Watchdog
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Don't laugh.
I got the idea for this thread from another thread here about White's Boots.
I know there's a bunch of y'all on this forum who hunt, hike, go off-roading (+1), or just get out in the boonies to shoot. And I know you have a favorite pair of boots...maybe boots that you've had for years and years...boots that you'll never get rid of.
I figured it might make an interesting thread, so let's see your old faithful companions, and if you've got a story, a gun, or even your dog to go along with them, so much the better!
I'll start it off.
My first job when I got out of the service was working for the power company, building those big steel towers you see out in farmers' fields, up on mountain tops, and otherwise out in the middle of nowhere. I could tell you some stories about some of the people I met way back in the hills of Appalachia.
Anyway, I needed some boots. My old bring-home-spit-shined military jump boots were in tatters after just two weeks on the job. They were worthless in cold weather, and they'd slip off wet river rocks quicker 'n you could say, "Damn, that water's cold!" Take my word for it...you do not want to get your feet soaked in the creek when it's 10 degrees and snowing.
I bought these Herman Survivor boots in 1970. I can't remember what they cost, but they were ridiculously expensive back then...especially for me, since I was only making $2.40 an hour. They weren't made in China back then, either.
Forty-five years later, I still have them. Even the laces are original. After I came to my senses and left the power company job, these boots worked the pedals on a big Ford tri-axle dump truck and trudged through piles of sharp edged stone at the quarry. Even after I got a "civilized" job for the rest of my working life (less said about that, the better), these boots carried me up and down mountains in western North Carolina and Tennessee. Kept my feet warm in 14-inch deep snow in Pisgah National Forest, and kept me from busting my butt going down into Linville Gorge and back out. All this was back before hiking and rock climbing were "sports".
All that was a long time ago. I still wear the boots in winter here when I go up into the Smoky Mountains.
In this photograph, they still have some months-old dried mud on them from getting out in a mudhole to turn the manual hubs on my old 4WD truck.
Lots of memories associated with these boots, and they will probably outlast me. Get rid of 'em? Shoot. Not on your tintype.
I got the idea for this thread from another thread here about White's Boots.
I know there's a bunch of y'all on this forum who hunt, hike, go off-roading (+1), or just get out in the boonies to shoot. And I know you have a favorite pair of boots...maybe boots that you've had for years and years...boots that you'll never get rid of.
I figured it might make an interesting thread, so let's see your old faithful companions, and if you've got a story, a gun, or even your dog to go along with them, so much the better!
I'll start it off.
My first job when I got out of the service was working for the power company, building those big steel towers you see out in farmers' fields, up on mountain tops, and otherwise out in the middle of nowhere. I could tell you some stories about some of the people I met way back in the hills of Appalachia.
Anyway, I needed some boots. My old bring-home-spit-shined military jump boots were in tatters after just two weeks on the job. They were worthless in cold weather, and they'd slip off wet river rocks quicker 'n you could say, "Damn, that water's cold!" Take my word for it...you do not want to get your feet soaked in the creek when it's 10 degrees and snowing.
I bought these Herman Survivor boots in 1970. I can't remember what they cost, but they were ridiculously expensive back then...especially for me, since I was only making $2.40 an hour. They weren't made in China back then, either.
Forty-five years later, I still have them. Even the laces are original. After I came to my senses and left the power company job, these boots worked the pedals on a big Ford tri-axle dump truck and trudged through piles of sharp edged stone at the quarry. Even after I got a "civilized" job for the rest of my working life (less said about that, the better), these boots carried me up and down mountains in western North Carolina and Tennessee. Kept my feet warm in 14-inch deep snow in Pisgah National Forest, and kept me from busting my butt going down into Linville Gorge and back out. All this was back before hiking and rock climbing were "sports".
All that was a long time ago. I still wear the boots in winter here when I go up into the Smoky Mountains.
In this photograph, they still have some months-old dried mud on them from getting out in a mudhole to turn the manual hubs on my old 4WD truck.
Lots of memories associated with these boots, and they will probably outlast me. Get rid of 'em? Shoot. Not on your tintype.
