RESCUED!

SURPRISE!

THANKS, BILL!

Wednesday,  9:00 AM. 58 degrees F, wind SSE, very light.  The sky is overcast and the grass and roads are wet, either from rain earlier or from a heavy dew.  The humidity is 100%.  The barometer is down, at 29.90".  I didn't see this weather change coming.
   Yesterday, late morning, we went down to the deer stand again to cut firewood.  I took the 20 gauge and the dog, and walked down the logging road looking for grouse while Joan followed fifteen minutes  behind in the truck.  The birds, doubtless having heard of our prowess, wisely stayed far back in the woods, but it was a nice walk anyway and Buddy hunted very well, quartering back and forth a short distance in front of me.
   When Joan got down with the truck I donned my safety gear and fired up the chain saw and cut a respectable amount of wood before the saw ran out of gas. Mind you, I don't cut a lot of wood before I run out of gas myself.   Figuring I had worked enough after an hour or so of cutting, I loaded up the cut wood and my gear.  Joan had switched to the passengers seat to read, the motor off.  I got in the truck, turned the key...and heard that telltale "click, click..." that means the battery is dead.  The Honda thinks too much, and the headlights stay on if the key is not removed after the motor is shut off, I guess so that you don't forget the key.   Never mind that you then can't go anywhere. I could use a dumber vehicle to match wits with, I guess.  Anyway, there we were, half a mile into the woods from the nearest road.
   What to do?  First, we called Triple A.  Good idea, except that there was no cell phone reception where we were.  Second, hike out and see if anyone is home up the hill on the main road.  So I left the dog with Joan and her book and hiked up the hill.  When I got up to Torbick Road I tried the cell phone again, and again there was no reception, and by then it's battery was out of juice too.
   Einar and Dawn Olsen live down the road a bit from the junction of Hwy. J and Torbick Road, so I continued my hike.  I don't know if they were home, as there were two trucks in the driveway and around the back of the house two painters, one high on a ladder and one on the ground.  As I rounded the corner of the house, both said, "Hi, Art!
   It was Allen Waite and Bill Peterson.  The latter said, "I read that you have been cutting firewood."  I didn't know he was a reader of The Almanac. I explained our situation and he put down his paintbrush and gave me a ride down the logging road and a jump start (lucky I had booster cables in the truck).
   He followed us out in case we stalled, and we waved goodbye and kept right on going to Goodyear in Ashland and had a new battery installed.  The gal at the reception desk assured me it was "The biggest, baddest battery" that would fit in the Ridgeline.
   Joan and I went across the street to the Second Street Bistro and had a nice lunch while waiting, so everything turned out fine, and I won't have to worry about a weak battery while out somewhere in the Wisconsin or Texas boondocks.  Thanks, Bill!
   You may not hear the following from the mainstream media, so you will hear it from me.  According to the last weekend's Wall Street Journal, a new report by the official climate change study group, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to be released on Sept. 27, will downplay the possible negative effects of global warming, and will state that the overall effect may even be positive, since increased atmospheric carbon dioxide has already had a positive effect on crop production and forest tree growth. Gee, I've been saying that since at least 1995.
   In addition, the actual warming is now projected to be less than half as much by 2075 as previously predicted, a relatively benign change.   In fact, it has been at least fifteen years since there has been an actual annual increase in global temperature.  Add to these facts that the past year has seen an increase of almost fifty-percent in Arctic ice, and I think even the global warming diehards should tone down their dire predictions.  But I wouldn't count on it.