einstein's definition of insanity

KEEPING FEET WARM

I realized something last night when I got home and changed shoes to walk Cookie. I live on an old farm and occupy about 9 acres. The bulk of the land is as it has been for maybe forty years. When it rains as it did for almost two days it is muddy. I have special boots for walking muddy or not.

Anyway when I put on the boots last night I realized they were cold and what I also noted was the fact that they were encrusted with mud which was not completely dry. Since it was not dry the moisture in the mud was a very good conductor of heat from my feet. Had there been snow and ice also mixed in the cold would have been more severe.

What is learned is the mud and whatever else sticks to boots should be cleaned away when you take them off so the surface area of the boots can dry which will be helpful in reducing the amount of heat loss. Of course wearing the Lamilite socks will also help to keep your feet warm..

Many people buy muck boots for this type of situation and the encrusting of mud etc. only amplifies the wearers discomfort since muck boots are waterproof and retain all foot sweat. Yes the Lamilite socks help but in my opinion the real answer to having warm feet is to wear Lamilite boots with Lamilite socks and Lamilite insulated over boots. In this manner you are good if otherwise properly dressed for temperatures as low as -30 degrees F. In addition wearing the over boots protects the leather boots and the over boots can easily be cleaned with a hose or if you let the crust of mud dry you can easily brush the surface without damage.

Having taken the opportunity to see a number of the bean boots doing the research for comments I noted they make some models with thinslate. The same people who have no knowledge of the history of primaloft have no knowledge of how poorly thinsulate function’s as an insulating medium, thinsulate has been around since the late 1970’s. All they would have to do is ask anyone who has purchased any of the wolverine brands of hunting boots that have thinsulate in combination with goretex to find out that they have cold feet when wearing these boots. Boots with these two components have been successfully failing since the 1980’s.

History of how components perform or don’t perform is avoided like the plague in the outdoor industry as far as I am concerned. You know what Einstein said about doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result is a sign of “INSANITY”.

FISHNET UNDERWEAR

I received an interesting note from a customer who bought the fishnets and said they worked well for him but were to snug so he bought a second pair the next size up and he swears they worked better being loose fitting. He is correct; loose fitting layers allow for more warm air space that does not go away and means that the air heated by your body stays close to you but also is sufficient to drive the moisture away from you and through the layers of clothing you are wearing. The end result is a warmer you.

I had a local customer visit after a morning of cross country skiing. He was wearing the fishnet top with the wind shirt over it and stayed warm and dry. He then told me when he was wearing in the past three layers of knit in retrospect he found the layers were binding his movements and when he stopped he would get the ever present chill. He said he now does not believe the knit garments were wicking away his moisture. These garments were not doing something they can’t do and proved to him just that, they cannot wick moisture. The Einstein quote applies to ALL companies that claim for the 30^th year now that they have a synthetic that wicks moisture. At the upcoming OR show these companies new or old will show the same garments only the colors will have changed.

The OR show opens about the 25^th of January so at that time I will get to see more of the offering.