she's gone country

she's gone country, look at them boots,

i love all things country.. 'specially, if it involves cowboys (or indians..), the wide open land, and/or boots. lest, i have a pair of boots for every occasion.. and a few that i've yet to find the occasion to dust off and slip on :)

so, when my pup at the time decided she wanted to use one as a teething ring, and eat! the toes off of my favorite pair of cowGirl boots, i just couldn't find it in me to throw them away. and as cool as they were, i still couldn't wear them looking like a hobo.

(*fyi-hobo stands for 'homeward bound' and yep, its a new fav word)

aside from loving all things country, i love all things that remind me of my dad. and when my diddy took me to buy my first pair of cowGirl boots, it was quite the ordeal. i was in second grade and had become quite accustomed to riding (horses) with my cousin every week/end, so of course, i had to have a pair. and a nice pair, like all the other girls at the stables.

she's gone country, back to her roots,

not to mention, my father, kid you not! owned a closest full of cowBoy boots. and, i must get this honest too, because he had every kind of snake, reptile, animal (whatever) and each one a different color. (we still do not know what to do with all of the boots..)

so we drove to raleigh, to the boot store, and i tried on just about every pair of boots they had in my size. boots way too expensive for us to be buying at the time, and even i knew that..
but, i remember picking out a very simple brown pair of tony lamas(!), and looking to my dad for approval. he nodded his head but not before he got out, "now if i buy you these, you have to wear them more than just at the stables.. you need to wear these to school also", and my heart sank.. although i loved my boots, i wasnt quite prepared to show them off to the whole elementary school, every. day. (because he would have made me wear them every day.) so im pretty sure that day i calmly packed those boots back into their box and walked out of the store, quickly wiping any tears from my face so my dad would not see. and like a lot of things, he did go back and get those prized cowGirl boots i wanted. and i even wore them to school.

she's gone country, a new kind of suit,

and in highschool when it was finally cool to wear boots and time for another pair, the 'hip heather' :) settled for a vintage pair, slightly worn in and embroidered with red thread. i. loved. them. and i wore them into the ground until lettie ate them. and when she ate them, i turned lemons into lemonade and i made a potter! (they set as decoration in the old garden *below, with a few of dad's memoribilia :) for a few months, first..)

i simply took a screw (or nail and hammer) and punctured holes in the bottom and edges of the boot for drainage. filled the bottom portion with my potting mix (ive come up with mixtures for the ground and pots thats seemed to work well this year, and am going to try to make a post for it soon!) and transplanted some tomato plants from the old garden into the boot. top with dirt, water, and voila! a boot planter.

*you can do this with a variety of objects and fun stuff. just make sure there's good drainage and its large enough to support your seedlings up to full grown. next post will be about more container ideas, but this one deserved its own individual shout out :)
i've already picked a few yellow pears from this plant. its a little late so i doubt i'll get much, but once this one dies, i'll replace it with some flowers, or maybe i'll try some chard or kale?!?

                        ...i'll keep you posted ;)

so, moral of the story. wear cowBoy/Girl boots. and when they get  too funky, recycle them into something fun and useful. and hey, cherish those wonderful memories we have with loved ones.

she's gone country, here she comes!

*corner of the boot next to my transplanted asparagus container patch, we'll see but it's still going strong.. post to come soon!


tribute: alan jackson, for she's gone country, and of course, my country lovin' family, 'specially magums and pagums, for my diddy, and taking me to my first (of many!) alan jackson concert, where im sure i rocked my new cowGirl boots :)