Welcome to the “My Place” page
 My name is Scott
I run the Rope and Wire website.
My original idea for this page was to give those living in the country the opportunity to tell others about the things that made their farm or ranch so special.
Well, I’ve come to the conclusion that either no one likes to brag or no one lives on a farm or a ranch. Whatever the case, no one submitted an article so I felt it was high time to try something different.
So for now this will be literally “My Place.” I’ll use this page to post a western blog or short articles. They will either be mine, or possibly one from a contributing R&W community member.
The theme will remain Western but the content will change weekly, or there about.
If you click on any of the links to past blog's, you can return to this page by clicking on the My Place button across from my picture.
I hope you enjoy it but if not, might I suggest you “stroll the grounds.” Read a story or watch a movie.
Thanks for visiting.
Scott
Pioneer Shoes
I saw a news article the other day about a man who was walking across the United States. He has already walked about two thousand miles… on paved roads, which to tell you the truth really doesn’t impress me much. At least, not as much as what those brave pioneers heading west did one hundred and fifty years ago. They also walked two thousand miles, and sometimes more than that. They climbed mountains and forded rivers. They walked in the dirt and the mud over the roughest of terrain. There were no such things as paved roads or fancy tennis shoes for these folks. It was an extremely difficult task.
Thinking back to the news article.
The one thing that really did surprise me about this story was the comment that this guy had already worn out seventeen pairs of shoes.
This got me to thinking. How many pairs of shoes did the pioneers wear out on their trek across the country? Did their supply list look something like this?
Flour
Beans
Axel Grease
Seventeen pairs of walking shoes.
I doubt it. So what did they do? Did their shoes wear out? How did they handle the shoe issue?
As my grandpa used to say, “Things were built better back in my day.” That may well have been true but did that include shoes?
These days, most products are not built to last. They’re built to wear out after a pre-determined amount of use. It’s called planned, or built-in obsolescence. Now I realize that all things, no matter what it is, will eventually wear out or break down over time if left to themselves. The second law of thermal dynamics is absolute about this. (It's a science thing) But I also realize most things these days could be manufactured better than they are. But, as we all know, consumer spending is the fuel that drives our economy. If things were built to last longer, consumers would buy less and our economy would suffer, so manufacturers build products that break down sooner than necessary so consumers have to buy the product more often so manufacturers can produce more products that break down…and so it goes. It’s a vicious cycle.
Oh well, I could go on with this but I’m really getting off the subject.
OK, back to the issue of pioneers and shoes. I did a little research. I Googled a few shoe topics to see what might turn up. Not much. It seems the pioneers did wear out their shoes along the trail but for the most part, they repaired what they had or made new ones along the way. I couldn’t find any information on how many pairs they actually went through. I guess they didn’t keep count. I’m sure they had more important things on their minds, like keeping their axels greased…and staying alive.
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