Things you need for the winter that you don't think you need

[urbpan]

1. Sunglasses. The few hours the sun is out it's angled directly at your eyes. Even cloudy days are blinding if everything is covered with snow.

2. Better boots. Your current boots aren't good enough. Get better, taller, warmer, more waterproof boots. Ideally they'll be crotch-high, with soles like tractor treads, and lined with seal fur.

3. Steel coal shovel. If it's been really cold, and especially if it's been a little warm and then really cold, the snow is the texture of cinder blocks. Today I shattered one of those pansy plastic shovels.

4. Ugly hat. No good looking hat will have adequate ear protection. If you don't look like a total dork, you are not warm enough.

Comments

[brush-rat.livejournal.com]

I've got a pair of $50 roping boots from Target and hit them with a serious amount of brown shoe polish. So far, so good as far as repelling the water goes.

[anais2.livejournal.com]

Try mink oil, it's great for water repelling. And I second the steel coal shovel, works so much better. The neighbors line up to borrow ours, and we sometimes get courtesy shoveling out of the deal, not to be sneezed at...