mlroseplant

It's been a while since this thread has been active, but I've got a post for it. I will say that this is only my first failure of 2025, but I'm kind of bummed about it. I bought these Steve Madden Klory pumps about 2 1/2 years ago, and was thrilled that I had finally found the perfect pair of beige/nude colored shoes. Sometime within the last couple of months, the heel on the right shoe has ceased to be vertical. Not only does this offend my visual sensibilities, they don't walk quite right anymore. I have no idea what really caused this, but I'm guessing it's a bent shank. In any case, I have to bin them. I probably won't replace them, even though I've found an identical pair, because I already have several pair that are so close in color and style that I feel silly spending money and space on something that I absolutely don't need. For comparison, I've also included a picture which illustrates why I feel silly replacing them. The middle shoe is the one from the pair I've had to toss. The only on the right is actually the one I wear the most. The one on the left is new, a different brand, and is unvetted as of yet. I might do a separate post on that pair in the future. For those interested in such things, the heel heights are 4 1/2", 4 5/8", and 4 3/4", right to left of course.

To be sure, the Iowa interaction on the street is typically very brief, and rarely includes actually stopping one's pedestrian momentum, but it does exist. If the weather is particularly remarkable, it might involve slowing down and turning around slightly to get in a couple more words about how cold it is, or how nice it is. The grocery store or post office is a completely different animal in that regard. That might involve a much longer conversation.

That is downright Iowan of you!

I believe the phrase was originally written by Justice Potter Stewart in one of the several important First Amendment cases ruled on by the Supreme Court in the 1960s. I can't remember the name of the case, but 30 years later, I still remember that phrase, "I know it when I see it." I would prefer not to see the moose knuckle, and I don't really think it's a very good look. Of course the problem with Stewart's little catchphrase it that it leaves so much up to the discretion of the beholder, and is not really an objective standard. If memory serves, this was actually addressed at some point in a later case.

That brings back up a very interesting subject once again. Why do women still wear high heels? I think increasingly, it's all an illusion of what used to be fashionable in years past. It is certainly not required anymore, but even young girls hold on to this image of a high heeled life. It's just that very few of us are actually willing to do what it takes to actually live it. I went to school with a girl who wore heels regularly. In fact, she was notable for wearing higher heels than practically everybody else. She, unlike me, got a job right out of college in the financial sector, and she's still there to this day, not far from retirement. She recounted at some point that in her first years at the job, she was expected to show up every day in a skirt and heels and hosiery. That's how she dressed a couple of times a week in high school by choice, so I'm thinking, "What's wrong with that?" As it turns out, as work dress codes have relaxed, she gladly ditched all of that stuff, and now brags about how she hasn't worn heels in years. This tells me that there is simply a fundamental difference between how we view high heels and how the general populace view them.

Yeah, that's one of the major reasons I never wear leggings as a substitute for pants. They're always in conjunction with something, usually other pants for the wintertime. In the same vein, I have discovered a pitfall of wearing shorts the length that I like, and that is when you sit down, you have to pay particular attention to where the plumbing goes.

I've never actually been to the British Isles, but from what I hear, I'm very surprised. Where I live, if two people pass on the street (and it's not a crowded place), it's almost rude not to acknowledge each other somehow, but I understand that people from other parts of the world think this is very strange, if not downright creepy.

I go back and forth with that a bit. Beyond the shoes, I wear women's pants, but they don't particularly scream feminine looking. My winter coats and jackets are admittedly outside the norm, but not outlandish. The one thing you could say about my wardrobe that is definitely unusual is my shorts, all of which are considerably above mid-thigh. However, it's not necessarily out of a desire to look feminine. It's out of a desire to create the illusion that my legs are longer than 18 inches. I believe I get by with it by dumb luck--that is, I have the right build and the right proportion to get by with it. I cannot recall in the 12 years since I've been wearing shorts from the other side of the store anybody saying anything negative about the length of my shorts. But yeah, I'm not really going for an overall feminine look.

I am awfully sure that was a brain fart on Cali's part--he knows very well what the usual British term for "sport shoe" is. Sport shoe, by the way, is what my wife always calls them, but English is not her first language. I have always called them tennis shoes, regardless of their actual design. And you have to pronounce that all in one word, "tennishoes." People in my area, particularly women, used to refer to them as "tennies." I believe "tennies" is an outdated term, but I don't know that for sure. I never talk with people about sport shoes nowadays. The subject somehow just never comes up, can you believe that? I can tell you for sure that the terms "high heels" and "heels" have not drifted or changed in meaning for fifty years. Here is a picture of my lone pair of tennis shoes, which are actually designed to be cheerleading shoes. They appear to have a split sole, like a dancing shoe, but it's an illusion. The part between the rubber outsoles is not flexible in the least. I don't hate them, but I also haven't worn them in probably a year, since I last visited Vietnam.

That's taking hi-viz to a new level!

I discovered a couple of days ago that even I have my limits, especially when I slack off on the conditioning exercises. I spent most of the day Sunday in 4 1/2" heels, which was not altogether unpleasant, but come Monday the bottom of my left foot was wanting to cramp up something fierce. It wasn't completely debilitating, but it also proves that I am not Superman. This picture is not new, but it contains the shoes I wore for the better part of the day, Steve Madden Daisie model.

I have had these wedge heeled rain boots for a very long time. They are supposed to be shiny, but they were in a corner covered with dust, and I wasn't going to take the time to clean them up just for this comment. I have worn them occasionally in the past, and they don't do a horrible job of pretending to be actually utilitarian. About 2 1/4" heels. Those Hunters with the 3 1/2" block heel look pretty sharp (for a rain boot), so of course they quit making them!

Thanks for the thoughts about that. It does have some sentimental value, but not all that much. If I could somehow get the bike it replaced back, an old 3 speed planetary, Sears brand I believe, that would have a lot more sentimental value than the Gitane. After all, I got dumped out of that one at least once! Remember those old rear mounted child seats? Ha! Mom never really could get the hang of a 10 speed. I think it spent most of its early life in one gear. I'll get in touch once we dig the bike out of its currently fairly buried spot in the garage in the spring. I might not be interested in rebuilding the thing, but my son might. He knows all wot's wrong with it, and why we haven't fixed it yet. He took over practically all that stuff some 10 years ago. Now, I'm his helper, rather than the other way around.

Thank you for supplying that word. It had not been a part of my vocabulary for quite some time. I'm trying to remember everything that's wrong with that bike. For one thing, some part of the rear axle or cluster gear assembly is bent to the extent that the derailleur make noise no matter how to have it adjusted. It wobbles something fierce. It seems to me that something also went wrong in the crankcase area. I do remember we are missing several ball bearings, and I don't think I lost any during disassembly. I know one of the cotter pins is worn, so you've got a lot of slop in one of the crank arms. It's enough broken stuff that the thing will probably wind up in the scrap yard one of these days. I certain have other ways of spending my time and money. I did have fun with it for quite some time.

It really depends on exactly what type of sandal you're wearing. The ones pictured above give you quite a bit more coverage than something with really thin straps. I definitely plan on taking them for a spin within a couple of days, when temperatures are forecast to be around 50º/10º. I don't know that I'd want to go to an outdoor football game in sandals at that temperature, but certainly they're fine if you're either moving constantly or just going from the car into the grocery store.

Even on the sandal thread, it seems I'm surrounded by boot guys! Even outside of this forum, I am surrounded by boot guys. How is that? Under your collective influence and needling, I have actually bought and worn boots this winter more than any other winter in recent memory, and I don't hate it, but I am ready for sandals again. I might get the chance fairly soon. Looks like the weather is due for a substantial warmup within 3-4 days.

Pictured below is my Gitane circa 1980. Pictured riding said bicycle is my friend the shoe lady. While her footwear is not terribly high heeled, she always wears cute sandals in the summer, never Crocs, Birkenstocks, or rubber flip-flops. Although this picture is from over 10 years ago, I still have the bike. It is old school steel lugged frame, a 10 speed with stem shifters. My dad purchased this brand new for my mom back in the day, and as you can see, it's one of those hybrid frames to allow a skirt to be worn. I can't remember what that type of frame was called. I dragged this thing out 12 years ago, did a lot of work to it, put new tires on it, and thought I was going to compete in a triathlon with it. Wrong! I didn't really know much when I started (still don't), but evidently this bike was built to a price point, and built so cheaply that I literally broke it in several places, pushing it in ways it was never designed to be pushed. It is virtually unrideable now, and you can't really get parts for it, being French and all. However, if I could get parts for it, it would be pretty easy to fix, even by a know-nothing like me.

It is definitely the wrong season for these, even for me, but I'm good and ready to wear sandals again. I picked these up on ebay, and they turned out to be pretty great, or at least so I think having yet to wear them out in the real world. Below zero temperatures are a little extreme even to snap a quick picture, so you get the picture on top of the clothes dryer for now. They are Nine West, but newer Nine West, so you get a weird model name and questionable quality. The model is called Wilia3. Why 3? I have no idea. They seem pretty solid, but only time will tell. The heels are 5 1/4" coupled with 1" platforms, so they are reasonably steep. They are a little bit unusual in the sense that the heels are asymmetrical in their dimensions, being 3/4" fore-and-aft, but only 1/2" side-to-side.

It just goes to show you that everything is so specialized these days. I'm assuming that the electric shift bicycles are not for general public consumption--or maybe they are, because nobody rides a bicycle anymore for actual transportation. Not even kids. It's kind of sad, actually. Over in Vietnam, it's a different story. There are a tiny, tiny segment of the population who have "modern" bicycles, and those are the rich folks. Everybody else rides super heavy old school single speed bicycles. You don't go very fast on these things, but you could throw them off a cliff, leave them in the ocean for a year, and they'd still get you from Point A to Point B when you dug them out.

I took the cargo van up to Des Moines yesterday (which we bought for my wife's business), and was noticing that it's getting pretty rusty. Luckily, my son's best friend's dad owns and runs a local body shop. The guy also happens to be a phenomenal trumpeter! Many of us blue collar guys have hidden talents. The reason that this relates to the larger topic is because this family is of a rather conservative Christian nature, but in the end have accepted me as I am because I guess they figure I'm an all right guy after all. Actions and character evidently speak louder than shoes.

It is still better than mud. 😀

In defense of Shyheels's assertion, it is generally a lot cheaper here in the U.S. to keep an older car. Although I know there are states that do require annual inspection, my state is not one of them. There is certainly not a nationwide test such as the MOT that exists in the U.K. Although I don't have personal experience, I understand that many older cars are junked because of the expense of getting them to pass the MOT. MOT stands for Ministry of Transport, which was the regulatory body in existence when these annual inspections were first implemented.

What with all this snow we've gotten, I haven't worn heels in about 3 days. Yup, the formula holds true. I can feel THAT.

It goes without saying that where I live, a car is not an option. There is no public transportation here, I swear to God. There are city buses in Des Moines, but you have to get there first. Most of my work is outside the bus routes anyway. It used to be you could take the train up to Des Moines, but that was at least 60 years ago. I can remember exploring the abandoned depot as a kid before they finally tore it down. So it's a car for me. Yeah, my $5,000 car does need some love every once in a while, but luckily I have both the skills and facilities to accomplish most anything that does not require a hoist. Insurance is laughably cheap!

A number of years in my past, I used to chase wind turbines. It's not quite the challenge of climbing high voltage towers, but I did always prefer a boot with a distinct heel on it for climbing those ladders. On the flip side, I found out the hard way that logging boots are not really the best thing for working at any facility that has grated flooring. I can remember my first day out at the Cargill corn plant in the fermentation building. I wore logging boots, and I have no idea how I did not faceplant at some point in the day coming down the grated stairs, as the giant lugged soles would tend to catch on the grating.