observations
As the savvy reader may suspect, I should currently be working on my dissertation, but am writing this post instead. I simply must take a break from reading because I keep falling asleep whilst doing it. As a new resident of Rochester, which I'm told is often referred to as Ra-cha-cha from some reason, I am observing several phenomena that I do not fully understand.
People from this fine city seem to be dedicated pet lovers. I know this because they walk their dogs in our neighborhood at all hours of the day or night in all types of weather. They don't even look miserable at 6 AM when the current temperature with windchill is 3, like this morning. I might be speculating a bit on this since their outerwear obscures their faces, but to go out in this weather at that hour is impressive and must mean you love your dog. I respect that. I guess they don't do what I do and demand in my best pack leader voice that my small dog, who does not wish to leave the warmth of the house, go out his pet door to relieve himself because there is no way I am walking him at that time of the day in winter (perhaps not in any season really). In my defense, I do put a jacket on him before I shove him out the pet door.
There are rules regarding proper wear of pj pants outside the house, but I do not know what they are. I see them a lot--with hearts all over them, cute little hunting dogs, stripes, plaid, balloons, french toile in soft pink. Sometimes I see them on the dog walkers at 6 AM, which come on if you are gonna walk your dog at 6AM on Sunday by all means wear your pjs to do it. What I do not understand is how they are not freezing to death if they are only wearing pj pants. I rarely leave this house without two layers on my bottom half so while the pj pants are convenient and certainly cozy in the house, they do not seem like they would be the best choice for winter walking. To complicate the issue I must add that I see pj pants all day long. I saw a lady getting out of a car across the street in the middle of the afternoon wearing them the other day. I see people at the supermarket with them on. The other thing is that those wearing pj pants are not young (teenager or college aged) they are full on adults. You must see why the rules are rather difficult for me to discern, but I really must figure out what they are before I can start wearing my pj pants in public.