My Boots

More gettin’ ready for the summer…

Because I dread the thought of the blisters that new work boots would cause me, I have decided to eke one more year out of my old ones.  They’ve served me well the past two years and I think they’ll last through this summer as well, and even though they’re showing their age, they’re soft like “buttah” and fit my feet like a glove.  Besides, a good pair of work boots can cost beaucoup bucks, and frankly, I just don’t want to spend the money.  Trying to save it where I can!

Last night coaxed as much “Leather CPR” into them as I could get them to absorb.  I’ll do the same with them tonight.  I will need to get some new shoelaces though, as the old ones are fit only for the rubbish pile. 

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“It’s All Downhill From Here…”

…”except for the uphill parts.”

This was something my brother said to all of us when we (Phil, his kids, and I) were hiking this past December.  I was reminded of that today while hiking with Vickie.

We had planned to hike yesterday, but the wind was absolutely ferocious so we decided to hike today instead.  Gooooood call.  Today was a gorgeous day for hiking.  Since this was our third outing, we decided to add in the “loop” portion of the Waldo Canyon trail.  As I previously wrote, this added an additional 3 1/2 miles to our currently 4 mile hike.

What I was unaware of was that it adds who knew just how much altitude to the hike as well!  About 1/2 mile into the loop I wasn’t so sure about it anymore!  I was huffing and puffing and really feeling the altitude.  I live at about 6,000 feet.  I was guessing we must have been hiking at 8,000 feet.  I got home and looked it up, and at the top it was 8,200 feet and my lungs felt every foot of that altitude gain, believe me!  Vickie kept telling me that just around the corner and we’d be going downhill.  She lied!  She told me that a number of times.  I finally had to ask if she knew what downhill meant.  We would have had a good laugh, but I couldn’t breathe. 

I would LOVE to show you pictures of what is to be seen from up there, but I haven’t felt that taking my camera is a priority yet.  I would have taken pictures of the red rock cobblestones, the ginormous boulder with the overhang you couldn’t pay me to sit under, the sandstone layers visible across a ravine which are reminiscent of Arizona and Utah, and the phenomenal views of Pikes Peak around every corner.  You’ll just have to imagine it for now.   Last week’s snow had turned to ice in many areas of the trail and some of the stretches of trail were pretty treacherous.  I am looking forward to doing the hike without the impedence of snow and ice.  I hear that there are wildflowers and blooming bushes that are to die for up there when things warm up. 

We crossed a stream a couple of times which I imagine ups the beauty ante in the spring as well.

I have posted before on the sensitive nature of my feet and how they blister very easily.  Well, today I got a couple of doozies.  Mind you, I was wearing hiking boots that I’ve been wearing, and wearing A LOT since I moved here 2 1/2 years ago!  Ouch.  I didn’t want to tell Vickie that my feet were dying since I was already having a hard time just breathing!  But I can whine to you folks, now, can’t I?  Just gotta remember to put band-aids in those spots next week.  Don’t want Vickie knowing just how much of a malingerer I am, afterall!

All in all, a very successful hike.  Each week shows marked improvement in stamina.  My goal for next week is to shave some time off the hike.  Oh, and to not die.  That’d be good, too.

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A bit of a flashback!

I still haven’t broken my boots in for the summer.  At least not nearly adequately so.  I always get heinous blisters when I go on Teen Missions.  It’s the combination of Florida and TMI that does it, I’m convinced.  The last time I went there, which was about four years ago to volunteer as a Boot Camp nurse for a couple of weeks, I was literally on the property for about 30 minutes before I sprouted enormous blisters on my heels.  Ask my sister, she’ll tell ya.  I’d been wearing the boots for some time before going to Boot Camp and had had no problem.  I step on the property… and problem!!!!

So, in order to (hopefully) keep that from happening, I am trying a new tack for breaking the boots in.  Old tack?  Simply wear them.  Here’s the new tack, and this is what the lady at the boot store told me to do:

• Soak the boots in water overnight
• Wear them until dry the next day
• That ought to do it

Apparently the boots conform to your feet this way, thereby eliminating any nasty rubbing.  We’ll see!  So where does the flashback enter into the picture?  Well, this really is for any of you out there that read that are FTMs (former team members) or who know what life in Boot Camp is like for whatever reason…

This morning at about 7:15 am, I strapped on the wet boots that I let soak in my kitchen sink overnight.  My socks instantly became sodden.  I hadn’t yet showered, and I sat down to read my Bible for a bit.  What with the sound of the birds outside my window, the soaking wet feet, and the need for a shower, all while reading my Bible, you almost couldn’t imagine a closer match for morning devotions at Boot Camp.

It felt strangely comfortable in a familiar way….

Did I write the other day that I was out shopping when I should have been doing things to get ready for this summer and ended up in the local DSW (a discount shoe store) where I found a fab-u-lous pair of strappy bronze sandals?  Well, before I took both of my boots off (as they are dry now at 7:15 pm) and since I’ve been meaning to but just haven’t yet shown you a picture of my only footwear for the whole summer, I thought I’d show you a picture of BOTH of my latest footwear (or is that footwears, dunno):

(Isn’t that a sexy boot????)

**Addendum – added at 8:05 pm, on the same day:  Okay!  My sister and I, in an effort to help break my boots in, decided to take a walk.  We got down the street and around the corner (oh, maybe a quarter of a mile) and I felt the tenuous beginnings of blisters on the internal aspects of both heels.  Not too much further down the road, I felt the blister on my left foot tear open.  A little bit farther down the road, I felt a blister come out on the back of my right heel.  At this point I am limping and wondering why my top layer of skin (my dermis) just can’t stick to the raw layer underneath it (my epidermis) like other people’s do!  Less than half a mile later, I am on my porch, painfully pulling my shoes off and peeling away my socks from my now thorougly blistered feet.  Oh, boy!  I can only hope that if I get through the agony of de feet here at home, and get my feet all toughened up, that I won’t get a new round of blisters down in Florida.  I guess I’ll need to wear these all day every day to be as assured as I can that that won’t happen.

Maybe I should wear the boots to bed as well….

Couldn’t hurt.**