i heard a guy say the other day that people used to walk three miles to school, in three feet of snow, uphill each way. i think there was a tongue-in-cheek making fun of my generation there, because we did walk three miles, but there was very rarely three feet of snow, and it couldn't have been uphill each way, though it was very hilly, and there was lots of embankments and a trolley bridge to cross.

he was probably in a generation below mine, certainly younger than me, and had heard similar stories. it was common in my generation to walk to school. and one reason we look wistfully at the younger generation is that they don't, and seem to have lost a bit in the process. one thing they lost is that they have to go to a gym to get the exercise they would have got if they'd walked that five or six miles. another is that they don't value school as much, it seems.

it's ten below here, wind chill of maybe twenty below, as it's very windy and though we only have a couple of inches of snow, it's blowing around like crazy and even making walking from the car to the store a big burden. i have medicine to get and can't even imagine rolling down my window and sitting in an open car while i wait for it. at least when i get out of the car to walk to the store, i keep warm by virtue of moving. it goes against my grain to not be moving when it's ten below, and that's even if the car is running and the seat-warmer is on. i finally got all the shopping done - that was when it was only about two below, but i have more running around to do today; i have to get cadillac water anyway.

school for my kids is about a mile and a half, flat roads, busy streets, but i see lots of kids doing it. well, not lots, maybe a few. some probably come from way farther away, like two or three miles, but the vast majority are getting rides, like mine. one is in a wheelchair at the moment; i wouldn't ask him to walk. but i can't ask either to walk. they simply wouldn't consider it. i don't have that kind of leverage to ask for better health and a better attitude, if that would even be the result.

i walk the dogs though, and that means that every day that it's tolerable, which doesn't include today obviously, i get out there and get two or three miles. we lost one dog, so it's actually down to about two or less, but i'm slowly increasing it so that even the smallest dog gets a good romp out in the neighborhood. a neighbor pointed out that i didn't really need to, since they have a yard to tear around in, and that's true to some degree, but the yard has limited smells, and they love the smells of other neighbor dogs who occasionally get walked on the same route.

in a small town that means peering from the sidewalk at front porches, victorian bay windows, interesting paint jobs, care or lack of care afforded the exterior of the house and its lawn. if people are friendly, we greet each other; sometimes i just see people coming or going.

i suspect the lawn chemicals of causing one dog's cancer. the world is full of toxins these days.