CrushedVamp

I will try and keep that in mind. By the way, fun fact here: did you know it is impossible to tickle yourself? Leggings work really well for me because I am strange in that if my legs are warm, I can tolerate a lot of cold elsewhere. To some degree, not so much my feet as that can be another weak spot, but people are often surprised how little I wear on my top half. Like I almost never wear a jacket instead just wearing a sweatshirt over a T-shirt, and I am fine down to 0 degrees (F). But this is because other people don’t know my legs are protected by leggings, I look like I am wearing just jeans and a sweatshirt, but in reality, my legs are really warm so I’m fine. It is why I never saw the purpose of a vest. ‘It warms your core’, they say, but for me it would serve no purpose except paying for a garment that is half-useful with its sleeves lobbed off. I am surprised that someone has not come up with reflective leggings or a base layer as a way to retain more heat though. I use radiant barrier underneath all my floors; it is basically tin foil on both sides of bubble wrap. It is only a quarter inch thick (6 mm) but retains 95% of heat by breaking the reflective heat loss. I use it as insoles on my boots to keep my feet warmer in the winter. Sadly, it has an R-factor of only 1, but that is a misnomer because of the way the R-factor calculation does not account for various factors of heat loss. (Kind of like how horsepower is a poor way of calculating true power of something). I would think having a reflective base layer would retain even more body heat making a person warmer with no extra weight or bulk being added?

Awwwwww, don't be too hard on yourself. I have found EVERYTHING slows down in the winter. Yes, that might be in wearing high heels, but other things as well. It's not a bad thing. I learned that growing up on a farm. With no field work to do, we could slow down in the winter and enjoy other aspects of life more. Like playing pond hockey or going snowshoeing. I normally go for my walks daily, but with temps below zero and high winds, I have been putting it off. But that is okay, we are on the other side of the equinox and so the days are getting longer, the sun is higher in the sky, in another month things will be vastly different, and February is a very short month.

It is easy to confuse where people are from on a forum but you are thinking of another member of this forum who is from the Midwest. Like you I am from the East Coast as well faithfully watching the waves of the ocean crash into shore endlessly as I write this. But living on an island, there are lots of fisherman so lots of old skiffs and old antique outboards sitting in barns. Sadly, I do not remember the man’s name. I never was good with names anyway and this was back in 1995, so 31 years ago. He was probably 50 back then and may be departed now. I know he had a bout with cancer, was devoted to church, and loved to carve wood. I sold him a whole truckload of Basswood for the endeavor back then. That is about as much as I remember… I said in a previous post that “it typically warms up to snow”, and that might seem odd but it is so true. A lot of times it will be cold, but for a snowstorm jump from 5 degrees to thirty when the storm blows in. Not on this one, it is 2 degrees with a gale blowing and heavy bouts of snow. We are in for a long, hard blow tonight. I hope the power holds out, but we are pretty good in that regard. The wind blows so hard, so often out here that the power company has got the system hardened against wind. I remember one New Years night it was about -20 degrees (f) and blowing 20 mph and the ex-wife and I were out to a dance hall. She was wearing high heels and not something she was used too. Her feet hurt in them and so she took them off, and as we went to go home, she walked from the venue to the car, in -20 degree weather, in a plowed but snowy parking lot in just her pantyhose covered feet. I thought that was pretty tough! I know everyone on this forum would have been wearing their high heels. Was it ever cold that year!

Yeah, it is cold here too. The coldest day so far this winter at negative 6 below zero (F) as I type this, or negative 21 degrees (C). Other than the cold water under the kitchen sink freezing, nothing major to report from the cold. They are saying we are going to get slammed with 20 inches of snow (50 cm), but lately they like to hype things up so we shall see. I don’t expect more than a foot of snow really. But surprisingly it is not going to warm up to snow, staying cold and windy for the duration of the storm. We got our new furnace on Friday so it is nice to no longer be without heat and having to rely on small electric heaters to get by. But despite the new furnace; yes, I do have my leggings on as I type this. It was nice to hear you like antique outboard motors. I once worked with a guy who was the president of the local chapter regarding an antique outboard motor club. I am not sure if they are still active or not, but with so many fishermen here, there are a lot of skiffs. And fishermen… they do not throw anything away. I mean nothing! I bet half these barns here have antique outboard motors in them. They would never sell them, but sadly never do anything with them either.

Sorry, I brought up the sock-boots. I never saw them before. I think they are something my wife would like, so I might surprise her with a pair for Valentine's Day. i respect everyone's opinion of them and I am in no way trying to be argumentative. I just could see where she would like them. But I won't bring them up ever again on here!! 🙂

It is kind of sad how often that happens to innovators of society: they have a wild idea that is outside the mainstream and act on it, and then... it fizzles and dies. Typically right before it is picked up again and goes big by some entity that really had no early stakes in the game. A great example is the McDonald brothers who made meals fast, but it was Kroc who bought them out and took their idea internationally with the McDonald's we know today. I do too, and almost always do when I write on here. If I am home and lounging, I typically have my "soft pants" on, or leggings on, as in they are not jeans like when I work, or work in jeans around the house. In the winter, I am in leggings 100% of the time, as they are under my jeans for warmth, or I am in the house lounging.

Bikinis and weight do not correspond so well because women do not wear bikinis just because of what they reveal. Being guys, most of us have never tried to take off a wet, single piece bathing suit while in a rush to go to the bathroom, but watching any lady over 50, or with some weight issues try it, and it will quickly be ascertained why the bikini is so common to see. But drunk people, young children and leggings: those are the three things that always tell the truth! PS: I think my mom made me wear short-shorts during a summer in the late 70's-early 80's when she decided my sister and I should do track. Don't ask me about the year she decided my sister and I should do gymnastics. I am still traumatized by that.

I like them, and I can see the potential in them, I am just not sure this particular piece (or pieces) I care for. I think it is the tarnished color of them. Being jewelry, I would prefer to see more polished silver or gleaming gold. What exactly is represented? I am not sure: the creativity of people in the world amazes me so it will be interesting to see where jewelry designers take this. But it is nice to see a differing form of jewelry emerging.

I am not sure if this is to anyone's or everyone's tastes, style-wise, but this might work for some with smaller calf sizes? These are not for everyone, I know, but I was curious if anyone has seen them on here. Seems quite an ingenious way to get over-the-knee boots to fit properly. Sorry for the link, but I looked everywhere for the video itself and could not find it. https://pin.it/MwnRzOFLh

I think Go-Go Boots were just a product of their times. In the 1950’s you had McCarthyism here and a push to conform on everything. I mean if you need an example: the flat top haircut? With a bit of age, those in the late 1960’s and 1970’s railed against everything typical. From shag carpets to avocado-colored appliances to strings of beads to use as doors to miniskirts: EVERYTHING was a trial of sorts. A kind of throw everything out there and see what sticks. I see Go-Go Boots as part of that era… and overall effort. Some things that did stick are miniskirts and the bikini but only because they are also practical besides just fashionable. My wife wears a bikini but only because at 52 years old taking off a wet one-piece bathing suit requires human manipulation that borders on being a contortionist! I would never condemn anything of that time as I wish today we had some of that embolden fashion behavior. For many guys on here, you do. (Me, I am more demure unfortunately) The combat boots of the 1990’s were a variation of the Go-Go Boots I think, started about the same time that bellbottoms had a short resurgence. But then so did the resurgence with low budget horror movies that brought onto the screen people flailing in sinking sand. Talk about a cinematic trope straight out of the late 60’s! I think Go-Go Boots are well poised to return to mainstream fashion, just with a slight twist of some sort. What is old is new again after all. But I see them making a return…

I am not sure but I think the youtube I posted was probably spearheaded in some way by Amazon to garner more mantyhose sales? I am sure there is money to be made from such encouragement although that was never my intention. It was merely to show that it seemed to be rising in male wardrobe popularity. But that might be a chicken and an egg sort of situation; That is: which came first? I suspect there was some fashionable men trying to do something new, it was noticed by corporations in retail, and maybe videos made to boost the trend for sales from there? I don’t know: I am not a conspiracy theory type of person, I just know that these sorts of things happen, like engineered obsolescence. My wife would probably allow mantyhose to be worn on cold days for warmth, but not much more than that and nothing that would show while in public. As I said I tried some experiments and I did feel mantyhose was warmer than leggings, but I suspect from the way it wicks moisture and wrapped the lower half from waist to toes. Coupled WITH leggings I suspect it would be a super warm combination without a lot of bulk underneath my work jeans. Climbing a tower on a windy winter day would probably be a great place for that combo. Another experiment I did was with chaffing during exercise. Again, with mantyhose clinging tighter than leggings, it seemed to help without overheating. When I first started walking the 5-7 miles I do per day, I had chaffage issues on my thighs, and it was tried then. It worked, but having lost significant weight since first trying it, I don’t have that issue any more. But I can see men who work out having some benefit from mantyhose. All that being said I think you are right, we are seeing the first stages of it being a unisex thing. I know leggings for men have evolved to that point. Call them leggings or base-layer and they are common to see. I was mowing my lawn in my leggings when my neighbor had an emergency. I ran over to his house and pounded on his door and he came out and he was wearing leggings just like I was.

I have worn leggings for years, but for me it all started in an extremely manly way… My trucker called and said he needed to haul the wood I had cut all winter which was at the top of a hill on a half mile logging road. It was January and -20 below zero (f) and blowing 20 miles per hour. I had a bulldozer but it did not have a cab that I needed to open up the snowed in road with. My wife suggested to stay warm I put on a pair of her leggings to get an extra layer on without bulking up. It worked and I was warm, but darn were they ever comfortable. Up until then I wore sweatpants under my clothes but they were bulky. I even wore a size bigger clothes in winter just to accommodate them. It seemed silly to have different sized clothes from season to season when there was a better way… leggings. Now I have switched to leggings and wear them year a round. In the summer just in lounging around the house, what I call wearing my “soft pants”, or come the end of the day declare, ‘it is soft pants time”. Sometimes I will mow the lawn, go through a drive-in restaurant, or go out to my woodworking shop wearing them, not caring if people see me doing so. But generally I don’t wear them in public.

Without question you know your friend and I do not so I take your word for her tough nails. It was just a thought I had on possibly why that might be so. Honestly, that super cheap seafood place is probably safe. Even here in the Northeast we cater to the Japanese Seafood market a lot. Japanese seafood buyers come dockside and buy their fish and crustaceans. It slows in the winter of course, but being so close to the Grand Banks, the Asian buyers naturally go to where the fish are being brought in, and it is definitely here. A funny, but true story is, up until the 1950’s when refrigeration began, lobster was considered a poor mans food since it could not be salted down and preserved like Cod, Swordfish and Haddock. It was considered so inferior that there is a law stating that they cannot serve lobster to prisoners more than once per week. But here there are a lot of strange laws, like it being a law you cannot have your Christmas decorations up after January 15th. Yep, its okay to celebrate the Christmas season but make darn sure is a season and are not up all year! 😊

It may just be what she eats. Fingernails are made up of a type of protein so if she eats a lot of eggs, fish and dark greens, she may inadvertently be strengthening her fingernails. My wife and I have differing diets and so I eat more protein than her, mostly in the way of red meat, but a lot, lot, lot more seafood than she does. Because of that I notice my hair and nails grow much more quickly than hers seems too. I am certainly NOT slighting your location at all here, but when I lived in Minneapolis for seven years, I was shocked at the few choices in seafood. I realize it is in the middle of the country, but we have trucks leave here every day loaded with seafood. When I asked a restaurant manager about so few choices, he said that they sold so little fish they just kept it off the menu. "Steak and potatoes", he said, "steak and potatoes".

I concur. It is nice to see embolden people with wearing embolden colors like red!