Rails To Trails

I've lived in the same town in Pennsylvania since I was a child. The house I grew up in sat directly behind a railroad track. It was part of the Reading Railroad line (yes, the same Reading Railroad from the Monopoly game). I can remember waking up in the middle of the night to a train roaring and shaking our house.

Now, as an adult, that same railroad track has been converted into a community trail for walking, jogging, biking and dog walking thanks to the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC). The RTC works with local communities to map multi-use trails out of obsolete railroads.

The trail in our area (known as the Rail Trail) is 1.75 miles long. When weather permits, I walk the rail trail from one end to the other and back for a healthy 3.5 mile walk at least three times per week. Over the past few years it's become my therapy. Forget shrinks and yoga, just give me an mp3 player and a pair of sneakers and all my troubles melt away.

For information on trails in your area, visit www.traillink.com .

Happy Valentine's Day!

Some cute stories and fun facts for Valentine's Day.

VALENTINE CHIHUAHUA PUPPY
This Chihuahua puppy literally wears its heart on its sleeve. The cute male pooch, born with a perfect heart-shaped patch on its side, has been suitably named Heartkun by its owner in northern Japan. The one-and-a-half-month-old pup was born as one of a big litter, but is the only new arrival to sport such a heart-warming coat.

According to owner Emiko Sakurada, and reported in the Daily Mail, this is the first occasion a puppy with such marks had been born out of the more than one thousand Chihuahuas she has bred.


VALENTINE'S DAY CARDS TRIVIA
♥ Teachers will receive the most Valentine's Day cards, followed by children, mothers, wives, and then, sweethearts. Children ages 6 to 10 exchange more than 650 million Valentine's cards with teachers, classmates, and family members.
♥ Approximately 1 billion Valentine's Day cards are exchanged on February 14th each year - the largest seasonal card-sending occasion of the year, next to Christmas .
♥ According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making Valentine's Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. [An estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent for Christmas].
♥ Hallmark has over 1330 different cards specifically for Valentine's Day.


A THOUGHTFUL VALENTINE'S DAY GIFT
Jim asked his friend, Tony, whether he had bought his wife anything for Valentine's Day. 'Yes,' came the answer from Tony who was a bit of a chauvinist, 'I've bought her a belt and a bag.' 'That was very kind of you,' Jim added, 'I hope she appreciated the thought.' Tony smiled as he replied, 'So do I, and hopefully the vacuum cleaner will work better now.'