My Green Forest Room

 By Margi Jenks

Every time I move, I have to get used to a new living environment.  When I worked at Fire Island National Seashore three summers ago, it was my first time to live on a barrier island with the beach just outside my front door.  For a “town girl” like me, when I got this job at the Crater of Diamonds State Park, it was my first opportunity to live out in the country in the woods. 

One of the first things I noticed, however, was that the clearing where my house sits has no “view”.  It is essentially a rectangle of land cleared from the forest.  Now, most people who live out in the country generally have some cleared land surrounding their house. So, they have a wider view of the sky and the surrounding land.  With my restricted view, I was afraid at first that my green room with its high walls of trees would feel claustrophobic.  Eventually, I began to see it not as a green prison cell but, instead as my green cozy place. 

However, I have discovered that a magical thing happens to my green room every autumn.  The leaves fall off of the trees, and gradually my cozy walls disappear.  The horizon reappears, and I once again can see through the forest and enjoy sunrises and sunsets!  So, in spite of the fact that the days are shorter, I enjoy the winter months because they open up my green room to the wider world.  That is, until the leaves come back in the spring.  But, by that time I am usually ready to have the walls go back up in my green forest room. 

Search area last plowed:  October 15, 2010; Trenching began on October 13, 2010 moving the East Drain farther to the west

Most recent significant rain:  November 25, 2010

Total diamonds found in 2010: 565

Diamonds registered for December 5 - December 11, 2010 (100 points = 1carat):

December 5 - Kenny and Melissa Oliver, Rosston, AR, 12 pt. white

December 6 and 7 - No diamonds registered

December 8 - Steve Crutchfield, Friendship, AR, 4 pt. white

December 9  - Barbara Tolliver, North Pole, AL, 76 pt. white; Daniel J. Kinney III, Sault St. Marie, MI, 12 pt. white

December 10 - Daniel J. Kinney III, Sault St. Marie, MI, 25 pt. white

December 11 - No diamonds registered