Warm Feet

In the winter you can spot many feet in my city clad in mukluks.  Mukluks are made in Ely, MN, about an hour away.  (Ely is the same place Wintergreen outerwear is made, and my Wintergreen winter coat has been my best friend for 8 winters now.  I plan on wearing it every winter  until I die.  Really.  It’s the best coat in the world.)  I’ve been admiring mukluks for a long time.  They are seriously beautiful, but I convinced myself that mukluks were a purchase that just didn’t make sense.  Mukluks are a bit pricy.  They aren’t good for walking in sloppy, mucky snow, and I already had Bogs that were working so well.  (I love how Bogs can slip on my feet so fast and they are great in all kinds of sloppy weather situations).  A few weeks ago, though, Dr. Peds got a bee in his bonnet that I just needed mukluks.  I protested loudly.  He didn’t listen.  Mukluks, the very pair I’ve had my eye on for years, arrived in the mail.

I scowled and grouched about it being an unnecessary purchase, and then tried them on.  I didn’t want to take them off my feet.  Talk about comfortable!  Oh my word!  Perfect for long walks in the forest, (which Bogs are not so great for, actually, because they eventually give me blisters) my toes haven’t gotten a bit chilled at all, even on super duper cold days.  In fact, I never realized how great it is to go for a long winter walk and not have numb toes.  I thought they might be slippery, but it turns out that mukluks handle snow and ice better than anything I’ve ever worn.  I hope they last for the rest of my life, but if they don’t, I won’t protest getting a new pair when they wear out.

Now I look really, really local, with my Wintergreen coat and my Mukluks, very Northwoods Minnesota.  It’s not a bad thing.