RAPOZiNHO, your story reminds me of when I met a distant cousin of mine who lives about 45 minutes away from me. He immigrated from Canhas, Madeira, the same village as the rest of my family came from. He had a "podão" or a similar knife on display at his home and I asked him about it. He explained that everyone from Canhas carried one on their shoulder wherever they walked and that folks from other towns did not mess around with the tough guys from Canhas. He said they never work shoots and walked pretty large distances to cut grass and then to haul it back to their home to feed their cows. He explained that the callus on their feet was very thick and that even the spines of the chestnuts could not penetrate their the soles of their bare feet. Are you a similarly tough guy yourself?
