A Gaiter Fix for the Husband

This has not been my most productive week. I picked up some virus at the Farm Expo and—not having any elderberry syrup with me—it got a foothold. I haven’t been sick enough to stay in bed, but I definitely haven’t been operating at peak capacity, either.

I’m also feeling a bit displaced on the time/space continuum and have heard the same comment from other people. We look outside and think it must be January. January, not October, is when we have snow on the ground and temps in the 20s. The little boys went trick or treating last night and stopped over on their way home. They dressed up as Lewis and Clark. I suspect they probably got a good sense of how Lewis and Clark might have felt while traveling through Montana.

[I love that the boys’ mamas read books to them and encourage research and exploration on lots of different topics. Ali’s little guy loves to tell us the story of the bear chasing Lewis and Clark into the river. And Elysian made her little guy’s costume using a bunch of fake suede remnants I collected over the years. It was so creative!]

I am working on a sewing project for the husband. He like to wear gaiters around his boots. A few years ago, he asked me to see if I could find fireproof gaiters so that when he’s welding or cutting rebar, he won’t set his pants on fire. I special-ordered Kevlar gaiters for him through our fire chief’s business. They fit fine on his regular boots, but even the largest size (2XL) is too small for his size 14 muck boots and those are the boots he likes to wear in the winter. The gaiters fasten at the back with industrial-strength 2” wide hook-and-loop tape. I thought it would be a fairly simple matter to make a wedge-shaped expansion gusset out of some leftover Cordura and fasten it to the gaiter on each side with additional industrial-strength hook-and-loop tape. The gusset only needs to be a couple of inches wide. We measured the boots and gaiters last night and I made a couple of rough sketches. I stitched up a prototype this morning and it appears that it should work just fine:

I used some leftover dark green Cordura from another project, two layers sewn together and topstitched on the Necchi industrial. Joanns had 2” wide industrial hook-and-loop tape with adhesive on it. Right now, the tape is just attached to the gusset with the adhesive. After he gets home and I get his input on this design, I’ll sew the tape down to make sure it stays put. The Cordura isn’t fireproof—and I don’t (currently) have a sewing machine that can handle multiple layers of Kevlar—but the gussets will be on the backs of the boots and less of a risk.

Some days I think I should design a line of clothing for people like him. I noticed this morning that his regular (non-fireproof) gaiters are starting to come apart. Making replacements may be my next project. I might have to make a pilgrimage to Seattle Fabrics for more Cordura when I am there at the end of the month.

The husband, poor guy, is trying to pour a job about 30 miles west of Kalispell that he’s been trying to complete for two weeks now. One of our employees gave notice a few days ago, too, so we’ll be down to three guys. I’m thankful this happened in November and not at the height of busy season. This kid is a good worker, though, and he will be missed.

We thought perhaps we would butcher chickens tomorrow, but the husband wants to work and I have some other things going on. It may be too late in the season this year. I know we’re carrying some older hens that aren’t laying anymore—like the three or four Leghorns that have managed to survive well into their fifth year—but feed isn’t that expensive. If we have to feed slackers over the winter, it won’t be the end of the world. And some of them just die of old age.

One of our neighbors sent the husband a picture of a grizzly caught on their game camera around 10 p.m. the other night. The bears are still out roaming around. We haven’t seen any bear activity here, but Lila likes to sing the song of her people with the local pack of coyotes at 2 a.m.