I must be serious about boots. It’s Sunday, and I’m in the bootshop working on my second pair, while Kitty Wells is giving her last Texas appearance…at the Elks Lodge in Brownwood. I’m a little worried about time. This pair should go faster, but they’re fancier…foxing on the toe…a couple of butterflies inlayed. I know Tex won’t let me go home with a half finished pair of boots, but the more he has to jump in and speed me along the less experience I’m gettin’. It sure would have been handy to have had a previous career in shoe repair, so I would know how to work all these machines. Shoot!..forget the knives…what’s scary is takin’ an almost finished boot and walkin’ up to that belt sander. yikes.

This “weblog” thing really works…right now I’m in the Abilene Public Library. It’s swell, all the air conditioning, scratch paper and stumpy yellow pencils a gal could want. I went to visit James Leddy this morning…7am, what was I thinkin’?! He’s got a beautiful place…lots of boots to look at, and lots of good stories to go with ’em. He fessed up that today is his and his bride Paula’s 45th wedding anniversary. Once I found that out…I finished up my picture takin’ and scurried out of there, so they could get to celebrating. I found some breakfast down the road. My sweetie back home taught me to look at the parking lots…crowded is good. This one on the corner of Ambler Ave. and Clinton St. looked just like a used truck dealership…I had a plate of chorizo and eggs. (Yum.) Now, I’m gonna walk around downtown Abilene, maybe hit the Goodwill…then head back to Coleman. It’s supposed to be hot today.

Today was a long day. We put the soles on my boots…flattened a BIG ol’ nail for the shank, pegged the bottoms, all that stuff. I had kinda of a “wreck” with the 5 in 1 (that’s a machine with a rolling blade)…a slight undercut did in that right sole pretty good (it will be reincarnated as a stacked heel I think). All these tools I’ve never used before, some invented by Tex Robin or sometimes his father. I think somebody counted wrong…seems like right about now, there have got to be more than 374 steps to bootmaking. I might get to wear my boots home tomorrow.

Custom made, vintage and popular cowboy boot brands. Advice from author & expert, Jennifer June (& others) about buying cowboy boots online.

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