Foot Care

Foot Care

Avoiding the Agony of the Feet

Or How to Take Care of Your Transportation System

If your feet aren’t happy, you’re not going to enjoy your journey! So, proper care of your feet is quite important. That means both caring for the feet themselves, and selecting the proper clothing for them.

Foot Care

The most basic thing to take care of on your feet is to trim the toenails. You don’t want them jamming into the front of your boots as you’re hiking. Next is keeping the skin moisturized and supple so it doesn’t crack. Any cuts or nascent blisters must be treated immediately. Cuts should be cleaned, disinfected and bandaged. The instant you feel a blister coming on, stop! and take care of it. All these things you should do for your feet all the time anyway. And if you have a chance, at the end of a long hike, soak your feet in a cool stream.

I usually walk barefoot around the house and use MBT sandals when I go outside. When I put on socks, especially if I’m going to be doing a lot of walking, I first apply a good layer of Zim’s Crack Creme to my feet. I pay particular attention to the areas around the toenails and cuticles. I’m sure other lotions work just as well but this is my favorite. It’s a good, all-purpose skin lotion without perfumes.

Outdoor Foot Wear

What I wear on my feet depends a lot on what I’m going to be doing.

If I’m playing or hiking in a lot of water, I’ll wear some good river sandals. Key things here are proper strapping and size. The fastenings must be such that the sandals can’t come off regardless how rough the terrain or turbulent the water. Regarding size, the soles should extend far enough beyond your toes that you can feel your way among rocks without bumping your toes. The soles also need to be flexible, yet sturdy enough so that they’ll support your foot when you step on a small rock. One hikes where I wear primarily boots, I’ll still take some river sandals along.

My Favorite River Sandals
My Favorite River Sandals
They come in handy if you have to cross any streams, and after a long day of hiking, you’ll want to wear something other than your boots around the campground. Wearing the sandals in camp allows both your boots and feet to breath and relax.

Sneakers or cross-trainers are fine for your ordinary day hikes on smooth paths and gentle terrain, even if you’re carrying a light day-pack.

Any time you carry a heavy pack, or are crossing rough terrain, such as Government Canyon near San Antonio, or the back trails of Lost Maples, I recommend sturdy boots and thick socks. The boots should provide ankle support because the ground is uneven and the sole of the foot is tilting every which way. The thick socks will cushion your feet and prevent blisters and toe jams.

Terrain can make a big difference in the shoes I wear. I can spend several days hiking in Pacific Northwest woods wearing light boots or sneakers without any damage to my feet because the trails are smooth and padded with deep layers of humus, even if they’re not level. On the Texas trails of jumbled limestone and karst, however, just on an afternoon hike with the best boots I can still end up with one or two toes black and blue from banging into rocks and slipping around. When I see people wandering around places like Government Canyon in little more than shower sandals, I wonder about them. They’re either clueless or have very tough feet. I hope it’s the latter.

Window-Wide Webs

Window-Wide Webs

For many years I’ve had an imaginary pet spider, Amanda, and I even wrote a few stories about her. One day she actually showed up outside my workshop window and demonstrated her web-building skills. I was able to capture this on my new (at the time) semi-pro video camera.

 

This particular type of spider is known as the golden silk orb-weaver. They grow up to about two inches in size, not including leg span. With the legs, some are over five inches in size. Web silk is golden in color, hence the name. Their species is the oldest surviving spider genus. Fossil remnants are 165 million years old. They are mildly venomous, causing redness, blisters, and pain at the bite area. Their Latin name, Nephila clavipes, means “fond of spinning.”

As you watch her rebuilding the web, it appears she does it entirely by touch. Some of the legs wave about, searching for the non-sticky draglines (the spokes of the circle) and then she uses another leg to attach the sticky silk.

The first portion of the video shows her in action close up. Starting at 4 minutes in, there is a zoomed-out, and speeded-up portion which shows her circling around the web.

I filmed her for several days but was never able to be there when something was captured by the web. I really wanted to see what she does with the prey. Unfortunately, I only saw her while she was doing her repairs.

There are other videos I have which show her preparing an egg case on the outside of the window frame. I checked on this regularly, hoping to see a lot of little spiders emerge, but one day both the mama and the egg case were gone. Perhaps the victim of a larger predator. Or she found a new home.

While large, and fearsome looking, these spiders are quite harmless and need to be encouraged, since they prey on other nuisance insects.

Sunset
Thorns, Twilight & Wood Nymphs

Thorns, Twilight & Wood Nymphs

A couple of days ago I noticed the rear tire of my bike was completely flat. I finally decided to fix it, because, you never know when the urge to go riding will come over you, and then you don’t want to have to wait to fix the tube.

I found the hole and patched it – the usual pinhole from a thorn or cactus spin. I even found the tiny thorn still embedded in the tire. After inflating it part way it looked a bit funny. It still needed more air, which I started adding, and was rewarded with a startling “POP”. I pulled the tube out and parts of it were shredded! Oh well, it was the fourth patch after all. I tossed the tube and installed a new one. Not a big deal, just that when I patch the tire, especially in the back, I can do it without taking off the wheel. Unfortunately, you can’t replace the inner tube without removing the wheel.

After all that, I really needed to go for a ride. The sun was settling behind the trees so I quickly changed clothes and headed out for a short run on the trails beside the local greenbelt pathway. As I left the paved path and started along the gravel in a stream bed, I had the impression that it looked a lot smoother than it felt. That’s when I realized that I left the house without changing my indoor computer glasses for my outdoor ones.

Oh well, that did make things a bit more exiting, but no less enjoyable. The sun was setting, lighting only the tips of the trees above me. Lots of deer were out foraging, most just glancing at me as I pedaled by. Ignoring the sound of nearby traffic, it was easy to imagine being somewhere quite far away…

I did make it back without picking up any new thorns or spines. As I left the greenbelt, I encountered a group of young ladies, settled comfortably on a blanket in a patch of grass, hand-feeding some young deer, while their elders (of the deer!) stood off a ways and watched.

Cat Ipsum

Cat Ipsum

I was looking for an ipso lorem generator for testing the web site and came across this one: Cat Ipsum. The results were so funny I didn’t have the heart to delete it…

Human give me attention meow. Spread kitty litter all over house and sometimes switches in french and say “miaou” just because well why not, purrrrrr run outside as soon as door open. Intently stare at the same spot have secret plans lick butt and make a weird face for stand in front of the computer screen, but kitty ipsum dolor sit amet, shed everywhere shed everywhere stretching attack your ankles chase the red dot, hairball run catnip eat the grass sniff yet you call this cat food?. Asdflkjaertvlkjasntvkjn (sits on keyboard) jumps off balcony gives owner dead mouse at present then poops in litter box snatches yarn and fights with dog cat chases laser then plays in grass finds tiny spot in cupboard and sleeps all day jumps in bathtub and meows when owner fills food dish the cat knocks over the food dish cat slides down the water slide and into pool and swims even though it does not like water plays league of legends unwrap toilet paper chase laser so plan steps for world domination or make meme, make cute face. Lies down meow meow to be let in.

Kitty scratches couch bad kitty has closed eyes but still sees you or kitty power! and give attitude, for step on your keyboard while you’re gaming and then turn in a circle tuxedo cats always looking dapper jump off balcony, onto stranger’s head. Get video posted to internet for chasing red dot chase laser. Cat is love, cat is life rub face on everything. Scratch the box meowing non stop for food chase after silly colored fish toys around the house, shove bum in owner’s face like camera lens need to chase tail cat snacks. Chirp at birds. Paw at your fat belly vommit food and eat it again. Poop on grasses attack dog, run away and pretend to be victim sniff other cat’s butt and hang jaw half open thereafter destroy the blinds for destroy couch, so destroy couch as revenge yet knock over christmas tree. Hopped up on catnip mew so lies down . Rub face on everything run in circles, for gnaw the corn cob mrow. Knock dish off table head butt cant eat out of my own dish loves cheeseburgers yet cats go for world domination so use lap as chair leave dead animals as gifts.