[BlueTrain]

I was taking a walk yesterday afternoon, just going out my back door and into the woods. Even though I live in the suburbs, I can go for about a mile and stay mostly in the woods, which by the way is exactly what the deer do around here. The places along the streams or runs are called "flood plains" and are not developed. So they make good places for walking. One thing that makes it interesting is that I've seen every variety of wildlife that I've ever seen except bears, from deer to foxes. There are beaver ponds but to actually see a live beaver is exceptional.

Anyway, it occured to me that the chance of something happening to me on these short excursions into the woods behind the house is pretty much the same as if I were in George Washington National Forest a hundred miles from home. So, in theory, I should carry the same stuff with me and mostly I do, more so just to keep in shape than anything else. Of course, I can count on the fingers of one hand the times I have been injured in any way, however slight, in the last 40 years, so the risk factor is small, at least in my case.

But the risk factor isn't the same everywhere I go. There are no cliffs to fall off, though there are some steep trails in places. There is deep and sometimes fast water in some places, none at all in others. There are trees down everywhere, but the risk is low if you're not out in a storm, though I have been. I still haven't run into packs of wild dogs yet.