Winter is boot season, and even though Winter pretty much left town weeks ago — it was 80 here the other day, I’ve still been wearing my boots. So it goes without being said that my boots were looking a bit, well, worn.
Even worse, one of the boots has some odd bleached spots. No, I have no idea where they came from.
But, since I grew up in Texas, and have watched both grandfathers and my own dad fixing up their dress boots before some big event, I knew just what to do. I went to the store, and bought this…
Since they only had black and brown shoe polish to choose from, no variations like ox blood, I went with brown, and then I tested the color in a place where it wouldn’t be seen, like under the strap. It matched well enough, so I went to work rubbing the polish onto a rag that I didn’t mind losing, and then rubbing it into my boots, being sure to move in a circular direction to avoid stripes and color gaps. When I was through, my boots looked like this…
Unfortunately, those bleached spots didn’t want to accept any color!
I have no idea what I did, but short of pulling out some paint, or maybe a marker, I’m at a loss. I may have to get used to the spots. Besides, they add character, right? At least that’s what I will tell myself. Luckily, everywhere else looks good, and my boots look more like fashion statements, and less like work boots. I gave up my steel toes long ago.
Gettin' By 