I’m home. I went back to work today…my regular job…the one that makes me wear dry-clean-only clothes. It was a little weird, so many people…so many cars. I have no idea where the nearest Dairy Queen is…might be hours away…not like Texas, not like Coleman. I wore my black boots today. I’m dreaming about bootmaking at night…cutting leather with a knife, hammering tacks. Tonight I’m gonna drag out my bootmaking tools and take inventory. Tex let me take home my lip knife and a measuring tape. Bill Niemczyk traded me a really good Crispin hammer for a lousy pair of lasting pliers I took to Brownwood last year (he was being generous). Lee Miller gave me a whole pile of stuff, like a rand file, skiving knives, awls…a bunch of stuff. At the time I recognized some of the tools, but didn’t know what they were all for…I tucked them away. Now I’m gonna drag ’em all out, take inventory…and figure out my wish list for Brownwood this year. I’ve got high hopes for that swapmeet.
