Footwear

It's a little disappointing when your Dansko won't fit over your wool socks. I'd love to have enough disposable income to but a pair or two just for wearing wool socks

UPDATE: Oh, I found one of my OOOLLLDDD pairs of Danskos way under my desk (and covered in dust) and my wool socks fit into these just fine. YAY

I can see Winter...

Conclusion that there's really 2 seasons here in Bethel. Winter and Summer.

I've not yet experienced Winter (but of course I'll fill you in when I get to that point), but I can tell you that It's going to be COLD. Boots are rated to -30 at a minimum. Car's are Winterized to deal with the same. Wool is a staple up here as are: BOGS, Smartwool, Columbia, Patagonia, North Face and fur. ...

Now before anyone goes at PETA on me... Animal skins are fur are used here. There is subsistence fishing, hunting and gathering. Subsistence Living is living living off the land and what you can grow, hunt and gather yourself. Native Alaskans do quite a bit of subsistence living. They hunt moose and other game. They fish for their yearly meals and they gather berries during the summer and fall. Now everything gets frozen and saved for later. Moose can be sent out to be made into particular cuts like steak and also to have summer sausage or have the meat ground for burgers. The skin and furs of these animals are used to make clothing: coats, mittens, hats, boots. Very little, if anything, is tossed after kills.This is their livelihood and not done 'just for sport' or for fashion.

To me, the weather we've had all Summer is actually more of a Fall. It was shorts-like weather for 1 day that I can recall. The rest of the time it's been at least long sleeves or pants and sometimes both. This week for instance, some locals are wearing short sleeves and some are wearing fleece coats over many other layers.

I've yet to pull out a coat other than my raincoat (which is quite lightweight) but I have been wearing long-sleeve fleece almost everyday.  (BTW- if anyone knows a good place to get good quality fleece zip-ups for a decent price, I'd appreciate the heads up). Maybe I'll be OK this Winter after all.

Screw Tiptoeing... I'm going Trompin

So the evening I got the email saying they were offering me the position, I came home and logged into 6pm.com. For those that are unaware of this website, it's the clearance/discount sister site to Zappo's (really kick-booty shoes- let's get something out of the way here... I am trying to reform my language so I will occasionally put in something a little 'off', sorry).

Back to the point... So I came home and went to 6pm.com right away and looked up boots. My mind was boggled, however, I was soon introduced the the world of temperature ratings and found Sorel boots to add to my love of all things Keen. I found a few pairs that sparked my interest and quickly filled up my shopping cart. Steep discounts rock my world.

Today I arrived home to a box (the size of my 80 lb lab) filled with my 3 pairs of boots bound for helping me prepare for Alaska. You a little curious yet?

These are the "Red Keen's" They're a shorter book but pretty warm. Slightly big.

These are the "Tall Boots". I may find better ones in AK for certain types of weather but it's really hard for me to find boots that work on my calves and these do. Woot woot!

And these are the Sorel's. The crown jewel of the bunch. rated to -40 degrees. TRIPLE WOOT WOOT!!!