The Unexpected Therapy of Shoe Care
It’s been snowing this week in Northern Virginia. It’s the first time in several years that we’ve had enough snow to actually stick on the ground.
While my boots were perfectly acceptable to strut around the drive and sidewalk shoveling, I decided to take an hour or so to treat our leather boots with waterproofing. In doing so, I experienced a joy and relaxation such that my partner repeatedly commented, “you just look so relaxed and happy!”
The process for treating boots has evolved over the decades, you can now simply spray the water away, but I like the old fashioned wax approach. Heat the leather with a hair dryer, apply the wax, and heat it again to really melt the wax into the leather.
The start of the process is nothing spectacular. At least you can do it at low fan speed on the dryer, allowing Stevie Nicks and Elton John to serenade through the sound blocking headphones/earbuds. I don’t want to add to my hearing loss by combining the noises!
Nothing much changes through this phase, maybe getting rid of a little storage dust for the shoes that have been hiding in the back of the closet waiting for their next call to duty.
