Work Boots

I wouldn't even want to venture to guess how many pairs of work boots Grandpa has purchased and worn out in his 41 years on the job (and that doesn't even include the number of shoelaces).  All I know is there have been a lot and they are not cheap!  But, as any person who spends their days on their feet know, you have to have the right shoes, boots, whatever or within a very short time, your body will be hurting; something you don't want to fool with especially if you have a bad back or kneww to begin with. So, even though the family budget took a 'hit', when he needed new ones, he got them.  After I got over the "sticker shock" of the first pair years ago, I just never gave it another thought. Years ago, there was this discount shoe store we would go shopping for them at. It was sort of like Payless Shoes but with a different but similar name.  I remember it being really big and smelling like shoes....dah!  Fleet Farm is another good source of work boots and Grandpa has also worn many of theirs over the years. 

They always looked so spiffiy when they are new and right out of the box (I LOVED the shoe boxes) and then like everything in life, after a little wear and tear, they start to look a little bedraggled (top photo).  Scraped, scuffed, dirty, cracked.  And that's how they stayed until they were retired and replaced with the new pair.  I mean, you just don't POLISH work boots.  However, there is one thing you can do to get some more life out of them......GOO!  As you can tell by that same photo, the toes are pretty well worn down but do they get tossed at the first sign of old age? NO!  Not when there's Shoe Goo!  I believe it's like a type of sealer that you glob on the worn out toes to make them good for another 10,000 or so miles (bottom photo).  All I know is that it stinks to high heaven and I would stay clear of all open flames when applying it.  But, it does do its job and Grandpa has extended the life of many pairs of work boots thanks to Shoe Goo........can't say the same about the shoe laces though.  When they broke, they broke and it never failed; they always managed to do that early in the morning when he was rushing to get to work!

Grandpa, you've bought your last tube of Shoe Goo and no more broken laces for you!