Last month I reviewed a pair of Patagonia Nomad boots that PlanetShoes sent me. I felt a little weird reviewing hiking boots without having actually hiked in them, but I was a victim of geography and chronology. In fact, all I had time to do was to wear them to a Veteran’s Day program and for a walk through the pine tree plantation behind my house with my son. Sure, the boots worked fine, looked good, and were plenty comfortable, especially for brand new leather boots, which usually take a lot of breaking in, but that was hardly a test of what the shoes were meant to do.

Luckily, during the week of Thanksgiving I was able to take them out on the trail with fellow Greenist Mickey and a cousin of mine and really put them through a more appropriate trial.

Our three-day trip consisted of a route we spliced together from sections of the Appalachian Trail in northern Georgia, the Duncan Ridge Trail, the Coosa Backcountry Trail, and the Bear Hair Trail. The total mileage was a bit over 30 miles, almost half of that on the second day. The forecast for our trip had looked good until the night before when suddenly our clear, comfortable days turned into fog, overcast skies and possible rain. This was really good for testing the boots, but potentially bad for having fun.

The trip ended up being very damp. My beard grew beads of water on the first and last days just from the moisture in the air, but it thankfully never rained during the day. It can be a little frustrating having the fall vistas taken away by the mist, but it does test the waterproof claims of the shoe. Gore-Tex is very efficient at keeping water out and never once did my feet get wet. My socks were shockingly dry at the end of each day, which is a very pleasant change of pace from most of my hiking trips. To up the ante on the water-proofness, we hiked briefly off trail to a waterfall near where the Coosa Backcountry Trail and the Bear Hair meet and I stood in cold water just over my ankles in the stream after having picked my way across it. Not a bit of leakage. The shoes pass that test, although if you’re in colder situations where wet feet could be dangerous, I’d advise wearing gaiters over the shoes to keep moisture from dripping off of your pants into the tops of your shoes.

The boots are a little warm for my taste in building-based situations, but, despite temperatures in the 70s the second day and serious exertion over 15 miles, my feet just didn’t sweat. Apparently the Gore-Tex does breathe a little. I know. I’m shocked too. My feet normally sweat like my formally obese self on an August run in Georgia. I still wouldn’t take these on the trail in the summer, though. The South is just too warm, even in the mountains, during the summer, but that’s like saying I won’t wear a wool hat in July. It’s just the right item for the weather here.

As for sizing, I normally wear size 12 except for the half size up I wear in my running shoes and in some brands that tend to run small. I was able to wear these shoes with only about two miles of breaking in without developing any blisters, so I probably have the right size. Still, the toe box sometimes felt a little tight. I couldn’t decide if this was an advantage that kept my feet from shifting inside the shoe on the downhills, or if I should have gotten a ½ size larger, which doesn’t seem to exist once you get to size 12. It is, however, something the more petite of you out there should consider if you go this route.

I hate yard work. This is not the normal hate that you feel toward a food you don’t like or a type of music that represents a group of people with which you don’t identify. I hate yard work with a seething rage that churns out ill will and bad thoughts with an efficiency to match that of some machine that’s really good at making something.

Unlike my brain with that simile, obviously. Read more…

I know I’m not the only one who has held on to, or in other ways accumulated, tons of unwanted t-shirts that now dwell in massive numbers at the back of a closet.

Whether from 5k races, blood donations, intramural sports, or that old high school club, I’m constantly amazed at how extra t-shirts creep into our lives.  I always keep them with the thought that they would make good utility shirts; you know, a junk shirt that could be worn while gardening, or painting, or changing the oil in your car- unfortunately, I have WAY more t-shirts slotted for these activities than activities that would warrant wearing them.

And my collection keeps growing.

It helps to make the conscious decision to refuse t-shirts at every opportunity but that only solves the supply problem- so what do you do with the t-shirts you already have? Read more…

I was supposed to run today, but it’s raining. I’m annoyed that I’ll be plugging in the elliptical machine again tonight, but we need the water. My parents’ pond has dried up so much this summer that it’s now so shallow that I’ve had to cut swimming out of my exercise schedule. Since I can’t run today, I’ll spend a little time here going over a few things I do to green up my exercise regimen. I’ll get around to the elliptical after the kid goes to bed. Read more…

Dig! Toss! Splash! Vroom! Scrape! Wheee-ohhh, Wheee-ohhh! These are just some of the sounds of summer when two little boys, a lake, and Green Toys are combined.

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In certain circles it’s pretty well-known that I have a deep obsession with lip balms. And by certain circles, I mean my mom and my sister. No one else needs to know the true number of lip balms I actually own lest they think me a crazy person. However, I will admit that I have an entire drawer in my bathroom devoted to lip products which is embarrassing in itself.

Annnnnyway, by far the best chapstick I have found to date is Dr. Bronner’s Organic Lip Balms. They are certified USDA Organic and come in lovely flavors like lemon-lime and orange-ginger. Every night when I put some on before bed I try to decide which is my favorite. Lately I’ve been leaning towards the lemon-lime because it seems so summery, but all are equally effective. They don’t dry out my lips like other chapsticks, or make me reapply every five minutes.

A few weeks back I realized I was running low on the Dr. Bronner’s magic so I decided to order a bunch at once. It seems like every time I love something it is immediately discontinued, so in my ordering anxiety I ordered eight of each of the flavors. I kid you not, when a box of 32 lip balms showed up at my door even I had a moment of questioning my sanity. But now I am safe in the knowledge I won’t be running out any time soon!

And really, what’s more important than that?

Roof over their heads or organic food in their tummies? You know my answer.

Last night, I threw out a glass spaghetti sauce jar. The day before that, I bought two new Pack & Play sheets (buy one, get one – plus I had a 20% off coupon) without checking Craigslist first. Last week when I went grocery shopping, I didn’t buy any organic food AND I bought generic Dawn instead of my usual Seventh Generation. Oh, and I’m currently using Tide instead of a natural brand of laundry detergent. Are you shocked yet? Gasping for air and shouting to yourself, “And you call yourself a Greenist?” Well, I do call myself a Greenist…and yes, I’m experiencing a lot of green guilt right now – that feeling of I know I can do better. I know I can do more. But allow me to explain . . .  Read more…

At the risk of making every post I write for The Greenists a “Guess what ELSE you can do with vinegar?!” post, I’ve got one more for you. Seriously, people, it is a wonder substance. Can I help it if it’s a 200-trick pony? (Answer: I cannot. So let’s go with it, my friends.)

This time I’m taking it into my bathroom. My shower, specifically. Some of you know I spent a rather sizable chunk of the first quarter of 2010 without a usable shower in my home. It was for a good cause, because at the end of it, in place of the rusting metal tiles that I’d resorted to duct taping back on the wall as they came unglued (I wish I were kidding. It wasn’t pretty, folks), I had a gorgeous sparkling white tiled (fully waterproof!) shower that I’m no longer embarrassed to let guests see.

The beauty of a brand-new shower is that it looks clean even without cleaning it for a really, really long time. The drawback is that it tempts lazy people like me not to clean it for a really, really long time. Whether it’s reasonable or not, I’ve grown convinced that a generous application of daily shower spray after every use is a free pass not to scrub my new shower properly for several weeks on end. Which is all good and fine except that I am tired of buying plastic refill bottles of Method’s ylang ylang-scented shower spray. I’ve been on this beat long enough to know that surely I could make my own, right? Right. So I asked my cleaning consultant/doctor/navigator/recipe guru/general all-purpose resource (a.k.a., The Google) to tell me how.

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