Sunday, January 25th, 2026
Is that blood? It could be cadmium red watercolor. Both make sense. Even wiping it with a damp paper towel, I can’t be certain. It’s all over the throw pillow where I was resting my foot, which has a torn blister. I can’t be sure whether the blister was bleeding that bad or not. I’m wearing heavy black socks made of wool, which quickly wick away fluids and obscure stains.
It’s been snowing or sleeting all day long. I shoveled the walk twice already. The upstairs neighbor has shoveled it at least once. It will need another pass in an hour or two. It will all be ice by morning. Nobody wants that. I didn’t get to the river but I did manage to make it out for a walk around the lake this morning, too, before the sleet arrived. It was quite the workout. The snow was powdery and didn’t readily compact underfoot. It was like walking on the beach.
I would have stayed out longer than I did, but the rear command dial on my camera froze over. The X-H2 is rated to operate in temps as low as -10°C, and rumored to handle far lower, but -8° was enough to jam mine up. I got annoyed and headed back home. It’s a good thing I did, too. According to my phone, I walked 1.9 miles roundtrip, but it feels more like I ran 3 miles. I’m in no shape for running, especially in this new pair of boots I’m breaking in.
I wanted black Iron Rangers, but my size has been out of stock for over a month, so I settled on a pair of Heritage Captains from Thursday Boot Co. They’re just okay. The leather is decent but arrived smelling strongly of the tanning process. I’d put it on par with Solovair’s Derby boot. The tongue is thin. The speed hooks are shallow. The leather shank drops off abruptly at the heel. It’s like a cliff. And I’m experiencing a lot of heel slip, despite the fit being snug. Hence the blisters. Red Wings are superior.