Fire in the Hole

We made our first fire of the year over the holiday weekend. We don't make nearly enough fires, even though we think it's really nice to have a fireplace. It probably has something to do with the fact that I'm not the best at making a fire. They didn't let us play with fire in the Cub Scouts, that must have been later on, if I had stuck with it through Boy Scouts. I can make a nice fire out of newspaper that lasts about 30 seconds, but getting a good roaring fire going is inconsistent at best. So this weekend was about the same. The fire got going, but was slow to catch, and just wasn't getting going very well. Lisa went to take Max out and came back in with some nice dry sticks that had fallen off the trees in recent days (along with a gazillion leaves that still need to be raked). A couple of them were thick enough that they stayed lit for a good long time, and they really got the fire going. So there you have it. Lisa makes a better fire than me. Clearly I'd be voted off of Survivor by now.
Speaking of reality TV, what the heck is going on with the "production errors" on the Amazing Race??? They've done at least 5 or 6 seasons of this, going into Third World countries, never a problem. But put them in an SUV in the US, and the cameras are draining the batteries left and right! So far, the teams affected have been lucky to not get eliminated, but how much would it suck to lose thanks to a stupid problem like that?