Boot Storage

Here is the problem with boots. I don't want them in the house, or even in the mudroom, because they may get poop on the floor (or on the coat the boy flung on the floor on his way into the house.) However, when the boots are all piled up outside, they get cold and wet. And most of the time, the boots are not underneath the porch overhang so they get really cold and wet.

Tonight, when I went to go do the chicken chores (in the cold, wet weather), I put on my orange, mud boots. I had just put on a new pair of clean, warm socks. (Thanks Mimi for folding our laundry!) Within a second of putting my foot into the boot, it was wet. Wet sock. I hate wet sock. Doing chicken chores in the cold, wet weather is one thing but doing chicken chores in the cold, wet weather with cold, wet feet is entirely worse.

And I am entirely too soft to be a Farmer's wife. I may even be entirely too soft to be a Farmetter's wife.  We're approaching my third winter on the farm. By spring, my skin will be a little thicker, even if just by one millimeter! 

Until then, I'll look on Pinterest for a way to store boots. I have some ideas... 

But maybe a mud room needs to be exactly what it is meant to be: a place for dirty, muddy (and potentially) poopy boots.  And really, what I need to do the most, is accept that I don't need it to be "Pinterest Pretty", I only need my mudroom to be pretty darn functional. I need my boots to be warm enough in the winter and not frozen, wet or "oh my goodness" cold!  

I need to come to terms with the fact that our farm is less "Norman Rockwell" and more "Cold Comfort." 

And the best thing to remember is that poop freezes (less warm/mushy and more cold/crunchy under the boot)! One complete benefit of being a farmer in the Midwest: as the temperature drops, the bottom of the boot stays cleaner.  One lovely benefit of winter!