Exercise is a great tool for keeping one fit and healthy, and I must admit that I don't get enough of it. But I am still fairly active. Weather permitting, I play golf most days, and I will soon be in the great outdoors hunting the elusive whitetail deer.

Winter traditionally has been a bad season for me. The coming of the deep snows makes it difficult to get out and about in my neck of the woods, but for the first time I plan to join a fitness club and see if it will make the winter a little more interesting while I still remain active.

Every day I see folks out jogging or trotting, and I wish I could join their ranks, but my knees are so bad that I can no longer participate in such activities. When I was young, I engaged in many outdoor sports, but Father Time has a way of slowing one down, both mentally and physically, and one has to adapt to the changing seasons of life.

When I was younger and still working, I never had to worry about getting enough exercise, as the type of work I was engaged in necessitated a great deal of bodily strength and agility. But it was not all bull work. My job consisted of a lot of thinking and planning, which exercises the mind as well as the body.

It is frustrating as one grows older to realize that things that once were so easily achievable are now difficult, if not impossible. Even the simple act of walking becomes a chore for some folks, but you can't give in. There is a proverbial saying that "if you don't use

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it, you'll lose it," and that is never more true than when the ravages of time begin to exact their dues.

From my personal experience, and from what I have gleaned from talking to other aging folks, the first thing to go is the legs. They are the main support structure for the body, and over the span of a lifetime, they take an enormous amount of punishment. As a baby, you learn to walk as your legs gain strength, and over time they become your mainstay of balance and agility. But there comes a time when the body starts to reverse itself, and eventually you're reduced to the physical status of a small child again.

While a youngster has the ability to increase in strength and become physically and mentally sturdy and robust, we eventually become weaker and less able to perform. It is the unfortunate way of life and sadly, no amount of exercise or activity will ever overcome the relentless onslaught of time.

So though I don't like what is happening, I nevertheless am resigned to the fact that I may never again be any more fit and sound than I am at this moment. Like every other living thing, we humans have a certain life expectancy, and though we think and act as if we will live forever, it is not to be.

I believe one should remain active as long as he or she can, if not physically, then mentally. I have known people who, once they have retired, have become sedentary and unwilling to exert themselves in any kind of exercise or activity, and it's sad to relate, but infirmity and poor health are sure to follow.

My dad was active and purposefully involved in many physical chores up to and until the day he died at the age of 93. I would love to emulate him.

Joe Bushika, of Stamford, Vt., is a regular columnist for the North Adams Transcript.