Good evening. Currently 45 degrees and cloudy. Not a bad evening at all for sitting out back at least with a sweater on. I was going to sit out back after I got home these past couple of days but I was tired and didn’t feel like going out and buying some beer.

Tomorrow is going to continue this cloudy and warm weather with temperatures expected to break a record at around 60 degrees. The weather will be cooler by next weekend – the weekend before Christmas but still in the mid 40s which is warm for mid December.

I’m still without a car. I pulled both batteries and put them on the charger. Voltage looked fine so I reinstalled them. I started up the truck once – it started easy – then the bad starting battery went totally flat. The battery went bad. It’s at the auto parts store being charged and they’ll load test it tomorrow. If it comes back bad on the load tester, they’ll warranty it. I don’t think my dual battery system on the truck caused it to fail catastrophically and prematurely but I don’t know. The alternator output voltage has been healthy, and I’ve only one other time had to jump start the truck. I guess I could take the truck to a shop to have the wiring inspected and put the alternator on a load test, but I think it’s fine. But it shouldn’t be through chewing batteries like this. I just replaced the factory one last year – but that’s after it sat at the collision shop discharged for two months and back when I used the car radio when camping, constantly running it down a fair bit. They’re also used to be a undercharge issue with the batteries that was fixed when I ran an exciter wire between the batteries. I’ve babied the starting battery this past year. Then again it was a cheap battery from a big box auto repair store, so it probably was a cheap internal design and just failed.

It’s kind of messed up my weekend but it was crappy and cloudy for camping and traveling. I’m glad the battery failed in my driveway. Spent some time cleaning, putting away camping gear, and too much time playing with QGIS on my laptop. Spent a fair bit of time walking around town, including going down to the park, evening walks, and walking four miles round trip to the hardware store to pick up a grabber tool to pick up the battery clamp bolt that bounced deep in the recess of the truck when I was startled by the arcing battery cable when I was reinstalling it.

It was fine staying in town. Sure it was warm but hardly delightful weather and the nights are so many ridiculously warm. So be it. Next weekend I have to stay in town for my parents Christmas Party and for the Save the Pine Bush Hike. The following weekend – Christmas – I will probably head up to the Adirondacks to camp. We will see, depending on the weather.

New maps are being cranked out of QGIS and are appearing on the blog. That makes me happy. I need to take more pictures soon. More new content coming next week although I left my laptop at my parent’s house, so some updates will come later this week.