We seem to be right on target for a colder winter this year. My store of firewood is way above last years level, but I am concerned that our wood may not last until the weather turns warm again in the Spring.
Fortunately, we have friends and neighbors who help with our woodpile in exchange for framing and firewood. Times are hard and the future seems to be grimmer than usual, but people are still pulling together and sharing resources wherever possible.
Our daughter Marjorie and her boyfriend Jeff came down from Roanoke and helped us split and stack firewood this weekend. The inclement weather kept them from climbing mountains, so they worked on our log pile and reduced a lot of it to stove-sized firewood. We are very grateful for their help.
We have been keeping a fire burning in the Dutch West wood stove almost every morning to take the chill off the house and give us a pleasant start for the day. There is something very comforting about sitting at the computer near the wood stove with a fresh cup of coffee and checking on the latest news from around the world. We can even get a little bit of local news on the Internet because some of our bloggers also write for the local paper.
Over the past few years, we have been getting the vast majority of our news from the Internet. The only hard copy news we read is the Floyd Press which does an admirable job of presenting straight news on matters of importance in Floyd County.
We have given up on the alphabet networks for any semblance of news, as they serve opinion in the guise of information. Sorting through the hype for real information is a waste of valuable time. At least on the Internet, we can check alternate sources to see what the information looked like before the spin started.
In Floyd County alone I can find opinions and occasional facts on all sides of almost every issue. We have a lot of bright people who offer interesting solutions for county problems, political misbehavior and even global warming. I would like to see more of them writing online essays so that those ideas would get the exposure they deserve.
Right now, most people limit themselves to comments on local blogs or to letters to the Floyd Press. With all of the talent that exists locally, we should have running commentaries on the decisions of the County Supervisors and on the voting records of our local delegates and congressmen.
I think that secrecy is greatly overrated since it almost always involves covering up acts that will not stand the light of day.
That's it for now. Tomorrow is another day with new challenges.