Yearly Archives: 2015

Strathcona Boots from Alberta Boot Company

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strathcona_hibrownI have enjoyed conversations via email and phone with the President of Alberta Boot Company which is a family-owned bootmaker based in Calgary, Canada.

The Alberta Boot Company President contacted me when he found my Guide to Motorcycle Police Patrol Boots on an internet search.

Like others, I have seen and admired the Strathcona police patrol boot that this company makes, especially the “hi-brown” style worn by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. But I regret, until now, that I had not listed Alberta Boot Company on my Patrol Boot Guide. (That has been corrected.)

Through dialogue, I learned that the boots made by Alberta Boot Company…
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Clothing Association Avoidance

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BHDR243I received an email the other day from the spouse of a guy who is from Oklahoma. He said that his husband

hates everything cowboy, including the boots. He thinks that cowboy culture perpetuates discrimination against gays in his hometown.

The email writer wanted to find ways to encourage his husband to embrace his roots, and try (at least) to wear boots. The writer himself enjoys wearing boots, and he would like his husband who hails from Oklahoma to do so.

As a youth, I spent a lot of time in Oklahoma — six months each year for my prime years of youth. Yep, that’s where my fondness of wearing western wear and cowboy boots was born, and even today while living in the eastern U.S. — Maryland — I wear cowboy boots every day that I don’t ride my Harley. I wear them to work, to professional and casual meetings, around town, etc.

However, knowing my fondness of “everything cowboy,” you may be surprised at my answer to this email. I wrote…
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A Leatherman or a Man Who Wears Leather?

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LanglitzmeonbikeSomeone with whom I am having an intriguing email dialogue asked me this question:

I remember reading an old blog post of yours that mentioned that you had always worn leather for riding a motorcycle, and that therefore, no one suspected that you were a gay man into leather. When you finally wore full leather all the time, did you ever feel like you had a second coming out experience since it was admitting that you belong to a subculture within a subculture?

Excellent question! My response (after the jump):
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Lacing Shafts of Patrol Boots

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Cops54I received an email from a motor officer who works in a southern state’s motor unit (photo shown from Mid-Atlantic Motorcycle Police Competition of 2011 — not the unit of the officer who wrote to me.) The officers in his unit all wear the same style of patrol boot — Chippewa trooper boots. These boots have a laced instep and a laced closure at the top of each boot shaft.

He asked me for advice on how to lace the closures on the sides (shafts) of his boots so the laces will not come untied while riding. He said that the other cops in his unit have been doing different things, and he wanted to “ask an expert.”

I’m not quite an expert, but I guess with the number of boots that I own and show on my website, including a pair of the same boots, perhaps I can help.

However, most of my motorcycle police patrol boots have buckle closures at the top of the boot shafts. I prefer a buckle closure because it is cleaner and never requires much fuss. But to answer his question, I looked at what other cops who wear boots like his do…
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Keeping Leather Clean

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Langlitz29I very much appreciate suggestions for blog posts that I receive from regular visitors. Today I give a special word of thanks to “Xapollo” who asked me to write about “How to keep leather shirts and pants clean without paying a fortune to the cleaners.”

Yep, as regular readers of this blog know, I have a lot of motorcycle leather gear and “other” leather gear that I wear for more private fun with my spouse, and used to wear when my spouse and I went out to leather events or bars back in the day.

Leather is an investment. Good gear is not cheap. Here are my suggestions about keeping leather garments clean.
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Snow Day!

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Snow02132014dA large snowstorm has been forecast, and the area where I live is supposed to receive 8 to 10 inches (20 to 25cm) of snow, which for the DC Metro area, shuts everything down. Schools, offices, as well as local, state, and Federal Government agencies are closed.

However, that doesn’t mean that I am not working.

Contrary to misinformed belief, work-life continues for many of us on a snow day…
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Choose a Job You Love and Never Work a Day In Your Life

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Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
― Confucius

I cannot say that I “chose” my current job, but I did “choose” my career path.

I have had jobs before that I enjoyed, but eventually burned out or things changed so much that we mutually saw that parting company was best for my sanity and their… well, whatever reasons they had.

I had a job I loved for 20 years, then it crashed and burned when I got reorganized with the wrong-headed, money-grubbing side of the company.

I had a job that I tolerated, but we knew it was a “holding pattern” until something else came along.

Then I was chosen…
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