Rain and battery

It didn't freeze last night though it came close. 33 degrees. Clouds came in overnight (perhaps why it didn't freeze). At 10 am this morning it was still only 40 degrees. I doubt we made it much pass 46 degrees today.

After 2 pm it started to rain lightly and is still raining now. None of this rain was in the forecast and the 6 pm weather forecast from Missoula showed we had no more rain. Hmmm.... then what is still falling from the sky?

In the morning before it began to rain I folded up all the tarps I had used to cover the garden. The forecast is for near freezing temperatures tonight but I'm not going out in the cold rain. If it stays cloudy and raining I doubt it'll freeze. I'll take the chance of frost instead of getting wet and muddy spreading tarps.

I had hoped to hike the Dawson-Pitamakan loop Friday. But the cold wet weather today mean the mountain tops have snow on them. Bill doesn't like to hike in the snow. In the morning we'll decide on where to hike depending on the weather.

My car didn't start again, even after I had cleaned the battery posts days earlier. It had started for a week now - even when I hiked Mt Oberlin last Friday - though I did try to park uphill in the parking lot in case I needed to roll my car downhill to use the clutch to start it.

I took my battery back to Wal-mart and had them test it. The initial test said the battery was fully charged. Huh?! I had the mechanic in the shop area run a full test on the battery and after a half hour or so the test said the battery was good. Even though the battery is suppose to have 525 cold cramping amps the machine had it at 473.

The mechanic thought the problem could be with my car's starter. I only brought the battery to Wal-mart, not the car. I made an appointment with another mechanic I have used in the past to look at the problem on Monday. When I got home and put the battery back in the car, the car started.

With such a cool damp day the house is chilly. I debated firing up my wood stove but decided I didn't want to hassle cleaning the ashes the next day for just a few hours heat. Still... it would have been nicer to have a warmer house. The indoor thermometer says 58 degrees. All those 90 degree days this summer seem such a distant memory.