Gerry: I can't speak to all the loss you're feeling, but I can relate to giving up wood heating because it doesn't make sense anymore.
My house was also built in 1979 (4,000 sq ft) and included a wood stove as well as a heat pump. We bought the house in 1998, and I LOVED the wood heater. I tried to use it like the wood stove my parents used to heat their house in central New York State: light it at the beginning of the season and don't let it die out until the end. The trouble was that in eastern North Carolina, you only need the kind of BTUs a wood stove puts out three to five times a year --if the winter is a cold one. I finally had to let the fire die out when the whole family complained about the 95 deg heat INSIDE the house with all the windows open.
The trouble with starting a fire in that stove, and the one that replaced it, was that it took at least one load to build the coals to produce the heat that only became apparent on the second (and sometimes the third) load. So one had to start the fire late the night before, and get up at 4:00 AM to stoke it to produce the heat my wife is looking for at 7:00 AM; or start the fire at 5:00 AM, reload at 7:00 AM, and rush home after work to have the heat the family wants in the evening. Nobody but myself seemed to be able to reliably start or maintain the fire, although my wife had a few successes and one of sons could start bonfires inside its walls.
Then I my heart went out on me.
Then all my help left me. (My three strong sons all moved out of the house before I fully recovered.)
Then the heat pump went out.
With the new heat pump working as efficiently as it does, I only need a fire MAYBE once or twice a year. I still keep it though. I'm just not as keen on the wood scrounging as I used to be. Plus I'm still recovering from the second surgery to repair the electrical problems in my heart. I won't go on to discuss the problems I have with my back; suffice to say, I have to treat it well or I can be immobilized.
Long story short (oops, too late), I've resigned myself to giving up wood. I certainly enjoyed it while I had it, and there is nothing else like it. But the maintenance and upkeep is a killer.