The High Heeled Ruminations Of Melrose Plant

[RonC]

I'm sure it's just the angle of the photo but the new pair actually looks smaller than the old pair, which makes the foot slide even more puzzling.

 

[mlroseplant]

14 hours ago, RonC said:

I'm sure it's just the angle of the photo but the new pair actually looks smaller than the old pair, which makes the foot slide even more puzzling.

 

Since you mentioned it, of course I had to go put a tape measure to them. I used a tailor's tape measure to ensure that the measurement accurately followed the curve of the shoe(s). Both pair are nominally 8 1/2 U.S. Women's, and both measure 10 1/8" from the extreme front edge to the extreme back edge. Although there is some disagreement between size conversion charts, a size 8 1/2 foot is approximately 9 5/8" long, which works out nearly perfectly when my foot is sitting in the sandal where I'd like it to. When the ball of my foot is sitting nicely in the apex of the angle, there is approximately 3/8 - 1/2" of distance between the front of my two biggest toes (they are nearly the same length) and the extreme front edge of the shoe. In back, my heel is right on the edge of the shoe, or maybe 1/8" forward of that, which is how I feel it should be. Included is a photo as a visual example. Because I like my heel to sit where I do, it also explains why I go down a half size in any sort of backless shoe. You certainly wouldn't want your heel sitting that tight in a closed-back shoe, that would probably be quite uncomfortable.

As to why the new pair requires an insert to get it to fit right, I honestly think it was the way in which I broke them in, and the circumstances under which I broke them in, compared to the way in which I broke in the old pair. My belief is that it has to do with two factors: 1) The shiny gold material on the insole, which looks cooler 'n hell, but is quite slippery when exposed to the slightest amount of perspiration, and 2) When I got the first pair, my toes were not flexible enough to wear them comfortably for more than half an hour. In fact, I came very close to trashing the first pair at one time because I literally couldn't get them all the way on all at once, and even when my feet did eventually slide to the correct position after walking around a little bit, the ends of my toes would often go numb. Somehow, after nearly a year of futzing with them, they became wearable. I believe that this process gave me time to wear that gold shiny stuff down to the point where it wasn't quite so slippery. Whatever is underneath that, that white stuff you can see in the photo two posts above, is far grippier. Therefore, even though the old pair is FAR looser than the new pair, my feet pretty much stay where they're supposed to, even during fairly vigorous walking. With the new pair, other than the leather straps being incredibly stiff at first, I was able to wear them and walk in them right away, not allowing time for that gold stuff to wear through, and causing my feet to slide too far forward because of the relatively low coefficient of friction.

How's that for an over-analysis of a damn pair of shoes? I know you guys must be tired of hearing about these Bonnys. I have made quite a few posts devoted to them. I promise to post about something else next time.

[Bubba136]

A man has to have something to talk about and this is something everyone understands.  Keep talking and we’ll keep listening.  Always a pleasure to discuss something that everyone is interested in and understands.  

[Puffer]

22 minutes ago, Bubba136 said:

A man has to have something to talk about and this is something everyone understands.  Keep talking and we’ll keep listening.  Always a pleasure to discuss something that everyone is interested in and understands.  

... and especially when the discussion is led by someone who has an approach that is both empirical and literate.   (Yes, mlroseplant, that means you!)

[mlroseplant]

12 hours ago, Bubba136 said:

A man has to have something to talk about and this is something everyone understands.  Keep talking and we’ll keep listening.  Always a pleasure to discuss something that everyone is interested in and understands.  

 

12 hours ago, Puffer said:

... and especially when the discussion is led by someone who has an approach that is both empirical and literate.   (Yes, mlroseplant, that means you!)

Thanks guys. And thanks for wading through some of that stuff, because, at least in this format, I tend to write exactly like I talk, with lots of parentheticals and asides. The Long and Winding Road.

[mlroseplant]

I haven't even looked at shoes for weeks, much less bought any. I wonder what is wrong with me?

Every time I see the ad on here that advertises a t-shirt with a vintage car on it that reads,"I'm not OLD, I'm a CLASSIC!", I cannot help but notice that it's always modeled by a 20 year old hot chick.

Yes, these are completely random thoughts. I have become Virginia Woolf.

[Cali]

Time to re-wire a room...in heels.

[Shyheels]

7 hours ago, mlroseplant said:

I haven't even looked at shoes for weeks, much less bought any. I wonder what is wrong with me?

Every time I see the ad on here that advertises a t-shirt with a vintage car on it that reads,"I'm not OLD, I'm a CLASSIC!", I cannot help but notice that it's always modeled by a 20 year old hot chick.

Yes, these are completely random thoughts. I have become Virginia Woolf.

Careful...look what happened to her

[mlroseplant]

I replied two days ago to a high school classmate's Facebook post, which was captioned "Where are you on this scale?" I replied, "Two children, but I still wear the 'single' shoes." That shut the thread right the f*** down. Crickets. I seem to have that talent.

[mlroseplant]

Either this whole coronavirus thing is messing me up, or I am simply becoming less sentimental as I get older. I just realized this morning that I have forgotten to mark the anniversary of the start of my public heel wearing. Though I have missed the date by almost a month, eight years ago I attended a choir rehearsal at my church wearing black clogs with about 3 1/2" heels on them. Nobody said anything except for one person, and she already knew what was going on beforehand. I'm ok with becoming less sentimental, as long as I don't forget my wife's birthday or our wedding anniversary. Should be pretty easy to avoid forgetting only one or the other, since they're on consecutive days.

[Cali]

Kid's birthdays too. Better start a list before you get too old to remember.

[mlroseplant]

It's one of those days. I walked out to my garage to check on atmospheric conditions, and I accidentally stepped on the very end of a twig, flipped the opposite end of it up in the air, and somehow-or-other it came over and took a chunk out of my big toe, drawing blood. I just stood there, stunned, and actually said out loud, "Really? REALLY? Unbelievable!" Then I snapped out of it when I realized I might get a bloodstain on my beloved Bonny sandals. I still can't for the life of me figure out how that even happened!

[Shyheels]

Chaos Theory in action

[RonC]

Sorry.  Murphy's Law - if something can go wrong, it will....lol

 

[mlroseplant]

And to think, I managed to cut down an entire tree yesterday, and nobody got hurt! It wasn't a terribly big tree, the trunk was about 8" in diameter, but still. I did get thumped pretty good on the shin by a log, but amazingly, it didn't leave a mark. I guess it's those little twigs that you have to watch out for.

[Cali]

Here in the land of giant redwoods, a 8 inch diameter tree is called a twig.  

Edited June 18, 2020 by Cali

[HappyinHeels]

I would have to agree with Cali on that observation. After seeing both the Giant Sequoia and Redwood trees in California an 8-inch diametre tree is very very small indeed. Any tree taken down successfully without injury is a big success. I have taken down a few and seen better results as I refine my techniques. I felled 18 black willow trees at the house and treated each one as if it were a "widowmaker". Luckily nothing bad happened and I have lots of firewood now. I have probably planted ten times the number of trees as felled in my lifetime. Glad to see to see you ame out whole mlroseplant. HinH

[Pumped]

I cut down two evergreens in my yard, 70 and 75 feet tall. There was no where to just drop them plus right next to the house so I wasn't taking any chances.  I rented a aerial man bucket and limbed them from the ground up. When I was 50 feet in the air I realized how tall they were. We tied off a rope to my truck as  high as I could reach and lopped off the top 20-25 feet then started cutting off the trunk in manageable chucks.

No blood was shed!

[Cali]

I had a 16 inch diameter branch split one year on the sugar pine tree. when my son cut it off, it sprung the 60-foot branch off the roof and deck of the house. Glad I had sold my portion to my X at the time  Too bad the video was not aimed in that direction or I'll have a YouTube video with many views.  When a 180 foot eucalyptus tree would fall in a wind storm you could feel the THUD.

[RonC]

I leave that stuff to the pros.  Last 40' tree I had taken down only cost me $250.  Money well spent IMHO.

[Shyheels]

And out on the Nullarbor Plain people would come for miles just to see it!

[Pumped]

11 hours ago, RonC said:

I leave that stuff to the pros.  Last 40' tree I had taken down only cost me $250.  Money well spent IMHO.

I got a couple quotes to take the evergreens down, both were in the $1500 range. Cost me about $400 to do it myself and help from a neighbor.

The fun part is working out of an aerial bucket. Almost like a carnal ride as the bucket sways back and forth and it feels like the whole works is going over.

[mlroseplant]

I find it very interesting that the most reaction to my thread seems to happen when the subject wanders. This is not the first time it has happened. Of course, I suppose this thread is reflective of me in real life. I tend to meander away from the subject on a regular basis.

[Jkrenzer]

I cut down a diseased black walnut tree, about a 14" trunk two weeks. No problem but then i got carried away and went nuts on an overgrown siding. Then two days later my reward was this.

 

 

 

 

Both legs, both arms and my belly.  Kinda put a stop to heeling for now. Anyway finally past the itching stage. Last week i really could have put a bullet in my brain, just kidding guys, but it would have been a relief.

 

 

[Cali]

2 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

Both legs, both arms and my belly.  

Must have been wearing a bikini then. Just be glad you don't work at a nudist camp.

[mlroseplant]

13 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

I cut down a diseased black walnut tree, about a 14" trunk two weeks. No problem but then i got carried away and went nuts on an overgrown siding. Then two days later my reward was this.

Both legs, both arms and my belly.  Kinda put a stop to heeling for now. Anyway finally past the itching stage. Last week i really could have put a bullet in my brain, just kidding guys, but it would have been a relief.

Ooh. That's bad. I got into poison oak a couple of years ago clearing out what is now a rose garden for my wife. The problem was, I didn't even realize it was there, so I was pulverizing it with a weed whacker before digging it up. I now know VERY WELL what it looks like. It got so bad that I had to take a day off work and go to the doctor to get steroids, because I could no longer make a fist with my left hand.

Fast forward two years later, and some of it grew back, so I very carefully snipped the few bits of it off, and set them to the side for a long time before I dispose of it. Somehow, I still got a rash on both my forearms, and no place else. It was pretty mild, though. Still, I don't understand it. I was wearing a long sleeved shirt, which I immediately took off and washed when I was done. Same with all the clothes I was wearing. One of the mysteries of life. I hope you heal soon. That is no fun at all.

[Cali]

We get Poison Ivy around here. Lucky I don't get it, but both my Ex's were very allergic to it. Around here they sometimes bring in goats to clear it. It's bad when a wildfire burns thru  it, smoke now can carry that active allergen into your lungs and poison ivy in the lungs is nasty.  You need to wear two or more layers, the oils can go thru cotton really fast.

Edited June 20, 2020 by Cali

[HappyinHeels]

Whenever I stay at my sister's home in south central PA I take care of their problem with poison oak, ivy, and sumac. That part of the state is the mildest area and they have all three growing there. Apparently I have an immunity to it but I still wear long sleeves and gloves as to not take it into the house after finishing. HinH

[JeffB]

On 6/19/2020 at 5:25 PM, Jkrenzer said:

I cut down a diseased black walnut tree, about a 14" trunk two weeks. No problem but then i got carried away and went nuts on an overgrown siding. Then two days later my reward was this.

 

 

 

 

Both legs, both arms and my belly.  Kinda put a stop to heeling for now. Anyway finally past the itching stage. Last week i really could have put a bullet in my brain, just kidding guys, but it would have been a relief.

 

 

Wow! That's awful! Hope it clears up soon!

[Jkrenzer]

Thanks Jeff. The itching is all but gone and The rash is mostly just discolored skin. A few smaller regions have popped up and still some bloating in my feet. 

Case in point.

Edited June 22, 2020 by Jkrenzer