I stayed up way too late last night…talkin’ boots of course. There was a “rather lively professional discourse” concerning gender and bootmaking that took place in lastmaker Carl Lichte’s room. I believe it was somewhat historic…and something that was bound to happen sooner or later, now that you’ve got a posse of women bootmakers comparing notes on how the world works…and folks like Michael Anthony willin’ to jump right into the middle of it. It was hilarious. (I figure today’s stories should only make it better.)

Quote of the day: “Today, someone asked me if I e-mail…I told ’em I was lucky I had e-lectricity.” (Mr. Walter Duncan of Kileen, TX)

I’m in Brownwood, Texas. I’m here for the Boot & Saddlemaker Round-Up 2000. The show starts tomorrow, today was the swapmeet. It wasn’t in the Coliseum parking lot like it had been for the last two years…it was in a park on the other side of the highway. The park had big ol’ trees (shade) and dirt (yippee!…no hot asphalt). Nothing like grabbin’ up a pair of lasting pliers that’ve been sitting in the sun all day…YeeOUCH! I ended up buying some spools of thread from the Linn’s, they’re from Nocona,TX…Mr. Linn gave me a present, a pair of 15AA last, ones with real pointy toes. He had a pickup truck bed full of lasts. Mr. Linn told me he worked for Nocona Boots for 30 years. I think his swapmeet stuff is all that’s left of the Nocona factory…now that they’re just workin’ outa El Paso.

The best part of the day is just wanderin’ around talkin’. Bob Dellis was telling me about a “Florida” boot he tooled for Dave Little’s shop. I ask him if he thought he might be the only man alive that’s tooled a manatee…he shrugged and told me that tooling a manatee was easy…nothing to it. “Not like an armadillo, huh?” I asked. “Nah,” he said …”armadillos are harder.”

I’m putting the finishing touches on my page update. It should be up by the weekend. It’s quite a dilemma when you’ve got a web page growing mold, and a brand new sewing machine, and an in-box with 741 e-mail messages in it (…no…really, I’m not kidding, 741).

Well, I got my sewing machine. It’s got everything…clunky old black sewing machine circa 1921, lightly-used formica table top, brand new lamp and thread rack, clean cork on the foot petal, mint 30w lightbulb, extra bobbins….everything that is, EXCEPT A ROLLER FOOT! This is a problem…my sewing machine guy is working on it, I’m working on it…and probably before the week is through, a few more bootmakers I know will have worked on it. More than likely the guy at Top Stitch Sewing Machine Co. has the right part…although right now his mechanic is a little baffled…he suggested I get the teflon foot that kinda looks like a couple of Barbie sized hula-hoops up on end. I told him that wouldn’t work. I told him I need to see my stitches well enough to line up my rows. Meanwhile, I’ve ordered a manual from Singer…and Rice is sending me a color chart and some sample thread.

…oh yeah, and I’ve been working on an update for my web page.