Yes, this IS work! Random shots taken yesterday. I found a way to download them from my camera.
And this creature startled me when it crawled over my boots. It is an iguana, and lives here. It made me jump such that I almost fell into the ocean! LOL!
Life is short: love what you do, and admire hard work of many who make good things happen and protect and serve others.
I arrived safely at my destination with three flights, the last one being in a very small plane landing at a very small airstrip on the southern far western coast of an island called La Isla del Encanto — the enchanted island, the most populated U.S. island in the Atlantic. Figure out where I am?
And man, is it ever enchanted here. I love the people and the energy they bring to life. The primary language is Spanish, spoken with great gusto and rapidity. While I understand the language, it takes me a couple days to jump back in by re-tuning my ear.
Despite a snowfall that greeted me yesterday morning (brought on by the witch doctor conjuring of a biker buddy who lives in New Hampshire), it was not too bad. I left an hour earlier than I usually would to drive to the airport. I am glad that I did, as traffic was light but very slow. I made all of my airline connections, and lots of “local friendlies” helped me every step of the way. That included picking me up at the final destination airport because everyone in the world knows that I get lost so easily. Woo-hoo, I do not have to drive!
Today as you read this post, my firefighter boots will be planted on sands of beaches where some exercises (not physical, but tactical) are taking place and that I am officially observing.
I brought my camera, but forgot the cord to connect it to the computer, so my posts from this location will be sin fotografías.
I was taken to dinner by some colleagues at a casual restaurant. They even accommodated my crazy “earlybird” lifestyle by eating very early — at 6pm. Their usual dinnertime is about 9pm. While I remembered to say, “sin tomates y cebollas” (without tomatoes and onions), I forgot how to say “sin ketchup.” I thought catsup/ketchup was some other word in Spanish. I forgot to tell them to leave it off. Unfortunately, I cannot eat that, either, without setting off my chronic illness. Oh well, I scraped off as much of it as I could. That was the worst of the experience … and if that is the worst, than it really has not been a bad trip at all. 🙂
I love my job. I love what I do. I am a happy man in boots — but I have to tell ‘ya, no leather. It is 85°F (29°C) and humid — too warm for leather. But not for the warm smiles greeting me everywhere.
Life is short: love the energy in all parts of your country, and the people and the places and what brings you to these places!
Well, friends, as I predicted … my job has picked up in intensity. I find myself working 12-hour and longer days. That’s fine, I enjoy being busy. I also have a lot of business travel to do, including a trip that begins today.
That is provided I can get out. I’ve so annoyed a biker buddy who lives up north that he conjured a Witch Doctor to make it snow, and according to weather forecasts at the time I am writing this post, he has succeeded. My flight today may or may not depart on time… we will see. However, being the preparedness guy that I am, I have loaded lots of music into an iPod that I got as a gift recently, and have plenty of books to read.
Because I have been so busy with work, I have less free time. My free time is committed to caring for my partner, family, and legion of senior pals, and then doing community volunteer work and civic activism. I also make a big effort to continue my walking routine for health, exercise, and weight management. I am walking for at least an hour each day. After all these things, if any time is left, then I compose blog posts. There just isn’t time right now for blogging, as much as I would like.
Further, I have run out of ideas to write blog posts about. My home life is fine, my work life is busy, my community life still goes on. But there is nothing of any consequence to write about. Rather than fill space, I’ll just take a “break for busy.” However, I am always open to ideas to blog about, so if you have any, let me know.
Thank you for your continual readership. If I get internet access where I am going, I will blog again with some photos and stories, perhaps.
Life is short: enjoy “busy!”
I have mentioned before on this blog that I have a large family. Larger than most, and very involved with each other. We truly try to help each other out when we can. Not only my siblings, but also my cousins, nieces, nephews, and greats… literally, hundreds of ’em.
This past weekend has found me involved with family up to my eyeballs.
Friday night featured our regular family dinner. About 40 of us gathered at a sister’s house to enjoy a meal, lots of talking, banter, and familial camaraderie. I only go for a couple hours — pretty much only enough time to eat and chat for a little bit. But seeing my family once each week really means a lot to all of us. I rarely miss a Friday night with the fam, unless I’m away on business travel.
My partner and I spent most of Saturday cleaning up and cleaning out my aunt’s apartment (the aunt for whom I cared for so many years and who died three weeks ago). I promised her sons — my cousins — that I would do that. It was a lot of work, as my aunt had more stuff squirreled away in places that I never knew she had — and I thought I was very familiar with her small apartment. Nonetheless, the place is empty, and it matches the hole in my heart.
During dinner Saturday evening, the phone rang. I seldom answer the phone but the caller ID showed that it was from a cousin who rarely calls, so I thought something was going on. Turned out that my cousin’s son had fallen and he was alone at his parent’s house. His parents were away on vacation to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. I ended up taking my cousin to the emergency room for an x-ray. He broke a rib. The doc gave him prescriptions for pain meds and sent him home. I took him back home, and did not arrive at my home until 1am on Sunday.
Sunday all day involved more family stuff. It began by going to church to see a couple “great-greats” get baptized. These children, actually, are grandchildren of first cousins, so technically that makes them first cousins twice removed. Whatever… I spent time with another branch of this large family tree.
Then I did a short presentation that my boss asked me to make and had been pre-arranged. After that, I returned home and prepared lunch for my partner, then took off to attend not one, but two birthday parties for more “greats” (grandchildren of a brother and a sister who are twins, and these grandchildren are twins… pretty odd, but not all that unusual.)
How was I dressed? Casually — boots, jeans, and leather jeans throughout the weekend. Nothing different or unusual for me. I did wear a nice pair of slacks to church and to make the presentation on Sunday, and wore a good pair of dress cowboy boots. But when I returned to “my own time,” casual wear returned to leather.
My family is important to me, and I spend a lot of time with them. I feel that to be part of a large family, you have to spend time with them. And believe me, in MY family, there are always opportunities LOL!
Life is short: love your family!
I was musing with my friend Bamaboy as we were discussing… um… well, it’s personal, but let’s say that it has to do with how bodily functions shut down after abdominal surgery. Been there… done that. Painkillers cause constipation, and when your body begins to return to function, … let’s just say that a lot of gas is involved. It ain’t pretty. Might even cause the terror-finders to bring back that silly color code system again. 🙂
I explained to him that after I had gone to Puerto Rico after several hurricanes, doing disaster relief work, there was not much food available on the island because the resources had been depleted. All that we could find was rice, beans, and tostones (plantains).
I tell ‘ya, while millions of people enjoy that kind of food, it doesn’t work for me. My body reacts to it so violently that … well … I developed enough “natural gas” that I could have flown home from those assignments without an airplane.
Thank goodness my next visit there next week will not be for relief work. I hope to be able to find foods that do not collide with my chronic health condition. Fish would be nice. You’d think an island surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Caribbean Sea on the other would have lots of fresh fish. Well, they do, but mostly for the touristas. Thank goodness I will have understanding local hosts who will help me, so when it comes time to return, I will sit in an airplane and not be self-propelled. LOL!
Life is short: love your work, your travel, and the wonders of the world.
This was an interesting question entered into a Google search and landed on my website, at the tutorial on how cowboy boots and jeans. There is not any information on that tutorial about “problems” that happen when men wear boots.
I am not a podiatrist, and don’t even play one on TV, but I have opinions….
To be honest, the most common “problem” is what other people sometimes say, like wisecracks such as “where’s your horse?” This happens in areas of the United States where men wearing cowboy boots is not common, such as the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Honestly, this is only a “problem” if you allow it to be a problem.
Other problems do occur, namely:
1. Blisters: caused by the boot rubbing on softer skin of the heel and foot. If boots do not fit well, or slide, or are poorly constructed such that threads or interior leather components cause rubbing, then blisters may occur. Solution: a) if you have blisters, do not wear that pair of boots until the blisters heal. b) use moleskin, found at a drugstore, to provide cushion between the tender parts of your feet and the boot. c) thoroughly examine the inside of the boot where the rubbing happened to feel if there are rough parts, and try to remove them or use sandpaper to smooth them out. d) get good quality boots made by reputable manufacturers based in the U.S., Mexico, Canada, and Spain, not cheap Chinese-made junk.
2. Foot pain: usually in my experience foot pain happens when there is not enough support for the arch. Good quality insoles can help. Better quality boots will also help. See above.
3. Toe squeezing: contrary to popular belief, pointed-toe cowboy boots have plenty of room in the foot at the toes for human toes to fit. However, there have been reports about toes being squeezed together too tightly in some cowboy boots. Solutions: a) get pointed-toe cowboy boots a half-size larger so they are longer in the toe, or b) get boots that have a rounded toe so there is more room in the toe box.
4. Trips and falls: some people are not accustomed to wearing boots that have higher heels than typical dress shoes or sneakers. It is not unusual for a guy new to wearing boots to strike the boot’s heel on a stair or sidewalk and fall down. Solutions: a) practice walking in your boots on a smooth surface. Seriously — practice indeed helps! b) lift your feet rather than glide along. c) get boots with “walking heels” rather than higher, underslung heels. Most men don’t take well to high heels, myself included.
5. Wearing cowboy boots for the wrong application or at the wrong time: most cowboy boots have smooth leather soles. Because of that, the boots have little traction. If pavement is wet — or worse, if pavement is icy — then it is very likely that you could slip and fall. I do not recommend wearing cowboy boots on wet, icy, or snow-covered pavement. Doing so is a recipe for disaster, IMHO. Further, if you operate a motorcycle, I do not recommend wearing cowboy boots with smooth leather soles, either. Again, it is a traction issue. If you like the cowboy boot design and wish to wear boots of that design while operating a motorcycle, at least get them with rubber soles. If you have a pair of cowboy boots with leather soles that you would like to use on a motorcycle, then bring the boots to a cobbler to have rubber soles (or at a minimum a sole and heel plate) applied.
I think these are all of the common problems when wearing cowboy boots that I can think of. If you have more, please comment. That way, other people will see your comments when they read this post, or find it later which happens often thanks to search engines.
Life is short: wear boots!
I had one of those all-afternoon meetings for work yesterday. But I was actually looking forward to it, because I could ride my Harley to work… and park free… and enjoy temperatures in the low 70°s (21°C). And what made it even sweeter is that I was told, specifically, to come “dressed casually” as the meeting was going to be an “offsite” — this is a term for meeting somewhere other than the office. In this case, the meeting was in a restaurant.
I wore a nice pair of leather jeans with a regular shirt and my Chippewa Firefighter boots all shined up. Put on my lightweight leather jacket, gloves, and full-face helmet and off I went… cruisin’ down the road.
It’s great to pull into the public parking lot near my office and find designated motorcycle parking that is free. I worked darned hard to get legislation submitted and passed that provides free motorcycle parking at our county’s public parking lots, and I am still enjoying the results of that work (yeah, I’m cheap!)
And for the fashionistas who would go nuts about a man attending a professional meeting and interacting with colleagues and co-workers while dressed in a pair of leather jeans and boots — well, fa cosí sia! Not a problem! My colleagues listened to what I had to say, not gaped at what I wore. They respect me as a fellow professional. I don’t wear leather inside the office, but if we’re going to meet at a casual restaurant and I was told to dress casually, … then … so be it. BTW, one of my colleagues was in boots and jeans, too. (Though I’m the only biker of the bunch.)
Overall, if you have to have a long, work-related meeting, it makes it better if you can get there by Harley and wear your leather. As I said, “saweeeet!” I love my job.
Life is short: love what you do!
P.S.: to my buddy from NH: again, I do not mean to rub it in (too much!). We often get these short teasers this time of year where us bikers get out our bikes and think that we’re ready to begin the riding season when wham! – bang! the bottom will drop out of the thermometer and ice and snow return. But when these teasers happen, I want to take advantage of it.
I wonder if I have influenced my cousin to wear leather. Doesn’t he look great? I snagged this pic from Facebook, which is how I keep up with my large family these days.
He works as a model and an actor. He is happily married to my closest (in age) first cousin’s daughter (so does that make him a “first cousin once removed in law?” LOL!). Really great guy.
See, straight guys can wear leather, and look terrific in it! Now, all I have to do is get him out of flip-flops which I see him wearing much too often in family photos. I can’t tell, but I don’t think he was wearing flip-flops when the above photo was taken.
Life is short: wear leather!
I tell ‘ya, it isn’t easy receiving email after email from my favorite boot stores offering this-n-that deal. A few companies send email about once each quarter offering what truly is a sale price on certain boots. Since I have them all (LOL!), I just check out the photos and surf on.
It does get annoying, however, when Sheplers sends email almost every day pleading, “only 6 days left — all boots on sale” … then when you check a week later, it’s the same darned so-called sale with the same prices, with yet more pleas saying, “only 3 days left! Hurry!” (insert breathlessness).
As they say, “caveat emptor.” Especially caveat those Sheplers people. I like them and their products, I just don’t like their pricing policy with the list prices for their boots being marked up so the “discount” brings the boots to a price that is about the same as other retailers’ regular prices. I also do not like the frequency of their email. Every day, really? Don’t they realize we can see through their ploy?
Don’t get me wrong — Sheplers has some great boots at competitive prices once you work through the hype and pricing techniques. Their shipping charges are the highest in the U.S. western boot retailer industry, which is a major consideration.
Anyway, I recommend when shopping around for boots to get the exact name and style number of the boot that you want and then enter that into Google. You may find the boots at a significantly lower cost elsewhere. (This past blog post gives some tips on shopping for boots on the Internet).
Caveat Emptor — Let the buyer beware. It was true back in Roman times when the term was invented, and remains true today.
Life is short: compare and shop before buying!
I very rarely delve into political matters on this blog, leaving those comments to other blogs and places that I consider to be more appropriate for a discussion of that nature.
Let me make it clear, though: I am a gay man and I am in a relationship with another gay man who I consider to be my partner/husband/spouse. We have been together now for almost 18 years in a dedicated, supportive, monogamous relationship which we want to be recognized by our state through a marriage. Yes, marriage.
Why marriage? It’s a matter of fairness to me.
Why should my partner have to have a copy of a full Power of Attorney in hand when I go into a hospital for surgery? While my state has a provision in the law that specifically allows same-sex partners to be involved in decision-making in medical affairs should his partner be hospitalized due to an accident or injury, there are still some places where same-sex partners are not consulted and estranged parents of the injured partner are asked important medical questions. This is absolutely unfair, and the horror stories about this issue abound.
It’s also a matter of fairness in economics, as well. There are hundreds of laws and rules that provide tax and survivor benefits to married couples that we can’t get, even though our relationship is the same (except that it’s same-sex.)
Some specific legislation has been passed in our state that allows us to pass certain, but not all, of our estate to our partner without tax consequences — such as our house which we own JTWROS. But there are many other things that we cannot pass to the other without the other incurring huge tax burdens. For example, I own eight properties that I rent as affordable housing. I own those properties under an LLC (small business). My partner cannot inherit that business (and the value of its holdings) without humongous tax consequences — which wouldn’t apply if we were recognized as being legally married in our state. My problem is that I set up the LLC before I met my partner, and adding him on later would be equivalent only to something like any other third party whereas if he were female and I claimed him as a wife, he could come on as a legitimate partner in the business and receive ownership of its property upon my death without having to pay taxes and transfer fees for each holding within it immediately upon receipt (that is, upon my death.)
We have had to engage the services of an attorney to prepare documents related to our relationship and our respective “estates” to minimize the tax consequences when the other dies. However, we shouldn’t have to do that … but we have had to because we are a same-sex couple. To us, that’s fundamentally unfair.
Some people who are against gay marriage get all a-dither about children and raising children by a man and a woman. They say stupid, unfounded, emotional things about how badly children turn out when raised by same-sex couples. There are as many proofs that children raised by same-sex couples turn out fine as they are proofs that children raised by opposite-sex couples turn out badly and become criminals, sex offenders, and such. But that issue doesn’t apply to my partner and to me, as we do not have children and do not plan to adopt any. I have adopted enough in my nieces, nephews, and greats, thanks.
Marriage is NOT a religious institution. It is a civil institution. There is nothing in state law that says that one must be married by a member of the clergy and have the marriage recognized by a religious institution (church, mosque, synagogue, etc.) I don’t want the Pope’s blessing. I want my state, simply, to afford us (my partner and me) the same civil status as my neighbors.
I do not feel that this is too much to ask. As my state’s legislature ponders a bill before it that may, this year, afford us the ability to get the civil recognition that we want, I remain steadfast in sharing personal stories to educate my elected officials about how their actions impact the residents (and taxpayers) of our state. I feel that it is my civic duty, as well as my personal quest, to do that.
… and don’t get me started about DOMA and how it affects U.S. federal government employees in same-sex relationships. If you don’t know what DOMA is, don’t ask. It’s awful and will be faced in another fight on another battlefield but not anytime soon, especially in the current political environment.
‘Nuf said. Let us marry.
Life is short: civil marriage is a civil right.