> > > You think YOU'RE pathetic? Try climbing a tree, ANY tree, in Fantasy Quest. I've only been able to make it up one, and that one could barely support my weight. ;-}
> >
> > Stop complaining. You have a winter coat. I haven't even heard of a winter coat-- anywhere.
>
> Now, any other 65 year-old, Toyota-driving, old codger I know of would be in here like ... lightning telling "when I was a boy, we lived in a hole in the road. We got up at 4 in the morning, polished our hole, etc., etc...."-stories
>
> Jul"sometimes, I just *wish* I remembered those sketches. Sigh"ian

When I was a boy, we lived in a hole in eastern Kentucky called Hazard. When we got up in the morning, we didn't know what time it was because the clock froze. I had to go outside and dig some coal out of the snow and bring it in to build a fire. It would have been nice if we'd had a fireplace or a stove, but what's a little smoke?
We were so poor, we had turnips for breakfast. The bathroom was out by the alley and we had to share it with several neighbors. Some times I stood in line for an hour. I had to walk 16 blocks to a school that never closed because of snow. Actually, life wasn't so bad. We had a nice creek for doing laundry. It was a good place to fish, too. Because of mine seepage, the fish were all floating on the surface, and that made them easy to catch. It was WWII and gas was rationed but that didn't bother us because our mule ran on hay. We were fortunate to live in a nice house. Most of the neighbors had dirt floors, but we had gravel. It would have been nicer if we'd had shoes. There was a faucet in the yard right next to the porch. It saved a lot of trips to the creek. We had air conditioning in the winter and central heat in the summer. I used to lie in the weeds out in the yard in summer dreaming of the day when I could have a Toyota and house with wall-to-wall floors. Ah, memory lane! Ain't it grand.
Howard