Rained Out at the Faire!

It's been a weekend. One filled with cloudy, cool weather (which in and of itself is not an issue or problem. In fact, we made some killer sales yesterday and that was with highly mediocre weather!). Today the cloudy and cool part also threw in torential downpours and tornado warnings, so at 1240, someone sucked it up and made the executive decision to shut the faire down.

Good thing. I have no plans to work in a tornado. And if one were to come rolling through Ren, where would we hide? Booths may be solid, up-to-standards constructions but not one of them has a basement that is in any way shape or form submerged. Where would we run to for protection? There isn't any!

I did make a huge leap forward today and have decided to replace (finally) the buttons on my 9-button Catskill Mountain Moccassins. You laugh. Those maoccassins cost me (with a hefty employee doscount) about $525.00 in 1989 or 1990 (I think I got them in 1990). Now these same pair of boots would run about $600 with no features at all. They are up to just under the knee and they were the best I could afford at the time. I got the pig skin boots in black with burgundy trim, conveyor belt soles (extra cost but worth it) and the bronze buttons that they came with (at the time, the buttons were either bronze coins, silver coins or antler - the bronze were the most affordable, the antler the least affordable). I have worn them for the last 16 years at Ren and sometimes not at Ren and I keep them nice and clean with saddle soap and treat them really well. I need to have them resoled at some point, but I always vowed I would get the buttons replaced first.

I stopped into Catskill Mountain Moccassins today and picked out my new buttons and made a nice big downpayment on them. I will drop them off next weekend as I have two other pairs of boots (yes, Catskill Mountain Moccassins) to wear in their stead. They'll have them done in two weeks, so the next to last weekend of the faire they will be ready.

I have two other pairs of boots, but they are the smaller 3-button boots. I have one pair in a butter colour pig skin (pig skin is better than the cow hide in this case - better curing properties and better, softer feel. Very important!) and one pair in black with hunter green trim. The butter-coloured pair were another "this is all I can afford right now" pair - they have the silver buttons, which at a total of six might have added on another $50 but there is no top stitching and finish to the tops of the boots. They ran me about $300.

The full length, 9-button boots are the same, no fancy buttons, and no top finish work. That might be next year.

The third boots I bought were the full top, silver button black with green ones and they also came with the extra-extra padded heavy-dity fleece lined support. These are wonderful for long-term standing and use. The whole package was just over $400 - not a bad price, when you consider all the extras I got on them. I'm not seriously considering another pair, but down the road, I might invest in another pair. I really love these!

The boots are not something you select off the rack and then they add things to them. Not quite. First, you put on a sock and then have the leg (as far up as need be) wrapped up in masking tape. This creates a mold of your leg. Then you stand on some cardboard while the person measuring your foot draws an outline of each foot. Then your molds are complete and this is what they base your boot on. The boots are handmade off site and then either shipped or you pick them up (if you get them the first weekend or two and they are not super intricate, then you'll likely get them prior to the end of the faire. My first pair took me over a year to pay off, so I did not get them right away.

The second and third pairs were bought during the time that I had my primary job and the Ren Faire provided extra income. While that is the case this year and does allow me to purchase some really nice things, I'm not terribly loaded with spare cash, so the boots will take a little while to get up to date. I put down about a third today, will put down another third 0r better next Saturday (the 3rd of September) and should be able to pay off the balance the following Sunday (the 10th). But it won't be long and I'm very excited about them!