{"id":65,"date":"2008-04-22T07:10:00","date_gmt":"2008-04-22T11:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/?p=65"},"modified":"2008-04-22T07:10:00","modified_gmt":"2008-04-22T11:10:00","slug":"what-it-is-to-be-a-bootman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/?p=65","title":{"rendered":"What it is to be a Bootman?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_yytsDp42pSs\/SA3JK6TX_kI\/AAAAAAAAAJA\/JClymLM4WOc\/s1600-h\/TLblack03.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 198px; height: 268px;\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_yytsDp42pSs\/SA3JK6TX_kI\/AAAAAAAAAJA\/JClymLM4WOc\/s320\/TLblack03.jpg?w=584\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5192027134714445378\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-family:verdana;\">I have had some boots, like these <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bootedman.com\/cowboy\/tlblack.html\">Tony Lama black cowboy boots<\/a> for 35 years.  And they still hold up quite well.  A little polish and brushing, and they&#8217;re ready to hit the street.  (Well, actually, go to work.)  And because they&#8217;re so old, they are well broken in and are comfortable.  Old Tony Lamas were made better than the current versions, on better lasts (forms), and hold their comfort over time.<\/p>\n<p>People have asked me over the years about why I wear boots all the time and if I really wear all the boots I have.   Why wear boots?  I just like &#8217;em.  How they feel, how they look, and how they protect my feet.  And yes, I wear most all of the pairs of boots that I own.  There are some pairs of boots that are uncomfortable, some have been abused, and a couple pairs need new soles.  Some boots in the &#8220;less used&#8221; category are used for for certain specific activities in which I occasionally engage, such as skydiving or  tromping through muddy terrain, or are a lot of trouble to deal with, such as tall lace-up boots (I just don&#8217;t have the patience to lace boots).<\/p>\n<p>Some guys have posted on &#8220;Boots On Line&#8221; about being nervous about what other people may say about being seen in boots.  Heck, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">nobody cares<\/span>!  I may have had some people say something from time to time like &#8220;are those cowboy boots?&#8221; &#8212; and despite wanting to give some kind of wisecrack retort, I just smile and say, &#8220;Sure are!  Aren&#8217;t they cool?&#8221; or something like that.<\/p>\n<p>I really do wear my boots.   That&#8217;s what they are:  footwear.  I change boots often, rotate the boots in my basement boot closet with those in my bedroom closet, and with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bootedman.com\/\">my &#8220;bootedman.com&#8221; website<\/a>, I know what I have, what I like, and what perhaps haven&#8217;t been worn in a while.  I enjoy this avocation &#8212; not fetish &#8212; because, to my core, I am a &#8220;Bootman&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Life is short.  Wear your boots.<br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-family:verdana;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have had some boots, like these Tony Lama black cowboy boots for 35 years. And they still hold up quite well. A little polish and brushing, and they&#8217;re ready to hit the street. (Well, actually, go to work.) And &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/?p=65\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cowboy-boots","category-motorcycle-boots"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=65"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=65"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=65"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=65"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}