Everyone (well, one person) is asking me, “What kind of cowboy boots do you wear in a blizzard like today’s?” The answer is: ones you don’t care about. Every boot-wearer needs a good, sturdy pair that you can wear in rain, snow and slush, and just kick off at the end of the day. My default boot for dire conditions is a pair I bought for almost nothing on eBay. They are sturdy and well-constructed, with wood-pegged soles, and have nicely stitched vamps and colorful tops. I rarely polish them, and don’t insert the cedar boot trees that occupy the rest of my boots. They’ll probably last forever. Here they are:
Blizzard boots
February 2, 2011 • 10:22 am
Don’t be silly. You can’t mush in those.
You need Kamik boots, Made in Canada, ’cause we know winter.
http://www.kamik.com/GenfootWeb/servlet/webProductDisplay.webProductDisplaySrv?currentMode=DETAIL&curCatalog=2010&curSeason=WINTER2010&curRow=86
My wife has a pair of Kamik’s, of course we live in Saskatoon, so I think the weather is a little cooler here (+2C is forecast for tomorrow!).
Yesterday when I walked Doom and Destruction it was -43C with windchill.
Ok so that explains why you struggled into work today: so that you could take that picture with the correct background. I understand now.
When I am out doing snow removal here at home in the Midwest (like today, several shifts of 1 to 1.5 hours each), I wear full length pull-on Bogs boots. They look a little like outsize Wellies and are waterproof, but they are insulated. The only boots I have found that keep my feet warm even after 2 or 3 hours outside.
Oooh! Oooh! I know this one!
Bos primigenius, right?
What do I win?
Cheers,
b&
I’ve done plenty of Michigan winters in my time and those look to me like fall-on-your-ass boots.
🙂
+ 1
You are in for it today (and yesterday!) Good work just getting to work! I suppose the trains are running.
What’s with the pennies?
After the budget cuts, that’s what a full professor gets for lab supplies, I guess.
Nice! Ya they probably will last for ever.
I don’t own any cowboy boots, because I do not see how one could safely navigate snow and ice with a shoe/boot with no tread. Any advice on their usefulness in this weather. I live in northern VT and it has been snowing for almost 24 hours.
What is the consensus (or at least widely-held) opinion on boots outside vs. inside the bottom of the trousers? I ask because in this picture, it appears some snow adhered to the lower part of Dr. Coyne’s jeans then melted, resulting in wet pants (or that could be a shadow). Had the jeans been tucked into the boots, perhaps no snow would have accumulated and melted?
If you wear the jeans inside the boots in snow you inevitably get water, via melted snow, inside your boots. Of course it’s a bit foolish to be outside during a snowstorm in those boots, as others have noted, anyways. Some nice Sorels or something similar, with a gaiter top, would be much more practical.
Dear Professor Jerry Coyne:
First of all, thank you: the habit of reading this website is a nice part of my life.
And now to the subject that concerns me this time:
I write from Guatemala (you visited us in 2009: that’s why my copy of WEIT is autographed)
to report a piece of news combining (but in a sad, bad way) boots and kittehs:
http://www.prensalibre.com/noticias/justicia/Detenido-zapatero-animales-extincion-Guatemala_0_423557863.html
In Pastores, a town which is near Antigua Guatemala and which specializes in cowboy footwear, a boot-maker has been captured, facing charges of illegal wildlife trade. Apparently he exercised his craftsmanship on the hides of endangered animal species.
The Guatemalan police’s YouTube channel features a video which shows the evidence, including jaguar boots:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZRrfPMSuDE&feature=youtube_gdata
Sorry.
And you’re welcome.
Jorge Luis Méndez Cerna.