The Shoe Free Environment

            I get the feeling that the next politically correct trend will be the shoe free environment. I understand this one. I'd like to have a shoe free environment all my own, but by the time I think about mentioning it to my guest, they're through my kitchen and in my living room, having taking only four or five steps. It seems silly to ask someone to take their shoes off at that point.
            Part of me has expectations of cleanliness when it comes to the shoe free environment. If someone asks me to take my shoes off I'll glance around the room to see if it's clean. It doesn't make much sense to have a shoe free environment if the place is unkempt. 
            A part of me is averse to taking my shoes off. I had dirty, smelly, stinky feet when I was a kid. I wasn't much for showers or hygiene and I'd let things go to the point of offense. I'd spend the night at my friend's house and we'd sit down to watch television with his family. I'd take my shoes off and look around the room to see off-put grimacing faces in the wake of the odor emanating from my feet. I'd know exactly what the problem was and get up to wash my feet in the bathtub.  
         
            

Camping

            I went camping yesterday in Angeles Crest. We set up camp under some tall pines and cooked food by the fire. The stars were out and it felt good to be out of the city. The campsite has been known to be visited by bears, so we put the food away before we turned in for the night. 
            I was laying in my tent and couldn't sleep right away. My mind got away from me and I was thinking about bears. The only thing that stood between me and a bear was the equivalent of a windbreaker. I contemplated that. I was trying to think of an exit strategy should I need one, and frankly, I was stressing myself out thinking about it. I tried to talk myself down, but that didn't seem to help.
            I waited for the bear to show himself, but he never did. I thought about technology and how a bear has no need for it. 
            All was quiet and still. No animal sounds. The wind wasn't stirring. The moon was out. It was peaceful. The only discernible sound was that of pine needles falling gently a top my tent.