Open Thread – The Great Bunny Boot Quiz
24 10 2009
Here’s a sign I saw downtown today advertising bunny boots in white or black, and I thought I’d give you a little bunny boot quiz.
Question – What is the difference between white bunny boots and black bunny boots?
A) White bunny boots are made from white bunnies, and black bunny boots are made from black bunnies.
B) White bunny boots should only be worn between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
C) Black bunny boots are meant for more formal occasions.
D) Black bunny boots are for men and white bunny boots are for women.
E) There is no difference between white and black bunny boots. Simply an aesthetic choice.
F) Black bunny boots do not dissolve in deisel fuel. White ones do.
G) Black bunny boots are more slimming than white ones.
H) White bunny boots are inflatable, and black ones aren’t.
For anyone thinking that bunny boots are made of rabbit fur, I can categorically say that you are not an Alaskan. That was my first thought when I moved here almost 20 years ago. I was much relieved to find out that they are, in fact, made of rubber (or some rubber-like substance). Spouse bought me a pair from the local Army/Navy store and was very pleased that he found a pair that had never been worn. I learned that the coveted “bunny boots” were no longer manufactured. The ones in circulation were it. And like a Christmas fruitcake, they passed from person to person. So, to find a pair of virgin bunny boots was pretty amazing. Bunny boots are not attractive. They have a pressure nozzle. You really can’t walk in them….you lumber. If you try to drive wearing them, you will most likely kill yourself or others. They feel like they weigh like 15 pounds each. So why….why would anyone actually buy a pair? I’ll tell you why. They are the only boots that have ever kept my feet warm. And not just adequately warm. Toasty warm. And not just when it’s a little cold out…when it’s a LOT cold. In Alaska, that pretty much trumps all else.
And the boot goes on.
And for those of you who were playing at home, F is the correct answer. So, if wading through deisel fuel is on your list of things to do today, make sure you wear the black ones.
October 24th, 2009 at 3:40 PM
Another interesting and scary read:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/23/seymour-hersh-military-is_n_332139.html
A couple of excerpts from the article:
In addition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States military is also fighting a war against the Obama administration at the White House, Seymour Hersh said in a little-noted speech at Duke University on October 13. The military is “in a war against the White House — and they feel they have Obama boxed in,” he said.
Hersh, a Pulitzer-prize winning investigative journalist who exposed the My Lai massacre in Vietnam and the Abu Ghraib scandal in Iraq, sees an undercurrent of racism in the Pentagon’s dealings with the White House. “They think he’s weak and the wrong color. Yes, there’s racism in the Pentagon. We may not like to think that, but it’s true and we all know it.”
A lot of people in the Pentagon would like to see him get into trouble,” he said. By leaking information that the commanding officer in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, says the war would be lost without an additional 40,000 American troops, top brass have put Obama in a no-win situation, Hersh contended.
October 24th, 2009 at 4:21 PM
Interesting bunny boot facts:
My understanding of bunny boots is that the actual spelling is BUNY boots (I don’t know what the acronym stands for). They were made by the military and that is why you can’t get them new anymore (unless you are very lucky and find someone who has a new pair in your size in their surplus store). I had heard that they were so popular during the Korean War that the soldiers on the north would actually kill soldiers just for their boots. I work in a long term care facility so I hear a lot of Korean War stories.
I frostbit my feet when I was young and these boots are the only things that keep my feet warm when I mush with my dogs. They are very heavy which is more of a “hard on the back” than “good for the thighs” thing. I even got achilles tendonitis one year from running behind the sled in them (it’s a mushing thing).
They are warm even when your boots are full of water (or if your feet sweat).
I would take them over a downhill skiboot any day.