Posts Tagged ‘winter boots’
Getting Coffee
We are not comedians and are not in cars but I’d like to pretend you and I are out together for coffee just like Jerry and his guests on his internet series, “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.” I’ve been binging the series lately and it’s got me missing the days of idle banter with my various accomplices in the fine art of waxing lyrical about all manner of minutiae.
I would describe the futility of cleaning hay bale shrapnel out of winter boots.
When a new pair of boots I ordered arrived recently, I struggled to decide what to do with the old pair. They had been repaired once, but now the rubber base was cracked and ripping away from the upper leather. Feeling they were beyond repair, Cyndie advised me to throw them in the trash.
The laces were worth saving, so I pulled them out. That helped me to notice the leather was in really good shape and could be used for some future project, I was sure. I decided to cut the threads holding the leather to the rubber.
That is when I discovered how much of the nooks and crannies were filled with hay remnants. That new consciousness led me to try to empty my new boots yesterday after hauling nine bales from the hay shed over to the barn.
After dumping all the hay out of one of the new boots, I took a picture to convey the futility of trying to get it all.
A while back, I wrote about how the horses, Swings and Light, drool food over each other’s heads when they eat close beside each other. Yesterday afternoon, Asher and I showed up at the barn after Cyndie had finished serving up the feed.
Cyndie described the challenge of getting the filled buckets clipped to hang as quickly as the horses preferred. She decided to let Swings have a first and then she bent over to hook the handle of the bucket. Do you see where this is headed?
She said, “Now I have a bunch of slobbered feed pellets down my neck.”
While Asher and I were making our way along the north loop trail I was impressed by the power of the low-angled winter sunshine to melt snow despite our daytime temperature remaining below freezing all day.
Is it obvious which direction is south? In the picture, Asher is facing the direction of the setting sun. It never gets high enough to shine on the whole path, but the areas that receive direct sunlight are completely clear of snow.
Based on the present weather forecast, the rest of the snow doesn’t stand much chance, even in the shade. Temperatures will rise well above freezing for the next few days.
By the way, I don’t drink coffee. Make mine a chai latte and bring on the humorous back-and-forth wisecracking about our perceptions of this crazy world in which we live.
Say goodbye, John.
“See ya later, gator!”
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Mukluk Retread
With a nod to some excellent directions found online at lostcreekadventures.org posted by Greg Weiss in 2017, Cyndie took her kitchen skills out into the shop over the weekend to resole her favorite Steger Mukluks. The original petroleum-based material on the sole can become dysfunctionally sticky as it ages, while the rest of the boot holds up almost as good as new.
To avoid a long wait for having someone experienced do the job for her, Cyndie bravely chose to do it herself.
She just recently finished her first attempt at a classic Swedish princess cake that turned out spectacular and received rave reviews. How hard could it be to resole a mukluk? She procured all the ingredients on the “recipe” and printed out the directions. Instead of an apron in the kitchen, she was wearing overalls in the shop.
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In order to assure the 3M marine adhesive sealant fully cures before testing the durability of the added rubber bits, the plan is to leave the boots alone for at least a week. I’m inclined to suggest a thin overcoat of the remaining sealant if she is willing to wait an additional week of curing.
Even if the project takes a month, it is still a year quicker than the waiting list to have someone experienced to do it for her.
Watching her work, I had to resist an urge to see how it tasted when she was done.
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Winter Slippers
It’s about that time of year when I gush about my favorite boots for playing in the snow. For the most incredible comfort and warmth that I have experienced in a winter boot, I wear Steger Mukluks. It’s like going outside wearing slippers.
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That slipper-like comfort is actually one of the key reasons they keep my feet so warm. There is absolutely no constriction of blood flow in my feet because the boot surrounds my foot without compressing at any point. It almost feels like walking barefoot in the snow. Except for the part where my feet stay warm.
I’m also particularly fond of being able to just step into them and being ready to go. There is an adjustment strap at the ankle and a drawstring at the top, for occasions that call for additional constraint, but I rarely change either of them. I set them once and am able to slip my feet in and out with ease.
Wearing my mukluks to walk Delilah and explore off-trail is a sublime winter expedition through our woods.
Watching the sun fade behind the barn revealed the shiny frozen coating on the branches of our trees, a function of the frequent misty sleet that has been mixed in with our snowstorms of late.
A few hours after that picture was taken, we were out again for her last chance to pee for the night and I stopped on the high point of the driveway between the north pasture and the hay-field to stare up into the brilliant blanket of stars overhead.
Despite the clear night bringing the temperature down below 0°(F), I could have stood there for hours in my trusty old winter slippers, because my feet were perfectly comfortable.
It was Delilah who wanted to get back to the house. Too bad she refuses to wear doggie mukluks of her own. She does stand out on those bitterly cold surfaces with bare feet.
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Relative Something 