Hi Strathmore, how does that song go again? ‘I’ve been everywhere, man, I’ve been everywhere.’

I have literally been everywhere, in stubble, in mud, in sandhills, badlands, and in the moistest and most foul smelling places in the world each summer.

It’s stampede time in these parts.

And every time I have been in one of those places, it’s been without cowboy boots.

The other day someone told me I should really be wearing cowboy boots.

So this weekend I did something that I am ashamed to say I haven’t done in 10 years.

I bought some new cowboy boots.

Don’t they look pretty?

Yes those first ones are the show ones, that I will wear in Saskatchewan this summer, in Calgary and at the Strathmore Stampede.

The other ones, you know what those ones are for. They are for events at the rodeo for when it rains. They are for when you cuss because you stepped in poo. They are so sand doesn’t get in your shoes and bugs don’t too.

You remember that year that the chucks got rained out? I remember wearing rubber boots and having them sucked off my feet into the mud. One of my colleagues wore flip flops and shorts that year. The year before, I wore my favourite earrings, which I lost one of in the dirt.

The year before that I had a steel-toed ankle shoe fall off as I took photos during the running of the bulls. And a couple years before that I felt like I was walking through quicksand, lugging my camera between the stage and outfield at Calgary.

So yes I needed some new boots. I asked some of my favourite people in town for a few recommendations and for the next couple of months, I will be breaking these ones in.

Tomorrow, Sarah and I are going to be boot buddies and show off our cowboy boots at work. This is a country radio station of course.

If you like, snap a photo of yourself in your favourite pair of boots!

Best regards,

Monique