Shoes, OMG, shoes

It seems as of late that the only shoes I wear are my sneakers (rare) and my gardening boots. This may seem silly but after wearing out 2 pairs of boots, killing the zipper a couple of times on one pair and essentially getting fed up having to lace, unlace, and then re-lace a pair of timberland boots that I had since I was 16. I finally got fed up and went a-researching. After some good leads I finally came upon a brand called Bogs and wanted some simple plain boots, but the cheapest one available (50% off original price!) ended up being brown w/a funky floral pattern (ironically, I’m not really a flowery girl) on Sierra Trading Post (with extra 20% off coupon of course, take that shipping,! score! )

After they came in the mail I found the floral pattern to not be so bad and especially began to like them when I toughed them in and the floral pattern melted in with the caked on dirt a bit. Then the compliments came. First from the nursery, then at every landscaping store I went to, women who worked in the garden centers would comment on how cute the boots were, where could they get them, etc.

I started getting mighty proud of my bootiness and began wearing them EVERYWHERE, especially after rainy days, when there was the slightest bit of dew on the ground (neoprene construction!), on my walks with the dog because my tired self was glad that I could simply PULL my boots up rather than have to lace, relace, and then kick my shoes off.

Yes, it is love. Of course I’ve been wearing the love out from use and abuse, but the Bogs forgive me and I have not betrayed them yet though a replacement is in the mail now after a honeymoon year, for the Bogs website (http://www.bogsfootwear.com) has closeouts I have found I should troll and treasure o’gold people, I am blessed with tiny Asian feet (wide and ducky shaped, by the way, no binding ever touched these tootsies that’s for sure) and the closeout section pretty much only had Bogs on sale in my size (with free shipping too! I tingle with cheap pleasure). Now that I am used to a style that’s not so plain, I decided on their rockin’ ‘Autumn’ leaves style, which is a little too bright until I can smear a bit of dirt on it. Hopefully my original Bogs can hold out for another year before I have to break in the new girls 

Peas off

Early in this year (warm day in February) I planted pea seeds because I heard that they are pretty cold hardy and you could plant when the ground was workable. Apparently what I think is workable is not the official gardening definition of workable. But baby, I did work it. I was full of excitement, planting the various garden, sugar, snow and etc peas here and there, some on one side of the trellis, others on the other side and lovingly covered them up and went my way.

Some days later I was listening to NPR and they were singing the praises of advances in the understanding of genetics and Gregor Mendel. At his name, something twinged in me. I felt myself transported to some point in fifth grade…I saw the squares and the capitalized and lower case letters flash before mine stupid eyes when the realization dawned that I would not be getting the expected snow/sugar/garden peas. My peas would be miscegenating! I did a mini scream in the car when this occurred and smacked my forehead a few times. Before deciding that there could be worse surprises.