2007-04-02

980. Rural Oddity

A light drizzle
sprinkles an up-turned boot —
fence post.

8 comments:

Masago said...

A light drizzle
sprinkles an up-turned boot -
fence post.

979: Footwear.

[Flipping a boot up-side-down and putting it on a fence post is another rural cultural oddity. There are several ideas on the origin of this. I like the one that says a farmer would use such a boot on a post to indicate his whereabouts to passersby. The boot pointing parallel to the road indicated that he wasn't at home. Pointing toward the house meant he was at home. I would add that perhaps if the boot was missing that it was an indication he was in the field working.]

Anonymous said...

Well, my boot's going to be pointing parallel to the road for the next two days. :)

floots said...

there must be a whole vocabulary we could devise based on different items of footwear and clothing
no stop there - i've only done one and it's already smutty :)

J. Andrew Lockhart said...

I've never heard of this -- really interesting

Pamela said...

my dad spend 12 or so years as a vagabond. He said that the hobo's left signs like that for other hobo's who followed.
**free food here.
**Stay away from this place
etc.

I sure wish I'd listened more to his stories.

Pat Paulk said...

What an interesting oddity. I always thought it was so the hole in the bottom could get a look at the sky. Love it!!

polona said...

how interesting!
i like :)

Masago said...

Aurora: Look forward to your speedy return. :-)

Floots: *blush*

Andrew: :-) The things people do.

Pamela: I'd love to have heard his stories too.

John: Thanks.

Pat: *smile* "The other perspective".

Polona: Thanks.