Soggy autumn, ll
When we set out it had stopped raining. And there was even a little blue sky showing and in the direction we were headed. It let us get well away and then whisked the blue sky off again–obviously, when you thought about it, a cheap painted backdrop–and settled down to rain. It wasn’t the hammer-blows of yesterday but it got the job done. The kitchen at the cottage smells of wet dog, wet nylon harness, wet towels, wet blankets, wet clothing, including the sodden waterproof kind*, wet All Stars. . . .
* Ever noticed how once the waterproof stuff gives up, it’s like it absorbs more water than if you’d just worn cotton in the first place?
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Now THIS field looks wet. I hope you brought your SCUBA gear!
I don’t know much about waterproof stuff — I don’t think I actually own waterproof clothes — but wool! I’m sure you know all about how awesome wool is. I bet it’s still too warm for that, though. Alas.
Well, define awesome. I was actually thinking about wool when I posted about soaked-through Goretex being heavier than soaked-through cotton. soaked-through wool weighs TONS. and it STRETCHES. If you’re wearing a little short wool sweater in the rain you will get home wearing a LONG WOOL DRESS. A HEAVY long dress. It is true that it stays warm even soaking, but it may just keep you warm by struggling not to be CRUSHED under the WEIGHT.
I think you need a raincoat. :)
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****** soaked-through wool weighs TONS. and it STRETCHES.
As a child we had to wear knitted swimming costumes. I well remember swimming in the sea, and having to remember to haul the whole ten foot soggy lump up from where weight and gravity had dragged it so that I didn’t end up wearing strange bulgy, leaky plus fours… Oh, the good old days lol
YES. Gods. They were also the BAD old days. :)
Heh! You’re right about the stretching. I was mostly thinking you wouldn’t catch hypothermia. ;)
Wool does hold a TON of water, though. I stuck some knitted socks in the sink to wash, and they soaked EVERYTHING up. Holy moly!
Yes, and you needed HELP to move them. :)
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I *know* that All Stars are sneakers… and yet, when I read “wet All Stars,” I can’t help but picture a drenched basketball team huddling miserably in your boot room.
Waterproof All Stars! I didn’t know they made them. Do you think they’d hold up in snow (at least long enough to get out to the car without being soggy)? If so, where did you find them? All Stars are about the only thing my husband will wear and his classroom is always cold in winter (twice as bad with soggy feet), so the Colorado snow and regular All Stars aren’t the best combination.
On a totally unrelated topic…. I thought about you the other day and your rescuing of spiders etc. I wondered how you feel about praying mantis; I found a pair of them living outside my front door for three days. I haven’t seen one since I was a little kid and I was so excited. The really weird thing, though, is that the place they picked to live was on some snapdragons that are growing in the crack between the porch and the brick planter box; you’d think the crazy creatures would be more comfortable on the big gladiolas IN the planter box or in the decent sized vegtable garden in the back yard. I mentioned them to my mom and she said she hadn’t seen a mantis in ages either; she thinks maybe all of the pesticides being used today have probably knocked down their population. Has anyone else seen any mantis lately?
Oh, and did you ever find the recipe for the oatmeal cookies with white chocolate and cranberries? The bank I worked at used to bake cookies for our customers at the holidays (Otis Spunkmyer brand) and we had some oat/cran/wh. choc and they were just wonderful; I kept thinking about experimenting and never got to it.
Hope you and the hounds are well.
Erika in Colorado
All Stars do come in leather, which you can make pretty water proof. Mine are all canvas, I’m afraid (oh, well, I have at least one pair of wool Tartan . . . ). In really nasty weather I wear PLASTIC BAGS over my socks.
I love praying mantises. In spite of their perhaps rather unfortunate sexual habits.
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Re the preying mantis population, I suspect that – as with most of these things – it’s because what they eat has been badly affected by all the chemical spraying. If their prey species have been decimated, then there’s nothing much for them to live on, so….
Anyone remember the description, in Gerald Durrell’s ‘My Family and Other Animals’, of the fight between the gecko and the mantis in his room one night?
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Oh golly yes–heavens–just bought it in paperback to reread–must go look this up!!
The one positive thing to be said about polyester is that it dries fast; our uniforms at the zoo were a poly-cotton blend, and as I got rained on rather a lot those two summers, I appreciated the fact that my soaked shirt might be dry by the end of my coffee break… :)
Golly. That sounds like *mostly* polyester. I actually have some time for some of those blends, but pure polyester . . . ugh.
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I think they were 40-60 polyester-cotton. I liked that I never had to iron the things, either… call me lazy. :)
IRON? I haven’t ironed anything in twenty years. . . . :)
Polar Fleece! Polar Fleece! How could one live in the UK without it?
The reason I survived multiple splash downs in the school fair dunking tank was polar fleece. 15 minutes of 55 degree water alternating with 60 degree air could have been the end of me. Polar fleece top and bottom … Tevas on the feet.
The funny thing was that it was mainly girls who dunked me … three balls for $5 and a couple of softball players nailed that little target with every single ball. The boys had more confidence than skill.
The school principal (cheater) wore a wet suit. Of course he was warmest.
For the West Highland Way it was a combo of polar fleece and nylon with a peached finish. They dry in a flash and the fleece keeps you warm when wet. 95 miles in seven rainy days is the time for synthetics … gloves, socks, underwear. You can also wash them out and they dry overnight (actually usually a few hours).
Travelsmith is my main source for this stuff, and they have skirts, shirts, dresses,
shorts, slacks, including ones with zip off lower legs. Sahalie, Title 9, Lands End, LL Bean, and REI also usually have a few items.
They also came in handy for a seven day long plant survey on the Moors of West Yorkshire (think Brontes) for the National Trust. We had one day when it didn’t rain. Under all that heather and sedge hides bottomless bogs …(think Hound of the Baskervilles). Not only did one need easy to dry clothes, but stuff the mud would wash out of … our bunkhouse had no laundry facilities and it was a real challenge to find a spot to hang anything up to “dry” because we were all in the same boat. The humidity indoors was 100%.
If I had hellhounds I would doubtless be using my “travel clothes” all the time. They are also good for gardening during downpours. Do you know about neoprene “socks”? Same stuff as wetsuits. Keep your feet warm and more or less dry (depending on how much your feet sweat) no matter how much water there is in your boots. In wet winter weather I wear lobsterman’s gloves … also neoprene, coated with ??? They’d be great for cushioning the pull of the hellhounds on your hands. In that they are bright orange, they are also hard to misplace.
In the UK I have seen similar is shops catering to the serious walkers/backpackers.
We had four inches between Sat. 5 p.m. and Sunday 4 a.m. At least I won’t have to water anything for a while …