Today there's dust in the air from a storm in China. They say it's gonna be a monster of a sunset.

I just crossed my legs under my desk, and nailed the power button on my pc dead center with my pointy-toed boots...kinda hilarious.

Well, I never made it to Michael's shop last week...I got as far as San Rafael and turned back. Michael had me written on his calendar and then scribble the names of potential boot customers right over me. I'm gonna to go up later, and now Michael owes me breakfast at the little Pine Cone restaurant. Michael and I are very predictable...we always go to the Pine Cone...we order breakfast. I always forget that the waitress doesn't drink coffee and I ask her which coffee she reccomends...then I end up picking one myself (I can never seem to remember which one it is)...then Michael and the waitress insult each other everytime they're within 8 feet of eachother (okay maybe 12)...all morning long. Sebastopol is a small town....the Pine Cone is kinda Mayberry...kinda Honeymooners.

Anyway, while Michael was busy tryin' to make a living....I went to the used tool store in San Rafael. I found an old Landis 5 'n' 1. I wanted to try it out, but I didn't have any leather with me...and it didn't have a handle. $150.

I also went to the local western wear shop to keep an eye on the "shelf-boots". French's Hitching Post, Inc. sits right downtown on 2nd Street...and it sells a ton of boots. They boast "the largest selection of Lucchese West of the Mississippi"...42 styles I think. They're one of the few shops that can still get Nocona to do custom make-ups. I chatted with John O'Neil about the ups and downs of the boot manufacturing biz. Anyway, they've got a nice family shop. If you give 'em a call tell 'em I sent you... (415) 453-6000.

Today, I posted something new... a group photo page. I've wanted to do this for a longtime, but I couldn't figure out the cgi programming. (I want to give bootmakers a way to post photos of their work, without having to get their own web page.)

...send help.

My five year old lap top is crappin' out...big time. First it was the "<" key wearing out, every time I type out code for my web page I've got to hit it twice...then the box stopped shutting down properly, it's now easily confused...but wait.. it's gotten worse. My "left click" bar is busted. I'm gonna have to dig up an old mouse...I've gotta have one somewhere.

I'm about ready to leave this thing on the side of the road, and find me a mac. Dont'cha wanna see some of them i-westerns, those new macs put out?

Do you realize how many times a day a gal like me "left clicks"?....geez.

I'm on my way to go visit Michael Anthony.

Mr. Melendez called. He wanted me to come into the shop today and start working...the only problem is that he called me at 10am, and I had already carpooled to my day job 25 miles away...sigh. I was all set to clear everything I had planned for tomorrow, but he doesn't want me tomorrow...he'll call me tomorrow about me showin' up on Monday. Bootmaking...bulletin boards...day jobs...taxes...stuff's bangin' around my head like bumper cars.

...I wish it was pinball 'cuz then lights would be going off.

It's funny how the universe works sometimes. I took a one night class with "the Craig" of www.craigslist.org last month. (He's kinda famous in these parts.) The class was about "Building Online Communities". It gave me a chance to ponder things like weblogs, discussion forums, geography, everyday experts...and (of course) cowboy boots. I guess I was more prepared than I thought when those evil spam spewin' spider thangs showed up and made themselves at home on my ol' faithful bulletin board. I guess I had a headstart on figurin' out what a new board might offer above and beyond a spam-free posting zone. This morning I dismantled my old bulletin board...no new posts. I took off the posting form and change the file permissions to read only. It left me a little sad....I'm not sure why... it probably won't last long. I was workin' on the new board yesterday...and I could see at the bottom of my screen that Tex Robin was online. I tried out that new "instant message feature" and sent him a private message...then he bounced one back. It wasn't much more than a "howdy", but it made me feel a little more connected somehow.

Take a peek at the new & improved "Cowboy Boot Web Page Bulletin Board"...I'm still tinkering with it, but go ahead and give it a try.

It's hard to type cgi script with yer fingers crossed.

Did you see the posting on "Quick Topic Discussion Board"? ...the one for 500 used boots...cowboy boots by the pound?! Now that's somethin' you don't see everyday.

Last night I went to a "nu vaudeville" show... Karen Quest was there doin' rope tricks. It was swell. I didn't think you could twirl a 50 foot rope in a theatre that small. It was very suspense-full. By the end of her act, I somehow ended up on stage as part of a "cow bell" orchestra...ya shoulda been there.

...too much .cgi script ...too much coffee.

This morning I wondering if the first two little pigs were optimistic, or just naive. My bulletin board made of straw is lying in rubble...everytime I turn around there's now a link to some porn site sitting right on top. I take it off, another shows up. It's relentless. It makes me mad.

How do I like my Ranchero? ….I love my Ranchero, thanks for askin'. I think it's the little things that I appreciate the most about it… actually, 2 things in particular.

Thing 1: I like the feelin' of going fast… not that I am actually going that fast, but I like to feel like I am. Old cars let you FEEL speed, you don't hafta ask a dial on the dash, or other cars on the road for their opinion. You can feel speed. You can hear it in the rushing air. You can feel speed in the steering wheel… like a race car…. like a rocket ship. True speed makes you reach for the volume knob on your radio. Speed is loud and unruly.

Thing 2: The 1964 Ford Ranchero has beautiful aerodynamics. I'm not talkin' on the outside of the car, with a Lincoln Versailles engine who cares about drag. I'm talkin' inside the car with the windows rolled down. With the windows rolled down, the wind goes right down the back of yer neck, just like it ought to….and then there's a small knob under the dash marked with the letter "A"… pull that and a cool breeze travels across your throat and moves right up under your chin...then on behind your ear. Pull that knob and you can smell raindrops on warm pavement.

Today, I asked Roberto Melendez for a job. Why today? Why not yesterday?...or a 5 months ago, when I cut my hours back at my "day job" in order to make boots? I don't know. I guess I was scared he'd say "NO", and I'd be left with my rather pathetic "plan b"...but today, I read Dan's post on the bulletin board... and suddenly, I pictured myself not making boots at all, but spending all my time battling spam-bots named "Pimp Vibe"...ARGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!....so I jumped in the Ranchero and headed downtown.

I had asked Mr. Melendez for a job almost a year ago. He told me a polite (yet discouraging) "maybe". Mr. Melendez hasn't seen my web site, so I'm not so sure he appreciates the extent of "my enthusiasm" for cowboy boots. Today, however, was different. I brought with me a box of leather samples...the ones I collected at Brownwood last year. It was just what he needed. I was helpful. He has some customers who want shoes and boots made, and he was having problems finding the leather he needed. Mr. Melendez was trained in El Salvador as a bootmaker, now he owns a shoe repair shop in Oakland, California...he's not quite "in the loop" leatherwise. He's gonna call Jeff Farmer, and the folks at G&H leather...once he gets the leather he's gonna call me, and I get to follow along. I told him I wanted to make and repair boots. I told him he didn't have to pay me until I got good at somethin'.

(...thanks Dan)

Hey... the Proleptic Inc. website is up and running. (Also known as "The Harness Shoppe News" and/or "Shop Talk" folks.)

It always happens this way...I stick up a new page update, like the history page, and then I find a new link I oughta put up, just when I move on to working on somethin' else. Anyway, I thought this was interesting (it's a piece of the research center at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum)...

"GUIDE to the
BLUCHER CUSTOM BOOT COMPANY COLLECTION
1915-1999
(Fitting Books, 1915-1982 in 218 volumes; Indexes, 1915-1936 in 5 volumes; Catalogs, ca. 1989-1998 & Archival Records, 1986-1999 in 6 document boxes)

The Fitting books do reflect the ups and downs of the boot business through two world wars, through the depression years, through the 1950s and the golden age of television westerns. Some consider the golden age of boot making occurred between 1940 and 1965. Certainly this collection reflects the economics, geographical influences, and artistic & design changes of this era.”

I like the "context" this places around the fitting books. I was talking to some longtime Nocona factory employees about the time a couple of years ago when the factory shut down....mounds of machinery, and materials...a little of it goin' to laid off employees, most of it goin' to waste. No one cared about the paper...the patterns and records.

Here’s an article about the Stewart-Romero Boot Company (sorry...linked expired) written by Jordan Gruener. It follows the company history from Los Angeles to Leon….and from utilitarian designs to fashion frenzy. The moral of the story…..”Give the customers want they want.” ( Much of the source material for the article comes from a personal interview with legendary cowboy singer and television and movie star Rex Allen.)

I've been scanning some photos for my pal, Pascal. If you want a pair of cowboy boots like these...call Pascal at (818) 506-4668...cool, huh?!

My new front page is up...I was in better shape than I thought.

With any luck, I'll have my front page updated...ummmm...Monday. Today I'm home, drinking coffee and typing .html code.

Okay, I think I fixed the dates on the "archives page".

If yer headed out anywhere close to the Texas Panhandle (say, Amarillo maybe?) …be sure to pay a visit to the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon, TX. The exhibit, "Heels and Toes and Everything Goes: The Cowboy Boot as Art," can be seen through Sept. 22, 2002.

Okay, I put up the new WebLog layout....added the poll. I think everything is working. I guess I'll find out sometime tomorrow when Brian Thomas shows up. (Shoot, all it took was an entire day of messing around with cgi script, and a call to ValueWeb technical support. I'm turning off my computer now)

...sigh.

Who cares if it's March already. I'm gettin' one.

Oh, ya got see this... it's the best thing since dogs playin' poker!

"Description: What do you get when you combine a Boxer dog, cowboy footwear and (maybe) some Nancy Sinatra? Why, you get Boxers in Boots of course! This hillarious novelty title combines photographs of Boxers wearing Cowboy Boots. With the power of dogital, oops... I mean, digital editing, these dogs get the luxury of becoming true fashion plates."

...still needs work, but not tonight.

...it's not done, but I'm making progress (new look for the weblog).

So...Brian Thomas tells me he checks this weblog everyday. I guess I better get my act together.