1958 F.W.D.

Absolutely THIS.

EFF SENSITIVITY TRAINING!

Saw my first "Double-Masker" today at the supermarket. It was ahead of me in the checkout line. Came with a bonus of wearing plastic gloves, and it wiped down the pad of the credit card machine. I go through my checkout routine, and head out to the parking lot. I did like I always do when I got out the door- ripped off my face diaper. I was walking to the pickup when double masker is pushing it's cart back to the store- it yells to me "Hey you need to put your mask on!" Without hesitation I shouted back "Hey you need to MYOFB!" Groan.

That may be a bit out of his comfort zone but give Gregg Hoffman (Under Dog on here) a call 610-428-6075. If he doesn't answer, leave a message. He is operatin' and will call you back at his next opportunity. Tell him the Hellertown Truck Stop/Freight Broker sent you.

If you are on Facebook, check out the group "Mack Truck Memorabilia Collectors"

The cab A few weeks ago- looking down the frame from the front. Yes the frame rails, the cross members, the torque box and outriggers are all galvanized. The pump housing, about 85% complete The Raydan air bag assist walking beam suspension. Note the Meritor disc brakes on the tandems. Most of the suspension components are installed. The engine (X15 Cummins/600hp) and the Trans (Allison AVS4000) have been installed.

I am trying to upload some more build progress pictures but am having trouble. Here is the 2000 GPM Waterous pump itself, set into the frame of the pump housing module.

Sure. How many do you want?

No one is perfect.

No sir but the thought of an FWD doing what an FWD does best makes me moist.

I am horny.

Donald and Lee. They both came to my Mom's funeral last year. It was good to see them despite the circumstances. Later on that year I was having issues getting my Ram aligned properly and I heard that Donald was really good with Ram alignments so I took it to him. He had me in and out in an hour and it has been perfect ever since.

I was 5 in 78, we lived in Montgomery County Pa just outside of far northeast Philadelphia. When my dad was home from trucking he worked for the local Gulf station running their tow trucks, had a Holmes 750 on a 1971 6500 GMC (among one other tow truck and two roll-backs.) They had the tow contract for Lower Moreland Township (Huntingdon Valley.) He would chain up that 6500 and he swore it would go anywhere. He said he spent about 28 or 30 hours in that truck pulling people out of ditches and winching them up hills or clearing roads before he finally gave up to sleep. I remember the blizzard of 1996- I was a rookie Federal Firefighter at the Naval Air Warfare Center in Warminster Pa. I was stuck there for 5 days straight. (1- my own 24hr shift. 2- Forced for 24, blizzard. 3- my own 24 shift. 4- repaid a shift exchange. 5- my own 24) By the end of day 3 we were running out of food. The Navy XO gave us permission to enter the Commissary and take food as long as we kept careful records of what we took. He picked up the tab out of his pocket a few days later. The base itself was closed. We ran several calls out to housing, which was about a 2.5 mile ride. The telesqurt pumper was chained up but the long wheelbase dragged around snow banked corners and got stuck often. We ran one medical call that was a kid having a bad asthma attack and the ambulance couldn't get in, so we loaded up the mom and kid in the cab and trucked them out to the main drag to meet the ambulance. I hate being a firefighter in snow, ice and cold.

David Wild, have you ever heard of the Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division in Warminster Pennsylvania? In years past it started as the Brewster Aircraft Company, was later taken over by the War Department, and later the US Navy. It was also called NAS Johnsville and the Naval Air Development Center. Not to be confused with NAS Willow Grove, Pa. which is about 6 nautical miles to the southwest. NAWC Warminster was a victim of one of Reagan's BRACs and the facility began to relocate to Pax River, Md in the mid 1980's and the facility totally closed and the flag was retired in March of 1993. Anyway, I started my Federal Firefighter Career as a rookie firefighter at NADC which had the largest dynamic flight simulator in North America at the time it was operational. (human centrifuge.) ALL of the Astronauts spun in the 'fuge from Mercury to the Shuttle astronauts up to 1995 when use of the facility by the USN ceased and it was taken over by Penn State University. It was eventually shut down entirely as the private contractors and PSU couldn't afford the upkeep on it. When it was still running for the USN, medical personnel were required to be on site when it was running, but because the base was closing, the USN Corpsman were being relocated. It was decided that Fire Department EMT's would be present when spinning, and since I was an EMT, I was tapped with another guy to go over with the ambulance and stand by and monitor vital signs and transport to civilian hospital if necessary (the infirmary was closed by then.) It was considered boring duty, but I ate it up as I was an aviation and space exploration buff and loved meeting the Astronauts. They were down to earth (pardon the pun) really cool folks, especially when they learned I was crash crew qualified. It had to come to an end for me however, as I put in for a firefighter position at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, and moved on in January of 1997. After the Shipyard I became a Firefighter at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland where I was part of the crash crew for about a year. Saw a lot of cool stuff at Phillips Army Airfield that I can't talk about. It was awesome having worked at these three facilities and I consider myself very fortunate and humbled to have worked there.

I want to know who dropped the ball- each and every exterior door let alone the interior ones should have been locked up tight and when the first intruder came through they should have been blasted. Everyone behind the first one would have said "screw this!" and ran. Betcha this whole thing never would have happened. Unless someone wanted it to.....

I have a friend that was there. Though he was not in close proximity to the main stairs into the front of the capital, he reported that the crowd immediately surrounding him was respectful, well behaved and in good spirits. There was zero discussion of any illegal activity let alone what happened. Other than a bunch of Police Cars coming in all of a sudden and passing by to destinations unknown, he and his companions didn't even know anything happened until they were on the train headed back to Philadelphia. And he was emphatic to say that those actors were not representing the overall feelings of the crowd.

No sir, never thought you were. I agree with all of your points!!! I have a close friend who had to close his restaurant- 11 years of his blood, sweat, tears and his soul. Down the toilet. In the meantime, you can pack 11,000 people into Wally world. Thank you, and Happy New Year to you and your family! God Bless!!!

Absolutely agree. There is something out there- many are getting sick to some degree, some are dying. But yes, it is being handled with gross incompetence.

Paul, It is very strange. For me, I have had worse sinus infections. After the first 48 hours (with the exception of the loss of taste and smell) I felt well enough to have gone back to work. The wife though- wow it kicked her arse. She slept 18-20 hrs a day for the first 8-9 days. And then there are the other people that this virus is killing!!! Even my family Doc told me that it is the strangest virus he has ever come across in 40 years of practicing medicine.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!! Unfortunately here, Momma and myself both had the china virus. We kept it off the bookface for those of you on there. Here's the cliffs notes- Back on Nov 29, our fire dept was dispatched with the Ambulance to a cardiac arrest, which is standard procedure as extra hands are always needed at an arrest. I was part of the fire crew. Back in a former life I was also an EMT and the Medic knew this, so he grabbed me to ride in the back of the Ambulance with him as extra hands. I was "bagging" the patient the whole time- using a bag respirator breathing for the patient who was clinically dead when we got to her. So needless to say I was in close proximity to her mouth and slobber. I did have a mask on. The next day we were informed she tested hot. We all waited seven days to get tested (12/6) and tested negative. Then on Friday 12/11 in the afternoon I started to feel run down and beat up. Started having the Hershey Squirts and when I got home from work, momma took my temp and it was 100.1. So I kicked the daughter out of her bedroom to sleep with Momma and I quarantined myself in her room. Had fever/chills, etc. That night around 1am my temp topped at 101.6 but thats as high as it got. By Saturday afternoon it was done. Like nothing ever happened. I was fine. We figured it was a stomach bug. I went to work on Monday, again no big deal. So then Monday Momma 12/14 starts with the liquid poo and the fever/chills and aches. But she also got a hacking cough Tuesday morning after I left for work. Uh oh. Doc tells her to go get tested, so she heads over to the employee health office (she is a Nurse at the hospital) and gets the brain tickle. Meanwhile I leave work and come home Tuesday. Brought a boatload of paperwork with me as it's supposed to blizzard one to two feet Weds during the day (I think we ended up with 8" dont get me started on the weather people....) Later in the afternoon on Tuesday she gets the call- she is hot for the virus. So I call my Doc office but they are gone for the day. Called first thing Weds morning, and the doc finally calls me back around 2pm and tells me to head over to the walk-in care place. By this time it was 3pm Weds and it was snowing harder than any blizzard that Other Dog could exaggerate about. I was at least 15th person in line (not an exaggeration....) waiting in our cars. When you got there you had to call in and stay in your to car and they would take all your information. When it was your turn, they would call you and you walked to the entrance (under a porch roof thank you) and they would come out and give you the brain tickle. I told them I was a first responder and that puts a 24 hour rush on the test but the girl told me that because of the "blizzard" they would probably be late. So I slept in the daughter's room again (hoping against hope that I didn't have it) and waited Thursday....Waited Friday.......(not going to work, either.....) and finally I wake up Saturday AM to an email saying I was hot. Well, at least I don't have to sleep on the daughters plywood feeling mattress anymore. So sent my boss an email and spent the last 2 weeks at home. I never had any more fevers/chills/aches after the Friday 12/11 incident. But I did develop a cough and sniffles, nothing bad- I have had worse sinus infections. I did however lose all sense of taste and smell.....Noticed that on Monday morning 12/21 when I went to put on my after shave- couldn't smell it or my deoderant. Nothing. No one home. Even stuck my nose in a bottle of Kelchner's horseradish sauce- nothing!!! As I write this on 12/29. Momma and I are both beginning to get taste and smell back- seems like my smell is coming back slower than my taste. Talked to my Doc yesterday who released me back to work no restrictions, and he said our taste and smell could take 2-3 weeks to fully return. As for Momma, it hit her harder than me. She was laid up in bed and slept for 18-20 hours a day for the better part of the first week. Had a bad cough, too but she monitored her blood oxygen level with one of the finger meter thingamajiggers (like a code reader for humans I guess) and her oxygen level in her blood was never too concerning. So Xmas was kind of a pisser. I felt fine (like I said I have had worse sinus infections....) and Momma even felt OK and stayed downstairs most of the day. Thank god she had most of the presents for Extra Small, Small, Medium and Large wrapped a few weeks ago or I would have been screwed. She is feeling better but not 100% (she is on short-term disability endorsed by the Hospital HR dept.) and already got a payment which shocked me. In the past when she has had surgeries they usually work at the speed of molasses in February. None of the kids are showing any kind of symptoms...The School District told us to keep them home back when Momma tested hot back on that Tuesday 12/15. As long as they show no symptoms, they can go back to school on 1/4 no testing needed. Be careful folks. It's out there. Did I get it from that patient we were working in the back of the ambulance? Probably. Can I prove it? No. Who knows, I could have damn well gotten it at the grocery store. Or maybe Momma got it somewhere and gave it to me. We will never know. Just be careful lads. By the way here is a picture of Large (17) teaching Small (9) how to weld. Large is in his second year of welding at the Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School. he had just gotten a new self-darkening helmet (the stars and stripes one) and was running some welds to try it out. Small was watching him through his old flip-down helmet and was getting very interested. So Large coached him through some welds but Small was having trouble with the flip-down helmet. Large let him use the self-darkening helmet, and I tell you what, that little boy was happier than a pig in slop after he got to run a few welds!!!!

Does the new shed have fire sprinklers? Asking for a friend.

That's awesome!!

Red Horse: All fire dept aerial ladders have outriggers, just like a crane. See pics below with descriptions. Brian: Two sets, see below. Factory demonstrator which the salesman brought to us a few weeks ago to "try out." This demo is almost identical to our truck A truck very similar to ours (also seen in the pics of the original post.) Note the outriggers which are connected directly to the torque box, which supports the aerial cradle and turntable (at the top.) The demo seen with the two sets of outriggers deployed.