Steel toes and tap dancing

Actually there was no tap dancing.  But the toes are of steel.  Why doesn’t anyone ever want to roshambo me for it?

Tromped around the neighborhood in my new Timberland PRO (they’re really in favor of something…) work boots.  I think they’ll be okay.  Not great, and they won’t last forever, but they’ll do for at least a year.  If they turn out to be total dogs I can send then them back to the factory within the first thirty days and get a refund.  But if me and the boots can last at the warehouse for a year, I think I’ll treat myself to a pair of Redwings.  But for now I’ll make do with my Timberlands. 

They’re about as comfy as can be expected of new boots.  Which is to say: not really all that comfy at all.  I’ll have to play around with the insoles.  I always put an extra pair in pretty much every pair of shoes I own (including my mocassins!) so I’ve got some options.  It’s always a game, finding the right level of cushiness, without packing the shoe so full there’s not enough room for extraneous things like feet…

I’m not thrilled with the lacing.  It’s eyelets all the way up.  I like the top two or three to be hooks, so I can get the ankle nice and snug.  I’m having to lace-up hockey style: a full wrap around the ankle before the knot.  So I had to replace the factory laces with longer ones.  Which I probably would have done anyway: they’re skinny little things.  When did laces become so anemic?  I bought a couple different length replacements, and they’re not a whole lot better.  The longer, flat pair is particularly skinny, almost sateen.  Kinda sexy, and would go great in a corset, but not so good for boots…

And purely aesthetic, but I dyed the brown part of the uppers black.  The toe and the heel are made of a leather that’s supposed to be more scuff resistant.  Looks almost like tarpaper, or a shingle.  But the rest of the upper was brown.  Ummm…no, thanks, I don’t much care for saddle shoes.  I mean, how do you know what color belt to wear for crying out loud…?

So, yeah, I was a bit disappointed in them, like I am with most everything, so I modded them up, like I do with most everything.  I’d probably be thoroughly disappointed if I ever bought anything that didn’t need ‘improving’.  How would I make it mine?