First, we fired up the chiminea and reduced a season's worth of twigs and other droppings to ash (while watching the sunlight slide down the back yard tree trunks. Then, when the cold crept in, we moved into the breezeway, where the pilot light was ignited and the little fake woodturning stove was turned on—the first time since March. Now that it's on, the pilot will stay that way until next March, gently warming the little room in which it sits and making a bigger fire available at a moment's notice. To every thing there is a season. Freeze warning tonight.

A comment based on NYT columnist Tim Egan's most recent column:

So, this "Tea Party Republican woke up, turned on the lights (powered by the TVA), washed up (with water regulated by the EPA), had breakfast (with food approved by the FDA and the USDA), checked his bank account on-line (using the internet invented by the Department of Defense) to be sure his Social Security had been deposited in his bank account (insured by the FDIC), checked his stock account (regulated by the SEC), then drove to town (on a highway built with federal grants and in a car that had passed safety and emission standards) to go to the post office to mail his check to support the candidate who promised to "get the government out of our lives."