1958 F.W.D.

I offered to "Large" to come along but when he found out that there may or may not be Wi-Fi at the campground, he politely turned it down. He and I will do something together, I always try to make time for each kid (even if it's something as simple for just going out for pizza) as well as them all as a group.

Yeah. Ok. I'll continue to grill on my deck whenever the f*ck I want to.

Throughout the summer, the NPS sponsors various "Battle Walks." These are hiking tours of the Battlefields where you hike with a Park Ranger who is very versed on the history and happenings of the particular battle that he/she is guiding you on. We did not do this one, but here is an example on youtube: The one that we did on Saturday afternoon was titled "July 4th and thereafter: The Recovery." This was a 3-mile hike/guided tour of several family homes that were smack in the middle of the Battlefield. Here are some pictures, and if I was able to find referenced online, some stories of the family homes we visited. The group all met at the Mississippi Memorial on S Confederate Avenue, along Seminary Ridge which was the Confederate Line. It was an example of one of the most dramatic monuments at Gettysburg. Violent but beautiful at the same time. Here's what you wear when your old man forgets to pack a poncho..... The first stop was the home of James Warfield, a prominent African-American Blacksmith. He had quite a business as he was one of only two Blacksmiths in the area and was known for the quality of his work and reasonable prices. His home later became Longstreet's Headquarters. I don't know why I didn't take any pictures. The next stop was the farm and home of Henry Wentz, which is now just a foundation. The story is fascinating, read it here: http://gettysburg.stonesentinels.com/battlefield-farms/wentz-farm/ The group sitting on what is left of the foundation of the Wentz Home. Third stop, and again I didn't take pictures was the Klingel Farm. Another fascinating, but very sad story: http://gettysburg.stonesentinels.com/battlefield-farms/klingle-farm/ Next stop was the site of the Rogers Home. No pictures again for some reason. I think I must have forgotten was fascinated with the stories. Read the story of Josephine Miller, the Rogers's Granddaughter and see a picture here. http://gettysburg.stonesentinels.com/battlefield-farms/rogers-house/ Here's another article on Josephine Miller: http://civilwarwomenblog.com/josephine-miller-slyder/ And lastly we stopped at the farmhome of Reverend Sherfy and his family. Not only was he a prominent Preacher, he was also a successful farmer. He owned the infamous "Peach Orchard." Here are some pictures I did remember to take and the story of the Sherfy Family. Folklore has it that the Yanks had a sniper in this window. Must have been true. http://gettysburg.stonesentinels.com/battlefield-farms/sherfy-farm/

The rest of Friday we visited other areas of the park where various skirmishes occurred, such as Culp's Hill, Cemetery Hill and Spangler's Spring. Many photos were taken, too numerous to post here. Friday night we drove down to Frederick, Maryland where we had dinner at the home of my first Captain when I was hired at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard Fire Department and assigned to Ladder Co. 1. We got back to the campground around 8 or 9pm, and lit up another campfire and played some more rounds of Go Fish and Blackjack on top of a trash can turned upside down. Saturday morning around 1 or 2 am it started raining it's ass off. Earlier I had mentioned that this was the first time in 15-20 years that my camping gear had seen the light of day. It's a good thing that I got the tent out a few weeks ago to air it out. While I had it out I also sprayed it down liberally with tent rain repellent. We stayed high and dry with the exception of some water that came up through the floor- probably because dumbass me forgot to fold in the flaps of the ground tarp that were sticking out and puddling rainwater flowed under the tent. Other then that we were good to go. But it rained it's ass off throughout most of the morning. I'm glad I invested in a 10x10 screened tent for our field kitchen- we had the picnic table and my 4x2 table as the cooking counter inside the 10x10. We made breakfast and then hid out inside the tent for another coupl'a hours until the rain finally stopped around 10 or 11am Saturday morning. Here's what Medium did most of the morning. I was reading. So finally we emerged from the tent and got showers (I could smell his armpits from 6 feet away....) and we headed over to the Visitors Center and Museum. It cost 20.00 for both of us to get in which included a 1/2 hour movie done by The History Channel (which was excellent.) It also included admission to the museum, and admission to the Diorama, which if you are unfamiliar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Cyclorama Here are some pictures of the Cyclorama and the Museum:

I asked Harvey Eckert this time-honored question. It's not a simple answer. It is, however a myth that gold dogs symbolize a 100% purebred driveline. I do remember something about Maxidyne versus Thermodyne versus another MFR's engine, as well as Maxitorque versus other transmissions. I will see if I can find the email with the answer.

Will post more pictures and descriptions throughout the week.

General Ike I suspect you may be correct, we made the mistake of venturing into town at one point while heading up to the Lutheran Seminary......It took well over 45 minutes to go 1/2 a mile, it SUCKED.

Monument to the 91st Pennsylvania Infantry on the top of Little Round Top (LRT) NOTE: All of these monuments are placed in the positions which the units actually occupied during the battles. A rock carving done by an unknown soldier that reads "Lt. C.E. Hazlett fell here, July 2, 1863." Standing at the top of LRT, looking northeast towards Seminary Ridge where the Confederate Line was established. Looking south, in the distance is where Longstreet's Divisions established their lines. You can also see Devil's Den in the center left. "The Slaughter Pen/Valley of Death" is directly in front of the parked cars at Devils Den. All over the park, at various monuments, families and descendants often leave flowers or other momentos, July 1-2-3 every year is no exception. Here a gentleman left something for his 5th Great-Grandfather who fought with the New York Infantry. This was left on the NY State Monument at the top of LRT. Another rock carving done by a Soldier that reads "Col. Strong Vincent was mortally wounded in this spot, July 2, 1863." He died in a field hospital a few days later.

Will post more later.

"Medium" (aka Shane) is very much into the history of the Civil War, WWII and the Vietnam War. He spends hours on youtube watching re-enactments of various civil war battles, and also specials and shows about WWII and 'Nam as well. He reads many books on the subjects as well. Prior to his 10th bday this past February, I asked him what he wanted for his bday. He is a very good kid, does not ask for a lot and gets awesome grades in School. So when prompted for gift ideas, he asked about going to Gettysburg for the July 1-2-3 Re-Enactments that they hold every year. So I looked into it. After having a seizure at the price of the tickets, I said "WTF, he's a good kid....." and got off my wallet. Then I had another seizure when I saw the price of hotel rooms for 3-5 nights. So I dusted off all my camping gear (has not seen the light of day in 15-20 years and got a campsite at Artillery Ridge Campground on Taneytown Road in Gettysburg. We were about 1 mile from Little Round Top and the 20th Maine's position. As many of you may know, Adams County Pa had a tremendous amount of rain the previous 2 weeks prior to the beginning of July...11 inches was recorded over a 36 hour period at one point. The lands around the park were absolutely drenched. As a result, they postponed the Re-Enactments to August, however we would not be able to have made that due to being on our Family Vacation down in NC & SC. So Shane and I decided to still go, but obviously without the re-enactments. I took a personal day on Thursday and we left out of Bethlehem around 1:00pm. Took 78 west out to 81/83 south to 15 to Gettysburg. Made good time and set up camp. After we set up camp, we headed into town, and stocked up on beer I mean provisions. We got back to camp, made dinner and sat around the campfire and played "Go Fish." I got bored with that and after a while I can neither confirm or deny having taught Junior how to play Blackjack. So because we weren't seeing the re-enactments, I had to come up with plan "B." It wasn't hard after I did some searching on the interwebz. I found a driving tour map of the battlefield on the NPS website. I also found a book about 3 weeks ago at Barnes and Noble called "The Maps of Gettysburg" which has every hour of every single skirmish of every battle painfully detailed. So armed with the driving tour map and the book, we took off Friday Morning (after a hearty camp breakfast of course) and began our driving tour. Shane calls this "The Campfire Sammich" it's scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese, bacon and pork roll. I called it a future heart attack. Our first stops were Little Round Top and Devil's Den. Shane standing on Devil's Den with Little Round Top behind and over him, and The Slaughter Pen behind and below him. "The Slaughter Pen" Up on Little Round Top, the monument to the 20th Maine Infantry, the general area where they were positioned (yes that part of the movie was filmed here) You can see the LEFT FLANK marker in the lft of the picture and the monument to the right. The last pic is the stone marking the point of the LEFT FLANK of the 20th Maine. THIS IS THE END OF THE LINE OF THE END OF THE UNIT OF THE END OF THE UNION LINE. THE BUCK STOPS HERE.

I believe the floor may be rhino liner. The walls and ceiling are diamondplate, stainless sheet or high impact plastic. The seats are all an extremely high strength ballistic nylon. No more vinyl. We learned that lesson with our 1989 pumper (that this truck is replacing.)

Update 7/6/15 Work continues. Interior of the cab being fit-out. Pump controls and accessories being installed. Body wiring harnesses being installed. Should be moving into the paint shop by next week to paint the body, All photos courtesy of Ferrara Fire Apparatus, Inc.

Ohhhhhh VINNY!!!!!!!!!!!

Correct.

Bob Gabrick has written extensively on Clines

Ok, so it's done. Now we need a gigantic still to drop off at OD's house. Then we'll need slpwlkr or Mack mhe9 or one of the other usual suspects to head out to gearhead's place and pick up a few tons of cherries.......Everyone pitch in a few bucks for raw materials, make checks payable to "OtherDog's Bar/Grill & Brass Pole-a-Torium." Hey.....I just had another screwed up....stupid....moronic thought..dumbass idea.....no I mean wonderful proposal........We could make cherry wine.....Get the winfall wimmin to stomp the cherries in their bare feet in a big teak vat!!! We could sell tickets. Farmer52 would pay a premium for front-row seats for a redhead stomping on cherries while she was wearing hose......

I assume they are, but ya never know.....!!

In need of a passenger side window or a glass template for a 48 L Model firetruck. Any leads appreciated.

Lads: Our neighboring fire company has a 1948 "L" Model Firetruck with a 707, they are in need of an alternator bracket. It was originally equipped with a DC generator, but sometime in the 60's it was converted over to a 55 amp Leece-Neville. The bracket that was originally on the generator was modified in-house. The alternator was recently rebuilt and it was discovered that this in-house modified bracket was causing the whole thing to be out-of-true and they desire a factory bracket for a 707 with a L-N alternator. It has a dual pulley with an OD of 3" and runs two belts that are either 7/8" or 1" width. The pivot of the main mount is 3". Anyone have something like this laying around or could point me in the right direction???? Also seeking a passenger side window or a glass template.

I'm not as dumb as I look.

Hmmmmmmm.....Otherdog has pretty good luck stillin' hot sauce outta peppers........Maybe he could cook us up a batch of BMT Cherry Moonshine????

You dumbasses. Those are left-handed smoke shifters.

I have tried to find the pictures of the stack with the rain clapper on the 4 cylinder gasser he had a while back but I must have cleaned them off my phone.

Yes I am also intrigued......more info please

With a distinct taste of weinkraut