BOOTS

Yesterday, Rita Prothero, the professional organizer was helping me with organizing and gathering up Celia's personal belongings to be donated, she  noticed some of my old boots in the closet from days gone by, and said to me, "there must be some good stories to tell about those boots".  Indeed there is.   My first thought was all the money I spent over the years I worked for the Forest Service on six national forests from 1969 to 1995.    My best guess is $2500 was spent on a variety of boots used to climb over all kinds of terrain during those 26 years--open forests, steep brushy mountainsides, logging slash, fell and bucked timber, and miles of surveyed road lines before they were constructed.    Back in those days we were not reimbursed by the government for the cost of the boots.  That may be different these days.   We were allowed a tax deduction for work clothing, but most of us forestry technician types did not make enough money to itemize tax deductions.   We were required to have high top boots for adequate support for working in the woods.  My first pair of boots were vibram sole Red Wings.  I think they cost $80 back then.   That was a lot of  money for a seasonal fire fighter in 1969 making $2.39/hour.   When I went to work at Orleans on the Six Rivers National Forest in 1971, the vibran soles did not provide the traction in the vines and heavy brush we encountered on a daily basis on the steep slopes, while working in the woods preparing timber sales.    It was time to invest in caulk boots (boots with small spikes on the soles).  These boots costs $180 to $200+ depending on the brand and quality of the boot.    The cheaper boots would usually last two years and were to far gone for any kind of repair work.  It was common to have a pair of caulk boots and a pair of vibram boots.    At the end of a day we would change out of our caulk boots into tennis shoes before driving back to the ranger station.   When it came time to burn logging slash, after the first fall rains, caulk boots were necessary to get us through the clearcut units that were covered with cull logs, limbs of all sizes and fallen hardwood trees.  It was rare to ever have our feet on solid ground when making our way across many of these clearcut units carrying drip torches.   Even with caulk boots I had my fair share of slips and falls.   I feel lucky to have made it this far, and it was many of those boots that got me here today.