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As you can see from the "sad" picture of the persimmon tree, it's winter here. And this is the time of year when the persimmon tree loses all of its leaves and displays the bright orange fruit in all of its glory.

Yes, winter is here, but when I awoke, the house was nice and warm, and the fire was still going. I just added a log and kept the stove at the same low heat setting. I can keep this up all day! I have plenty of firewood for this winter and I understand that there is always a good supply of wood available from the orchards. But why am I exulting? I made a vow when I left Janesville that I would never, ever have to deal with firewood again! Well, so much for some vows and my ability to keep them.

But…in my defense, I have to say that we used up to 7 cords of wood each year while we were in Janesville and the fire was lit in September and didn’t go out till May or June of the next year. That fire needed to be fed 24/7 and I was the one that had to cut and split it all. I finally started buying logs by the truckload and they would be delivered by a logging truck, right to my yard. Then I could cut and split as I needed and not have to spend every weekend up in the woods, looking for firewood. Even that convenience didn’t make the use of firewood seem any more attractive. I longed for a thermostat on my wall and a furnace to roar to life whenever it was needed. Well, now I have that furnace and our monthly bill for natural gas went up to $125 from a summertime low of $10. So here I am, once again, throwing another log on the fire.