Kids today are soft. Not only did we not have snow days when I was a lad, but our blizzards often were accompanied by wildfires, so on the 11-mile walk to school we had to contend with blowing snow, wind-whipped flames and acrid smoke. By the time for the 17-mile walk home, the snow and smoke usually had cleared. Of course, then came the floods. Oh, and the locusts. But they weren’t all bad – they helped slow the packs of pitbulls on our heels.