These Boots Lasted, But They're Done

Good bye old friends.

In 2010 I did a post about making my old boots last. At that time they had logged 22 years of faithful service. Then I used them for five more years. Now I am going to start making a new pair last. They probably will be my last.

I try to make my possessions last as long as possible.  It is part of my anti-planned obsolescence, anti-upgrade, anti-progress-for-the-sake-of-progress crusade. Or put another way, my pro-make it last plan.

A case in point would be my leather hiking boots. In the 27 years I used them they passed over thousands of kilometres of this beautiful Earth, ranging from mountain tops to endless sandy beaches.

My new boots were a steal of a deal in 2004. But I wasn't done with my old ones yet - they were only 16 years old at the time. Just getting started.

Hello new friends.

However, I knew that I would eventually need new boots, and have been carrying the new ones, waiting for the time me and my old boots could agree on a retirement date. Now, with separating flattened soles and wrecked rands, we agreed the time has come.

Enter the newly treated brand new-ish pair.

If these boots last as long as the old ones, I will be an 80 year old dude snowshoeing through the woods, my "new" boots as weathered as I am. There is a goal to work toward. It starts tomorrow - the snow is great.

Pillowy, powder prevails in the back yard woods.