Bill shared this interesting story from Hemmings about a pre-war dual rear wheel semi-independent drive system that allowed for a relatively inexpensive way to modify consumer vehicles for wartime.

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/daf-trado-ford-articulation/

After several days of near 100 temps, on Monday morning we had a storm blow through that brought a refreshing rain storm, during which I opened the sliding glass door in our bedroom, but neglected to close the screen door …

On Monday night we went to bed. Before falling asleep, I read some news on my phone. Strangely, a mosquito began buzzing me. I swiped at it and it went away, but soon followed by another mosquito.

Ann was still awake and as annoyed at the buzzing as I was. So, I turned on the lights. Looking up to our sloped, vaulted white ceiling, it was clear that there were more than two mosquitos, more like 20+. Thus began 20 minutes of me hopping on the bed and furniture attempting to kill as many mosquitos as I could.

During the process, I spotted a mosquito against the outside wall above the door. That’s when I saw it. Not the mosquito, but a bulge in the paint near the ceiling, like an upside down hotdog half. I gently pressed on the bulge and it felt like bulging paint, but not drywall. Ugh … given no rain was expected and many mosquitos were dispensed, I went to sleep knowing what the morning project would be … find the leak!

I was on the roof by 6:30am, but the source of the leak wasn’t readily visible. I started at roof peak, then worked my way down the roof. It wasn’t until I was right over it that I saw a broken branch barely protruding from the roof. In fact, it was almost even with roof, which is why I hadn’t ‘t seen it. I reached down to pull it out and the piece as about 3″ in diameter, but only 4″ long. My guess is that the branch got blown off our back trees, impaled the roof, then broke off, leaving the embedded piece. The fix isn’t difficult, but it’s still time consuming.

Next, I was about to go inside to investigate the wall damage when Ann called me over to examine our Polaris Ranger’s spray motor. It had stopped working. One multi-meter later, I tracked the problem down to a blown fuse.

As Ann went to go spray, I went inside to make some Dutch Babies, prep some lamb for the Trager. I was just finished with all that when Ann called me on the phone. “Quick,” she said, “get out to the pasture, two calves have caught them selves up in the hotwire!” .

By the time I made it to the pasture, the calves were freed. So, we removed the wire (and will upgrade to larger wire).

Some mornings just aren’t easy! The good news is that I tore out some of the dry wall and it appears there wasn’t too much damage. The pierced-roof must have happened recently, I saw no indications of long-term moisture damage nor any mold. We’ll let it dry/air out for a few days before I patch it up.

Funny thing is, if not for the annoying mosquitos, we might not have spotted the damage!

When we first got the new kittens last March, we couldn’t get them fixed due to both of them having respiratory issues. Unfortunately, once better, we couldn’t book their spay appointments until July 6th. This wasn’t ideal, but what we didn’t know was how unideal it would be, because for the last month one or the other kittens has been in heat, and meowing, and wanting to go outside, and just little terrors in general.

So, we’ve been counting down the days until the spaying would occur. Finally, on Thursday, we took the girls into the vet.

At day’s end, we expected to receive weary cats ready for sleep and rest (we both have had cats in the past). According to the vet, we needed to keep the cats quiet, keep their cones on their heads (so they can lick their sutures), and limit their food. We were even optimistic when picking them up at the vets, because the techs said how loving the two cats were … hmm … yeah … right.

Instead, as soon as we arrived home and let the cats out of their travel, they became little hellions. We struggled, but successfully got the cones on their heads. Immediately, te supposedly docile and “loving” cats began writhing on the floor, which caused the cones to come off in seconds. And, as soon as they got loose, they were running around like they’d never had surgery. There was no “keeping them calm” .. their pupils were dilated, they obsessed over their food (which eventually we had to hide), they became obsessed with a milk bottle plastic ring, which for literal hours they both chewed and knocked around and carried places.

After recognizing that these two felines were high as kites and feeling no pain and obsessively focused on whatever they wanted, it became clear we needed a new plan to protect their sutures. So, I raced to the local Walmart to pick up baby onesies, which Ann then cut and roughly fitted over their bodies.

These two cats wanted nothing to do with the onesies and, moreover, it caused them to walk and fall over like their were super high. We eventually had to put a harness over one of the cats in order to keep the onesie on her body. Still, they attempted to wriggle out, so one of us at to watch them at all times.

Ann ended up sleeping with the cats in the cat room; however, the next morning she told me that the cats didn’t sleep. In fact, it wasn’t until the afternoon on Friday that they finally slept (as seen below).

‘Get cats’, they say; ‘they will be so fun to have around’ they say … hmmmph.

This children’s card includes a punch out jeep and soldier.

View all the information on eBay

“Vintage Gibson Punch Out Fun Army Jeep & Men Boy Birthday Unused Card & Envelope. Card Is 4 5/8″ X 16″ Opened Up. Gibson Play Card.”

I HAD planned on doing posts for this morning, but yesterday we discovered water near our water tank, which soon lead to discovering one of our pipes (in a wall) was leaking. So, holes were cut in the wall and leak verified (at copper corner piece joint). Several hours and one trip to Home Depot later, I was able to get everything fixed (thank goodness for push joints). Whew.

In lieu of updates, we’ll celebrate Roger Martin’s newest acquisition: A 1960 Howe-modified FC that was formerly in the Toledo Firefighters Museum. It run and drives and is in great shape! Congrats Roger!

I have someone interested in selling this 50R winch (more info on the winches in general here). It lacks cable, but does spin. I know when these are complete they used to sell for upwards of several thousand, but I have no idea where the market on an incomplete winch like this might be. The seller isn’t worried about getting top dollar; but still wants a reasonable amount for it.

My *guess* would be in the $1500-$2000 range?

Also, any other details that would affect the value of this?

The winch does include the bracket. Here are two pics of it when it was in the bracket (and before he cleaned it up):