Saturday was parade day. The sky was almost clear blue, the sun was shining bright, the temperature was hovering right around freezing.

I figured the crowd might be down a little bit because of the cool weather, but quite the contrary. It might have been the biggest crowd I’ve seen at a parade.

In addition, the other change that was made, to eliminate the commercial floats, was hardly noticed. In fact, if anything, the more local parade simply added to the attraction of the event.

The brisker pace made the event somewhat shorter, wrapping up within 30 minutes or less (from any given point on the parade route). The performances by dancers, singers and others was missed somewhat, but those events usually were only visible to those in selected locations. For the rest of the route, not to mention the people marching and riding in the parade, I’m sure the brisker pace was much appreciated in the weather.

I noticed after the parade that some of the folks stayed around town, poking around in the stores. That’s always good to see with the way the economy has been here for awhile. At least most of the indicators now show that the chance of recovery are good for our region. Let’s hope the indicators are right and we end up with new jobs, new businesses and most of all, hope for every family in the county.

Anyway, after standing outside for about half an hour with no gloves on taking pictures, my hands were pink and tingling as I walked back into the office door to type this. I’m sure others felt the same way. It probably took about 15 minutes for the color to return to normal and for my nose to stop glowing.

However, early on in the parade, a young man passed by wearing a pair of jeans and a T shirt — no coat, no hat, no nothing. I recognized him and feel sure he has a coat. Ah, to be young again.

That reminded me of being young myself, when I typically would only wear a jean jacket to school all winter long because I felt that a thicker coat wouldn’t be ‘cool.’ Those big slick ski coats the other kids’ parents made them wear gave them the appearance of the Michelin tire man. None of that for me. No, instead, I decided I would suffer my way to greatness.

At home, when out working or doing something around the house, I would dress warm. I had boots and gloves and sometimes even a warm hat on particularly cold days. However, there were times when I went outside without much on just to do something quick.

For public use though, gloves and hats were also out of the question. After all, a hat would mess up your hair and gloves were hard to keep up with indoors.

I never worried about getting sick. In some ways, I even looked forward to it so I could stay out of school and watch television all day.

My, how things change.

These days, I spend most of my time concerned about getting ill. I keep a bottle of germ killer on my desk at work and use it regularly, especially after being out meeting and greeting people. Not being able to get my flu shot, I figured I better be careful. And that stuff grandma said about going outside barefoot and getting pneumonia won’t seem to leave my mind on those mornings when I venture out with my slippers on to fetch a few pieces of firewood off the porch.

I hardly go outside without long underwear when the temperature is below 30 degrees and wouldn’t leave home without at least one extra coat in the truck. I suppose I have become a creature of comfort, to some degree. On the other hand, my father would call it ‘good sense.’ I have a toboggan now that I like to wear and I don’t really care if it messes up my hair or not. If it does, I simply comb both of them back down and go on about my business. The more that I have to fall out, the less I have to worry about.

As for getting sick and watching the tube, I don’t really like to watch television now; although I do take it in phases, sometimes spending some of the dark hours after work soaking up radiation from the idiot box.

That’s one thing about winter, the early darkness leaves little time for outdoor recreation. That’s why I decided to start going back to the Wellness Center and use my time for something more beneficial than watching the hoplites of Greece battle the Persian army or trying to make the right call on how Theodore Roosevelt should have led the troops up San Juan hill.

The firewood season is mostly over, leaving only the firewood burning season to go. Even so, there is always room for more firewood around the house. But with the weather turning cold and the sun going down soon, there is little time to go out and gather more in. I’m very glad that I thought ahead and stacked up the eight loads I did bring in around the house.

As I carry in armload after armload, I am amazed at how quickly it is disappearing. Life is like that, you gather and you gather and then you wonder if you’re going to have enough. Usually, it turns out that we have too much. Even too much is not enough for some people.

As for me, I’m just content to have my fingers stop tingling.

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