Ed– Nor am I going to retire my cane. That was only a burst of wishful thinking. It still comes in handy. I noticed just the only day there was a flash of ice on my partner's walk. I'd seen it, so I was aware, yet as I set one shoe down on the ice (there was no stepping over it), I felt a little slide. I was using my cane, and at that moment I was happy to happy that extra "leg" on dry pavement. –Ray