Fitting Friday Fire

 Who knows how many scores or even 100's of photos we've taken of our campfires.  We don't put too many on this blog because they quickly get old and boring and trite. In fact, three's too trite today, eh?  We DO love our campfires.  The weather hasn't been real conducive to campfires lately.  Last night conditions were perfect for a campfire.  No wind, decent temps in the low 50's.  Yippie!  It's always so nice to see the campfire from a distance and, of course, up close, too.

 Campfires are an endless source of enjoyment for both of us.  It gets us out of the house in the evening when we would probably just be sitting inside staring at the computer.  It keeps us from being labeled fuddy duddies.  The fire draws over our neighbor, Gary, almost every time we light one up.  The fire is always a special highlight whenever friends gather here.

When you are actually watching the flickering flames, your eyes can't really see what those gaseous tentrils are really doing.  Perhaps that's why we take so many fire photos.  The pictures help us see a few of the awesome beauty of the flames themselves.  The art show put on by those flames is created and then disappears in a nano-second, always changing, ever renewing.

We have been in a bit of a mini-dither the past week.  Firewood prices have skyrocketed and supply has shrunk down to next to nothing.  Normally, firewood sellers are almost at every intersection.  This year?  Not so much.  The absolute cheapest we've seen any type of firewood is $200 a cord and those are pitifully short cords at that,--usually padded with undesirable wood of dubious origin.  We went into Camp Verde late yesterday afternoon and were surprised to see a trailer load of really good looking shaggy bark juniper--our favorite campfire wood.  Shaggy bark emits a fabulous scent into the air that can't be described.  It's the smell of a juniper fire and is one of the great icons of the Southwest Experience.  The aroma of burning juniper is downright almost intoxicating to those who have grown to know and love that olfactory delight.  Unfortunately, shaggy bark is nearly impossible to find this fall and one seller quoted me $275 a cord (same as oak) simply because it's in such short supply.  I fully expected to be quoted a high price for the trailer load I found last night.  I was downright shocked when they said it was $200.  Well, I figured I'd stretch them out a little bit and say I had to ahve the wood delivered at 7 am Saturday morning.  And, guess what?  Three burly bubbas showed up shortly after 7 am and the four of us made short order of unloading what sure looks like a full cord of shaggy bark.  Yippee, Skippie!  We've now gone from rationing our meager supply of alligator juniper to staring at a winter's worth of really fine, seasoned shaggy bark.  Life is good, indeed.  Campfires R Us!

Have a great day & Many Cheers!  jp