Shoes?

            Shoes are interesting. When I go to work, I wear some heavy dress shoes with plenty of space inside; when I get home at night, I switch to my loafers, with padding inside; if it were summer, I’d walk to the park with sandals on my feet; on a hike, I wear sturdy hiking boots; whenever I’m doing odd jobs around the house and yard, I wear my sneakers; and when I run, I wear tight, thin running shoes. From the following list you could deduce that I have six pairs of shoes, which would be correct. Each pair affords its own comfort and functionality depending on the activity it was designed for.

A couple days ago I came across a young man walking about the University of Utah campus with bare feet. He was wearing pants, a coat, a big backpack and a beanie, but no shoes. He looked at everyone as if daring them to comment on his shoelessness. At first I thought that he was starving for attention, but after mulling it over, I thought, “Maybe he just hasn’t found a comfortable pair of shoes.” Now, winter is a funny time to discover such a thing, but who am I to judge? Some people’s feet may truly be better off bare, regardless of temperature.

            I have a couple of friends who run barefoot from time to time. One of them has run marathons barefoot. I think they’re crazy for doing so. Every time I’ve tried to run barefoot, I end up with blood coming from the bottom of my feet. My friends say it’s more natural, but one of the dangers of running barefoot is flat feet. A good athletic shoe will offer arch support, because fallen arches are sometimes painful. It’s funny to think that we need foam bumps inside our shoes to keep our arches up, but they sure are helpful.

The other evening I was advising a friend on how to choose the best pair of athletic shoes. The shoes my friend had picked out were the right size, according to the number on the outside of the box, and they felt okay when she walked around, but she was worried because there wasn’t any extra space between any part of her foot and the shoe. I told her that a shoe designed for sports isn’t going to have any extra space, otherwise blisters form. Whenever a foot slides around inside a shoe for a prolonged period of time, blisters are sure to appear. For all athletic activity, the tighter the shoe, the better. When I go running, I make sure to lace my shoes up as tight as possible. At first it doesn’t feel comfortable, but after moving around a bit, my feet settle in and the shoes feel like a part of me, like another layer of skin.

            You undoubtedly have your own personalized collection of shoes and boots. Some are old and should be thrown away, but they hold sentimental value so they remain at the back of your closet. A few may be new and hard to wear because your feet have not broken them in. Whatever your shoe situation is, just remember that if the shoe fits, wear it. If not, don’t. The comfort level of a shoe can easily influence your mood. Another thing to remember: if shoes in general are uncomfortable, go barefoot, but watch out for sharp sticks!

Utah's White Sands

            At a time of year when many people in Utah dream of white, sandy beaches, there are others who travel from afar to experience Utah’s claim to fame: beautiful, powdery snow. They seem like polar opposites (mostly because one is associated with warm weather and the other with freezing temperatures), but snow is a lot like sand in some respects. While playing in them, they tend to find their way into every opening of your clothing. You can easily bury your friends up to their heads in either substance. My most favorite aspect of the two, though, is that you can make sculptures out of them. Sand is relatively hard to shape into anything other than a one-foot high “castle.” Snow is a little bit easier to work with, especially if the snow is somewhere between powder and slush.

            Snowmen are the most common snow sculptures. Despite their ordinary nature, they are highly customizable. If ten children made ten snowmen at the same time, no two would be alike. Sure, most of them would have rocks for eyes and stick arms, but one would probably have a larger head than its torso, another would have half a back end and one would appear to have just survived a squirrel attack. Not only do snowmen come in all shapes and sizes, they’re extremely fun to destroy, but only if you created them. I can’t tell you how many snowmen I’ve lost to the mean kid down the street who walks around searching solely for victims made out of snow. There should be a law limiting the destructor of a snowman to its creator (the last thing every snowman hears before the destruction begins: “I brought you into this world…”).

            One year my elementary school had a snow sculpture contest. Snowmen were unacceptable offerings, so all the schoolchildren had to reach deep inside and pull out their imaginations. All of us kids were on teams of four or more, which was supposed to multiply the power of our imaginations (since so many of them had been dulled by the colorful world of television). The sculptures ranged from cars to castles to dogs. When it was all said and done, though, the grand prize went to me and my five friends for our amazing rendition of a shark attack. In the middle of our scene was a rowboat with one oar missing and two chunks taken out of its sides. Four sharks moved toward the boat, two with opening mouths. There was one kid in my group, Danny, who had orchestrated the whole thing. His passion for sharks and snow sculptures led us to create the extremely fun scene, and I’ve never forgotten how much I enjoyed that day. I imagine Danny is probably out there sculpting snow sharks right now.

            When you find yourself dreaming of little umbrellas in pina coladas and the sound of the ocean lapping the soft sands of some beach in Tahiti or Barbados, snow may not be the best alternative to your dream, but at least you can have fun with it. I hope you can enjoy giving a snowman life only to turn him into the target of your snowball barrage, and if snowmen are too commonplace for you, I wish you the best in creating a masterpiece worthy of the snow sculpture hall of fame. Have a blast and take care not to let snow find its way down your pants!

The Collector

            From a book about collecting things I read a snippet that went something like this: “Collections give a person purpose. Whether a person collects expensive antiques or cheap buttons, that person is forever searching for something and often finds more than he or she was looking for.” Unfortunately, at the time, I was paying little attention to the title of the book, and now I may never know what it was called, but that one excerpt made such an impression on me that I’ve thought a lot about it in the last three days.

            I’ve always wanted a “field book” – a book in which I can compile my collected sketches and notate my observations about nature as well as paste any interesting specimens of flora or fauna. When I was young, I had a notebook that served as a sort of field book, though some animals I drew ended up with a banner over their heads reading, “Party Time!” If I could only revisit my 9-year-old brain and discover why I decided to portray jellyfish and cougars as party animals, but not buffalo or dinosaurs, I would probably understand more about myself. I still have the book and plan on turning it over to the Natural History Museum of Utah someday when I really need money. Surely my collected drawings (especially the festive animal ones) will fetch a pretty penny.

            I once had a rock collection that I kept in an old metal lunch box. My collection was rather extensive – I had iron pyrite and tiger’s eye and amethyst and rose quartz. Then one day my mom gave me a book about the rocks native to Utah, and I realized that my collection didn’t even cover a fraction of all the rocks in Utah, let along the world. My original plan as I began collecting rocks was to amass all the rocks in the world. I knew from the beginning that I may need to upgrade to two lunch boxes to house them all, but that was a price I had been willing to pay. Well, my new book extinguished any hope I had had of completing that goal, so I gave up and I think my little brother inherited the lunch box and its contents. In the end I probably saved a lot of money from not purchasing another lunch box every time my collection outgrew the old ones.

            Sometimes we collect things because we have an emotional attachment to them, and other times we may just have OCD. No matter the reason, collecting gives us some sense of accomplishment with every new item that we add to our collection. Gathering stuff from nature is especially rewarding, because we can learn from observing whatever it is we’ve collected, and usually it’s free. This year I’m going to start collecting old cars that I find in riverbeds and at the bottom of cliffs. Could be fun. I expect that I will not only assume an extremely satisfying hobby, but I will also learn a great deal about each car’s history and how it wound up in such a sad state.

To all you fellow collectors of things out there, good luck finding more treasures in the future. May your collection bring you joy and many more learning experiences!

Giving Back

            This coming Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Not only is it a paid day off at my work, it’s a day to commemorate the progress we’ve made as a nation toward creating a more unified country. Martin Luther King, Jr. made such a positive impression on the social direction of the United States that we remember him year after year with his own holiday. In the past I’ve enjoyed the break by taking a day trip out to Lehman Caves or Antelope Island, but the last couple of years I’ve tried to honor the day by giving back to my community. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is the perfect opportunity to do something that makes even the smallest positive difference toward a happier neighborhood.

            When I was little, I remember seeing a television show about the organization Greenpeace. One of the scenes in the show depicted the ocean with a small Greenpeace vessel confronting a big oil tanker. The Greenpeace guys had a big hose spraying the tanker crew. Everybody was mad at everybody. As a seven year old I thought it looked like a fun “job.” I was able to recognize at that age that the people were trying to change the way humans interact with their environment. Now that I’m a few years older, I’m a little more aware of the danger involved in such an organization. Taking on large changes requires a lot of risk. I don’t have to be a Freedom Fighter or an Occupier to facilitate change in the world, though. Picking up litter or shoveling a neighbor’s driveway are ways I’ve found help make a simple difference in my world.

            If you are fortunate enough to have the day off of work, think about an activity that you can do that contributes to the well-being of your community. Because this is an outdoors column, I’ll stick to the suggestions that involve the outdoors - you’ll just have to figure out your own indoor activities. For example, fix the broken wood tables at the city park and give them a new paint job. Or take a trip down the popular running/walking path and make sure it is clear of debris and cut back any encroaching vegetation. Or roam around the foothills and mountains looking for any avalanche danger, then stand guard and warn all passing snowmobilers of the problem. There is a wide-range of things you could do, but pick something that will be enjoyable and/or interesting to you.

            There might already be some activities planned on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in your community, so ask around or check out your community’s website. If not, have fun planning your own project. Even if you only dedicate a half hour to doing something helpful, it will surely be noticed and appreciated. You may not get your own holiday to commemorate your efforts, but then again, only people like Columbus, who discovered a New Land, and Martin Luther King, Jr., who helped create a more united United States, get their own special days.

             

Making Snow

            Here I sit, icing my still-stinging cheek with ice from my freezer. Sure would have been nice to simply grab some snow from outside to do so, but then if there were snow, I wouldn’t have received a hard slap to begin with. (Thanks, Weather!) Anyway, I’ve decided to take a page out of the snow resorts’ books and start making my own snow so this winter isn’t a total bust. After a little research I think I’ll soon be able to create a few feet of snow in as little as a week. Join me in the following paragraphs to find out how you, too, can enjoy your own yard of fluffy white stuff without the help of a natural blizzard.

            At first I thought that the act of making snow was obvious: a daddy snowflake gets with a mommy snowflake…and they decide to throw a party and all their friends show up. Apparently, though, snowflakes don’t throw parties, besides the fact that scientists have never been able to determine whether or not snowflakes even have specific genders. The actual process is much more straightforward than that. Essentially all you need are cold temperatures, low humidity, and a snowmaker.

            Interestingly enough, there are indeed personal snowmakers for use in your own yard. You can build your own snowmaker, or you can purchase a pre-made one from a company that manufactures them. If you own a pressure washer, you’re already halfway there. Snowmaking depends on creating small globules of water that freeze easily because of their size. The smaller the droplets, the quicker they freeze. A pressure washer is perfect for spraying small bits of water out at a high rate of speed. Sorry, but placing your thumb over the garden hose won’t produce the fine mist needed to make good snow. All you’ll do is create a thick sheet of ice wherever you aim the hose, which is great if you’re looking to open an ice rink in your backyard.

            It’s probably easiest to make snow at night, when the sun isn’t attempting to melt everything. Temperatures in Utah haven’t been the most conducive to snowmaking lately, even at night, but it’s enough to make a sort of wet slush. As temperatures plummet, which they typically do in January, it will be possible to create a powdery snow that is beautiful and great for sledding. And snow angels. Have you ever tried to make a snow angel in wet snow in your pajamas? If so, did your friends lock you out of the house while you were doing so? I wouldn’t recommend it. On the other hand, snow angels in soft, dry powder are heavenly and come highly recommended.  

            Winter is depressing enough without the fun-factor of snow, but you mustn’t stand idly by waiting for the weather to do its part (I can tell you from experience it doesn’t care about what us humans want). If you feel like purchasing or building your own snowmaker, the Internet has everything you need at your fingertips: manufacturers, plans, temperature and humidity forecasts, and hints for best snowmaking. Check it out and help make winter a success this year!