride around the yard in it. He was
just pleased as hell; turns out his father in England had driven them
during WWII.

Once I'd moved the US6, it became necessary to mow the grass where it
had been parked, and one thing led, as it so often does, to another,
and I wound up mowing whole bunch more grass, all the while keeping a
weather eye out for the T-storms and tornados which were said to be in
the area. Nary a storm to be seen! The sky cleared up, and the sun
came out, and it was darn nice for some time. One skimpy little rain
shower, not enough to get me wet. But all around the horizon, in every
direction, were great tall cumulonimbus clouds. Just before sunset, a
bit a wind came up, but no storm. It was weird, like being in the eye
of a hurricane. It's still nice, as I write this, although there was
brief shower at one point.

Funny thing happened as I was mowing lawn...
I was using the riding mower to chop down the hayfield outside the
caragana hedge that marks the perimeter of my lot. So I'm actually
mowing the grass/weed verge of the neighbour's canola field. Cuts down
a source of weeds for his field, and reduces the fire hazard to my
home should a dry spell occur. So. I'm riding along, when I hit a
bump, and suddenly lose all steering control, and swing a big circle
out into Bernie's canola field. Good thing the crop is only about an
inch high, too low for the blade to cut it. Turns out the setscrew
that held the Pitman arm to the bottom of the steering column had
loosened off, and the Pitman arm fell off. I put it back in place,
finger-tightened the set screw, and was able to drive the mower back
to the barn. No harm done.

All in all, an interesting day..

Gord Richmond