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Glad to hear everyone survived more or less intact. Unfortunately some folks seem more afraid of having their generator stolen then they are of dying, hence the need to run them indoors.

Measure the amperage load across the breaker. Over the years stuff gets added to circuits that makes the circuit load exceed the capacity of the wiring and breaker. Don't up size the breaker unless you also increase the wire size or add an internal fire suppression system. Corrosion can also increase the amperage draw so make sure all of the connections and light receptacles are clean. A quicker, cleaner solution would be to convert the lights to LED's.

Scrapple was a fire house breakfast staple and the southerners quickly converted this yankee when I moved here. It is best dredged in a little flour and browned in butter. But. I also grew up eating head cheese, aka Presylta, that my Swedish grand parents brought over from the old country. No self respecting immigrant that is scrambling to make it in the new country is going to throw out perfectly good protein just because it comes from the innards or brains of the slaughtered animal. And they don't stop eating it when success comes either. We still serve it on Christmas eve for Swedish Smorgasbord.

I have a solution for the inspection issue. Give the truck to me to register in VA where inspections of antiques is not required. You will have full visitation rights and custody on alternating week ends. Better yet I'll register it in SC where no inspections of any vehicle is required.

Hope you had a good one. Here's an early Happy Birthday for next year.

Scrapple for breakfast, fried of course, hot dogs for lunch on a buttered roll, a heart attack for dinner. It's a great world!

Ours was on the most bastardized rig we had. A Seagrave tiller that had been re-powered with a 6-71, had the ladder replaced with a used one from another one of our rigs that had been hit when the original ladders beams cracked because we failed to keep the bed locks adjusted correctly, and ended up with a 2 speed rear end because it was geared so low it was being passed by old ladies pushing baby carriages. Combine the air steering with the 2 speed rear and a fill in driver and every response was an adventure.

I don't know a bout a "good source", since they are pretty expensive, but Paul's Chrome will do an excellent job for you. http://www.paulschrome.com/

I love the 6x6 "Maxi-brake".

Not to be Capt. Obvious, but I assume you have checked the steering for any place where it might be binding. If not try jacking it up and see how it turns with the weight off. Steering box adjusted too tight? I do love the adventure of air assist steering. Never quite knowing when the wheels will actually turn keeps you awake while driving.

My vote is red for the boxes as well.

I'm glad you know what you are doing is wrong, but by putting that in writing you may have just screwed yourself if an accident occurs while you continue to perform the same act. The shortened response time is just not worth the risk to members or other drivers. I'd find it pretty hard to explain to a widow why her loved one was rear ended by a tractor trailer who tried to do an emergency stop because a fire truck came out of nowhere and crossed in front of him. Do they also allow red light running and grossly exceeding the speed limits? Same church, different pew. I'd refuse to drive or ride OIC. I would not risk my personal financial well being to support an unsafe act. When the accident occurs you will be named in the law suit, and while immunity might eventually prevail you will still have to pay a large sum to defend yourself. It's just not worth it. And that's not even considering you might be injured and out of work. This is an example of why I stopped volunteering. The organization I belonged to just didn't get it when it came to safe operation of their vehicles so I quit. "Everyone goes home" is not just a slogan; every one of us must back it up with action to prevent an accident.

Randy, Randy, Randy.. Using a cross over on the interstate with traffic moving in the other lane? You should know better. That's a sure formula to turn their emergency into your emergency.

I hope Mike gave you an application for ATCA. Great organization that puts on a really good show every year.

I imagine the house was used as a "summer retreat" by a wealthy family from Richmond, or even as a hotel for the well to do to get out of the hot city in the summer months. We were looking for an odor of smoke in a house near the Mt. Vernon estate when we came across a fire standpipe in what appeared to be an older single family home that was right on the Potomac. Turns out the place was built as a hotel for the wealthy to take a steamer out of Washington to during the summer months, even though it was only a few miles downstream from DC. Depending on the color and shape of the glass and the carbon-tet extinguishers can sell for upwards of $200.00 each. Most go in the $10 to $20 range or more if the original bracket is with it.

The percentage of lazy and incompetent people never changes. But, I'm pretty sure there were no building codes in the area when this was built, so no one checked to make sure the work was at least code compliant. I'm sure the sign on the plumber's truck said "Good enough is good enough."

Make sure you register for Trucktoberfest ASAP.

My brother-in-law named his Breakfast and Lunch.

The house I am restoring in Charleston, SC also had a pretty substantial sag towards the middle of the house which I assumed was a rotted out girt or floor joist(s). While most of the floor joists were rotted in the house, the sag was caused when the plumbers, in 1964 when the house was built, cut a 3" hole straight down through the 3 1/2" girt for a 1 1/2" drain and just to make sure the floor failed also removed the pier that was supporting the girt as well as I guess it was just too much work to route the supply copper around the pier instead of knocking it down. We sistered new beams and put the pier back after jacking the old beam up with hydraulic jacks. All nice and level now. We did end up replacing about 70% of the floor joists due to rot caused by a leaky A/C system that caused condensation in the crawl space.

Ironically the smoke has been reported to be helping suppress the fires by limiting the ambient heat and subsequently increasing the fuel moisture. With the rest of the country focused on the hurricanes we shouldn't forget the courage and dedication of the responders who are doing there best to stop these fires and the folks who are being forced out of their homes.

Kind of late for most folks, but a neat little trick is to put a coin on top of a cup of frozen water in your freezer before you leave. If the power fails the depth that the coin sinks will give you an idea of how long the power was off and what happened to your frozen foods. Hang in there guys.

I remember seeing them in service into the 70's.

My motto is "Paint for five minutes, sand and buff for 50 minutes." I wish I could get better.

I have used Pauls in the past and I was very happy with the work they did for me. They are very pricey, but as I said they do good work. How expensive? I sent 4 "B" model hub caps that were somewhat beat up to them for a price estimate that came back at $250.00 each. Needless to say I bought new ones from Watts at $125.00 each. http://www.paulschrome.com/ I have also used Royal Silver in Norfolk, VA https://www.rschrome.com/ They did very good work as well. I have fire truck friends that have used shops in Philly and Ohio and both swear by them, so if those locations are closer to home for you let me know and I'll get the names for you. The shop in Philly can do very large items, so they may be the way to go for the radiator shell. One of the main reasons it is so expensive to do a fire truck is all of the plating that is involved. I spent over $6K just on plating when I did the 52 and that was not in all that bad condition. I quickly learned that it is much less expensive to buy new stuff it was available instead of repairing and plating the existing items. One way to lower your cost is to prep the item as much as possible yourself. The quality of plating is dictated by how well it is buffed and polished before it is plated, so if you have the time and motivation to buff the items yourself you will lower your cost considerably since most shops charge $75.00 per hour and up to buff out the pieces. If your shell is pitted the shop will plate the shell with copper, buff off the copper away from the pits, and keep plating-buffing until the pits are filled and they have a smooth surface to plate. Pot metal is done with a similar process. A friend sent two "F-350" hood emblems that go on the side of his 56 Ford's hood to Pauls for an estimate.They were pitted and needed the studs repaired as well. Pauls came back at $500.00 each to do them. Good luck.

Depending on what you start with (pitted, rusted, dented, etc.) it will run you anywhere from $1K to $2.5K to get it plated. You can send a picture to Paul's Plating in PA to get a rough estimate.