I really didn’t want to tramp through a foot of snow on the deck to feed the menagerie this morning, but I sort of had to do it. Two out of three feeders were empty and all the ground seeds were gone. The birds were frantic, trying to get the last couple of seeds out of the feeder, so I pulled on my new (still in the box) Aus Wooli waterproof boots.

A note about these Aus Wooli boots. They are new to the market. Compared to all the other Australian sheepskin boot makers, these boots are downright affordable (Amazon). I bought two pairs. It cost about $90 for both including tax. One pair is just ankle height (my preferred style for wet walking after the sidewalk has been cleared plus a middle-height (about 6 inches tall) pair.

More boots!

Based on today’s deck excursion, they seem to be, as advertised, waterproof. Uggs are not waterproof unless they specifically say so. Emus are usually waterproof, but since I started buying them when they were new to the market and inexpensive, their prices have skyrocketed and now almost match the price of Uggs. It’s worth checking them out if you need warm, waterproof boots and aren’t going hiking through really deep snow.

Home. With snow.

I’m addicted to sheepskin boots. It is the first time in my life my feet have been warm when there’s snow on the ground. I remember, as a kid, going sledding and wondering if my feet were completely frozen and were going to fall off at the ankles. Winter wear has come a very long way since then. Between advanced ski clothing, tops and bottoms and even lined hats and gloves, we are much warmer than we were. This is good because I feel the cold a lot more now than I did when younger.

I hate the way ski clothing looks on me. If you aren’t really skinny, ski clothing tends to make you look bloated. Actually, it made me look bloated when I was so emaciated I looked like a prison camp runaway. I’ve got wide, sloping shoulders. This means that even when everywhere else I wore was a size XXS (and sometimes that was too big), I needed a large or extra large shirt. You can get very thin, but those bones are still there.

I wear wool coats, mostly Pea coats. I used to be able to buy real — made by the U.S. Navy — pea coats on eBay, but I don’t use eBay anymore and anyway, the coats are now as expensive as they should always have been. U.S. Navy pea coats are incredibly windproof, water-resistant, and designed so you can go up on deck in the winter and not freeze. All my current coats are “designer” version and are not nearly as warm, so I layer with a little shivering.

I’m still trying to figure out current shoe sizes. Since most — even the best and most trustworthy — shoe manufacturers are sending shoes to be made in China or Vietnam, a medium (B) width fits like a narrow. The only shoes that fit the way they used to are Easy Spirit and some expensive sneakers. Sandals — like Clark’s — which ALWAYS fit are suddenly too narrow. The wide ones fit like the mediums used to fit, but most shoes don’t come in a wide width. I just got new sandals for next summer on sale because it’s the middle of winter and who but me is buying sandals. I looked at my sandals. They are all at least a decade old and some closer to 20 years. I realized the top straps are ripping away from the soles. One pair of Clark’s are being held together by a single stitch.

I loved those sandals, but you can’t find a shoemaker for love or money. No one repairs anything. In shoes, this is particularly obnoxious because they are expensive and when you find some that are comfortable, you want to keep them forever. A good shoemaker can help you keep them nearly forever. But I haven’t seen a shoe repair person in a very long time. Along with people who used to repair televisions and refrigerators, there are no more fixers. It’s bad for the environment and hard on our wallets.

Categories: #Photography, Anecdote, Humor, Shopping, Winter

Tags: #Photography, boots, Marilyn Armstrong, repair, sandals, shoemaker, sizes, winter