Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

I have boots!

2022-11-27T02:06:01Z

I successfully shopped for boots today! There's a shoe store in Brookline with a sign in the window saying "wide shoes," so I walked in and told a salesman that I was looking for winter boots for wide feet. He brought me a pair of boots to try on; they were too big, so I asked for a half size down, and those fit, with little foam cushions at the heels.

I couldn't quite zip the left boot over the jeans I was wearing this afternoon (I had to bunch that pants leg up a little), but the right boot did fit over my right pants leg. I already knew my left foot is larger than the right, and TIL that my calves aren't the same size either. I asked the salesman about the return policy, then bought the boots, so I could see whether I have pants that fit either in or over these boots.

The first two pairs of pants I tried this evening worked, with the pants leg over the boots rather than inside them, but they worked. That's enough for tonight, and tomorrow is soon enough to try the boots with my lined jeans.

This was the only pair of boots in the store that the salesman thought would be worth my trying on. I am very glad I asked for help immediately, rather than wasting time looking at all the boots that they didn't have in my size.

It's been years since I had a pair of boots that come partway up my calves, rather than snow sneakers.

comments

boots

2022-01-08T00:02:02Z

I have put new flat shoelaces, and new insoles, in my (quite old) winter shoes, but it's now dark out, and I am not going for a walk and risking stepping in a snowbank in the dark.

I think of these as my boots, because they're the best I have - but they don't come very far up my calves, and if I step in a snowbank snow will get in at the top.

I have, not very hopefully, ordered another pair of boots from Zappo's, after the ones I had delivered in December didn't fit, but in the meantime I have these. I'm not planning on going much of anywhere, because the omicron variant and the current burden on hospitals and health care are scary, but I do want to spent at least a little time outdoors.

comments

Grumpy about boots

2009-09-19T20:31:13Z

As I mentioned, my fancy boots arrived recently. I have duly oiled them (with mink oil). And I just tried putting them on.

The right boot is snug. The left one is too snug. (Yes, my left foot is the bigger of the two: it's also the one the vendor made a sketch and loose mold of, for the artisan to work with.)

Tomorrow morning I'm going to try what I meant to do today, namely to put them on early in the day, when my feet are smallest, and wear them for a bit then.

If that doesn't work, I am going to have to call the boot company. (If it does seem to work, I will extend the process over a few days and see how it goes, bearing in mind that I can't spend significant time on this on a workday morning, nor do I want to have to change shoes partway through the workday.)

comments

A bit frustrated by the material world

2009-09-13T20:03:09Z

I got two things by mail order recently: my handmade boots from Catskill Moccasins, and a power conditioner for my computer.

A little while ago, I sat down with the "care and feeding of your new boots" page open, including the diagrams of how to lace the boots. I followed the instructions, got to the top of the boot, and had about a meter of lace left, and a diagram that seemed to suggest just tucking it underneath. So, instead of putting on my new boots (which are tight at the moment, or at least the right one is, but the company says they stretch a little after a couple of days' wearing) and starting to break them in, I have emailed the company to ask "How am I supposed to tie this?" I'm guessing there's supposed to be a bow of some kind, but the details are not clear. If I don't have an answer to my email in a couple of days, I may experiment again.

The power conditioner (aka uninterruptible power supply), reasonably, requires a three-pronged outlet. This is an old building, so we needed a two- to three-prong adapter, which I didn't realize until after the power conditioner arrived. Last week, in the second store he tried, cattitude got two (2) such adapters. This afternoon, he tried to install it, only to find that the tab faces the wrong way. Both adapters in the package are the same shape. So, we need to shop again, for one that either faces the other way, or has a wire instead of a tab. (We will each be tucking one of the wrong-way ones in our daypacks, for comparison while shopping.)

I am a bit grumpy about this. If we hadn't had a really nice walk in the park, I would be really grumpy. As it is, I'm thinking in terms of melon or berries, tea, and maybe Scrabble. (Neither of these is an immediate problem: I do have shoes, and while I bought this hardware after the power glitched once, that's once in the year and a half I've had this computer).

ETA: I have now rubbed neatsfoot oil into the boots, with only a little difficulty with julian_tiger. (He sat and watched but basically behaved once I tucked the laces under my leg.) I washed the floor when I was done, because of course the oil soaked through a couple of layers of newspaper. More newspaper next time? I would guess that almost everyone who does this is doing it either outdoors or in a barn or mudroom, not a city apartment; whether I do the same when it's time to rub in mink oil for winter will depend on weather/how long I put this off. I used an old T-shirt for the purpose. Given that I will be needing to do this a couple of times a year, and Cattitude has a similar pair of boots on order, maybe I won't clean out the T-shirt drawer, or at most limit it to the tattered ones, not those I'm merely bored with.

comments