Having seen me walking around during the snowstorms in gaiters, snow pants, with snowshoe pole, etc., a woman on the next block said I must ski and be from New England or out west.

She was getting a kick sizing up the pedestrians and their degree of preparedness.

I was an admirer of the improvisation of some resourceful peops, including these two who were canvassing the neighborhood for snow shoveling jobs. They devised these gaiters: