Sanguine Tenacious Tidings

Whose Shoes and Socks Are They

February 10, 2018 30-Day-Challenge

1000gps is the fee on Creation Saturday. Let's see what you can create with this conclusion.

... and that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I lost my right shoe and my left sock.

Whose Shoes and Socks Are They by Apondia

It’s difficult to be in your 70’s and have a really horrible winter hit. Older people need to keep warm. It you get real cold your muscles can react slower and your joints stiffen. Not that, that happens all the time; just when things aren’t going well.

I slipped my feet into the warm flannel sheets. The bed was tucked in at the bottom, with an extra blanket, to keep my feet warm. It was tucked in so well it prohibited some movement. I left my socks on so I was assured of warm feet for the night.

In the night the temperature raised by 30 degrees. Instead of 10 degrees outside it was now 40 degrees outside. The house air and atmosphere responded to the outside temperature and seemed to become over warm. My feet were so warm I didn’t need both socks and flannel sheets. I laid there for a few minutes wishing the extra blanket at the bottom of the bed wasn’t tucked in so tight. I would have to get up to take off my socks. Then, I had an idea. I tucked my right big toe into the cuff of the left sock and gently slid the sock down and off my left foot. Since it seemed to help and I wasn’t so warm any more I fell back asleep until morning.

When I got up I noticed I was not wearing my left sock. I sat back down on the bed and dug under the covers. I dug clear to the bottom of the bed by laying with my feet at the top on my pillow and sliding my body up under the tucked in covers at the bottom. By crawling around on the bed and sliding my arms back and forth I hunted for the sock; but of course it had disappeared into the land of the lost. So, I got up and put on my slippers in order to get ready for the day.

After I dressed, I noticed the dog had his nose under the covers with his tail end sticking into the air and his tail was excitedly tossing to and fro. “Hey, what cha doin there? You find a bone?”

He popped his head out from under the covers and sure enough he had my left sock in his teeth. He laid down with his head and the sock hanging over the edge. I grabbed for the sock just as he dropped it; standing up and looking down to watch it fall. I looked down too and as the sock hit the floor a furry cat arm flashed out and swiped the sock under the bed.

Sighing, because all the rest of my socks were in the laundry which was down in the basement I opened the sock drawer. Excited, I noticed a lone mismatched sock was still in the drawer I picked it up and while holding the sock, with my left hand dangling at my side, I slid the drawer closed with my right hand. Zap! The cat flew out from under the bed grappled at the sock with both paws. In seconds, the cat had disappeared under the bed with the sock.

I decided to just eat breakfast. Maybe one of the socks would appear by the time I was finished. Nope, after breakfast still no sock.

I looked outside. The weather was trying to melt everything fast. I decided to wear an old pair of hiking shoes to the barn. I could probable get through the slush and icy spots easy and it would mean I did not have to hunt for another sock. Besides, there was now a lot of green grassy and muddy spots showing between the mounds of melting snow and slush. The hiking shoes are old, ready to be tossed after just a few more wears and it would be easier on my feet than the tall heavy muck boots I generally wear to the barn in two foot snow drifts. And, I decided since I would not be out for more than a half an hour I could get away with wearing only the one sock without freezing my feet.

Three quarters of the one hundred yards to the barn I slipped on a patch of ice. I threw myself forward onto my right foot which landed in a deep pocket of slush. The first trauma I noticed was the feeling of wet, that exploded into my right shoe. Even though, I was glad I had managed not to fall down in the muck I knew, that wet in my right shoe wasn’t normal. I had been using an old sky pole to manipulate through the small patches of ice that were intermittent with slush and muddy ground. I poked the end of the pole deep into a patch of muck and leaned on it heavily, then lifted up my right foot to look at the shoe. Wow, as I lifted my foot a whole two, thirds of the shoe flapped open across the sole. With my foot hanging up I looked back at the house, then I looked over to the barn, decisions, decisions. What the heck? IF I continued on to the barn carefully I could probably find tape to keep the shoe together until I finished feeding and watering livestock and finishing breakfast chores anyway.

With each step, I put the right foot forward on the heel first then careful to shifted my weight to the toe. Flap, slog, flap, slog, flap, slog, my sock was wet and my foot was cold. Still, I managed to get into the barn and into the tack room where I did not find tape. By this time the whole sole had shaken loose from the shoe. I was holding it in one hand and walking with the top of the shoe and the sock across the barn into the tack room. Guess I should have returned to the house.

Determined, I looked on every shelf in the barn. I laid the shoe top and the sole on a grain barrel while I hobbled around in the tack room, with one wet sock and one left shoe, searching shelves.

There is a rabbit hole in one corner of the tack room. It houses a few rabbits that prefer to avoid the snow and ice of winter. They come up into the barn and sleep with the horses and eat some of the hay and grain that is dropped by the livestock. As a rule they are not a problem as there is hardly ever more that one or two around. “Wait, wait, what are you doing?” Just as I found some electrical tape and turned to pick up my shoe. One of those pesky rabbits grabbed the top and dragged it backwards down the hole in the corner. The sole was also gone.

I grabbed a pick and shovel and tried opening the hole in the floor but it was no use the shoe and sole had disappeared. Only, one thing left to do. I wrapped a wool horse leg bandage and a leg wrap around my foot and lower leg then I wrapped the whole swollen looking mess with electrical tape. I hobbled around the barn filling water buckets, feed buckets, and throwing down hay for each animal. Then, I went back to the house arriving with one wet, soggy, bandaged foot and one shod foot with out a sock. ... and that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I lost my right shoe and my left sock.