I grew up in a rural area where most everyone we knew heated their homes with firewood. Back in those days firewood was dirt cheap even if you had to buy it, but most everyone around owned a plot of “woods” where they could simply cut what they needed for close to nothing. It’s hard telling how many cords of wood we burned over the years, but I can tell you that it was a bunch!

These days most folks have electric heat pumps or oil stoves in their homes, but there are still a few fireplaces and wood stoves that see at least occasional use. The going rate for a pickup truck load of firewood in our local area seems to be around $75, and I suppose that’s a bargain when compared to what it would cost to pay for enough electricity or heating oil to provide the same amount of heat.

With prices that low I can certainly understand why some folks still choose to heat their homes by burning wood, but what I can’t understand is why some of them choose to buy their wood in small bundles. Nowadays most any grocery store has a stack of bundled firewood sitting out front, with each $4.00 bundle consisting of just 4-6 “sticks” of wood. When I first saw the huge rick of wood sitting outside our local Food City a month or so ago I thought to myself “They must be kidding themselves. No one would be silly enough to pay upwards of $1 a stick for firewood!” Well, apparently I was the one who was kidding myself because as of last night there were only a couple of bundles left!

I’m guessing that the people who buy their firewood by the bundle aren’t really using it to heat their homes. If they did they’s surely go broke in a hurry. No, they’re probably using it to light up the fireplace every once in a while just so they can enjoy the sight, sounds and smell of a real, honest to goodness wood fire. I’m also guessing that the good folks who cut, bundle and sell all of that firewood to the stores are laughing all the way to the bank.

Well, the comfortable days of autumn are no more. Winter has arrived here in southwestern Virginia, and today’s high temperature was barely above frigid (at least it felt that way). We even had a few snowflakes mixed in with the rain last night. Oh well, we knew it was coming, but cold weather always seems to arrive way too soon for my taste.

To add insult to injury, this weekend also marks the end of Daylight Savings Time – which means starting on Monday it’ll get dark long before the clock on the wall says it should.

I truly love fall because of the moderate temps and amazing colors, but if it were up to me we’d just skip winter and head right back into spring! But alas, it isn’t up to me so I’ll just slog along for a few months until the crocuses and tulips pop up through the snow. Now that’s a sign of changing seasons that I love!

Ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes when the President of the United States decides to pay a visit to your neighborhood? Watch this video and prepare for a shock (and possibly even a temper tantrum):

After incumbent Lisa Murkowski lost the Republican nomination for her Alaska senate seat to Tea Party favorite Joe Miller, she refused to bow out gracefully and endorse him in the general election. Instead, she selfishly decided to run as a write-in candidate (good luck with that Lisa!). The result was this hilarious ad (it was NOT created by Mr. Miller’s campaign). Watch it and see if you agree that it could quite possibly be the most amusing - and most effective - political campaign ad ever written…

A recent poll conducted by the Pew Research Center found that nearly 20% of Americans believe President Obama is a muslim instead of a christian. Of course the liberal media were quick to insist that those folks are wrong in believing that, but are they? Watch this short video and decide for yourself…

The Democrats in Washington currently have total control of our federal government, and they certainly aren’t shy about using their stranglehold on power to ram through legislation that the majority of the American people do not want and the Constitution simply doesn’t authorize. Do you agree with them or President Reagan? Please watch this short video and decide for yourself.

If you agree with Reagan, please pay a visit to your designated polling place on November 2 and send Obama, Reid, Pelosi and the rest of the arrogant Dems a loud and clear message.

When Barak Obama was running for President in 2008, he said repeatedly that he would bring “hope and change” to the American people. Well, the “hope” part hasn’t worked out all that well, but the “change” part has surely succeeded beyond even his wildest expectations. Problem is, the change we got is a far cry from what the vast majority of those who voted for him thought they would be getting.

During the campaign candidate Obama promised to be our first “post-racial” president, ending once and for all the racial divisions that have persisted ever since the end of the Civil War. But instead, as President his words and deeds have increased the level of racial tension in America to a level rivaling the one we endured before the death of Jim Crow.

Next we have Obama’s miscalculation on the economy. The Obama White House insisted that the passage of Congress’ gargantuan “stimulus” package would prevent unemployment from rising above 8%. Well, unemployment has been hovering at around 10% ever since its passage, and the employment outlook is looking even worse going forward from here. In short, we have little to show for the largest increase in the federal deficit since our nation was born way back in July 1776.

Another plank in candidate Obama’s platform was the promise to close the terrorist detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. On the campaign trail, he often repeated the promise that Guantanamo would be closed within a year of his inauguration, but here we are just 4 months shy of the beginning of the third year of his presidency and Guantanamo Bay is still up and running just as before. Why? Because he and the “experts” advising him miscalculated the difficulty in finding another place to put the terrorists detained there.

And now for the biggie: Health Care. Obama, Pelosi and Reid promised the rank and file Democrat members of Congress that if they would vote for the bill’s passage against the wishes of their constituents, the “dumb masses” would ultimately see the light and end up supporting it after they “found out what was in it”. But even after the President has given approximately 1,000 speeches on health care, roughly 60% of all Americans now want the monstrosity repealed at the first opportunity.

At every turn Mr. Obama has made the wrong choice after consulting with his army of “experts”. All of those miscalculations will come back to haunt him and the Democrats in Congress in November 2010 and 2012. And that will be a good thing indeed for the huge majority of Americans who truly love their country.