[SOC] Isabel Followup

[soc@mailman.qth.net]

As I reported last Friday, one of my monster maple trees broke during the s=
torm and fell across my nextdoor neighbor's driveway, luckily causing no da=
mage to her property--only a mess. Later that day, my nextdoor neighbor and=
 I were out in our yards picking up fallen branches and sticks, when up dri=
ves another of our neighbors pulling a trailer on which he has a large chip=
per. He unloads the chipper and then gets out his chainsaw and begins cutti=
ng up that part of my tree that is blocking my nextdoor neighbor's driveway=
. After he cuts off fifteen or twenty limbs, he shuts off the chainsaw and =
tries to start the chipper. It won't start right away, and when it does sta=
rt, it's running rough and making a strange grinding noise. "What the hell =
is this?" he asks, and then he remembers that he had stuck his 2-gallon met=
al gasoline can and a 1-quart bottle of motor oil down in the hopper of the=
 chipper while he was transporting it on his trailer. By now, the chipper h=
as totally hacked up the bottom of the gasoline can, and the gas has all ru=
n out onto the ground. If he were a ham, I would have nominated him for SOC=
 membership on the spot. As it was, what could I say but "Ooops." I went an=
d got my full gasoline container, and my neighbor got on with his first cla=
ss act of generosity. It sure is good to have people like him around.

73,
Bill NG3O