We are Totally Jealous...

...of Danielle and her barefoot family!
See, one of things that we have to battle out here where we live is these:

Goat heads. These are the seeds of a particularly pernicious weed that runs rampant all over eastern Colorado. And, let me tell ya, these suckers are sharper than needles, harder than diamonds and the cause of much (mild, mind you) cursing and hopping around on one foot around here.

Look how they stick into the bottom of a flip flop! This is what our feet would look like if we walked around barefoot! =sigh= So sad. I hold no grudge against the practice, whatsoever. On the contrary, every chance I could get away with it, I went barefoot as a child. Since my mom had a dreaded fear of rusty nails and tetanus, we had to carry our flipflops in our back pockets and slip them on when we got close to home (I know. It's terrible, isn't it? Don't tell my children; it's a terrible example!), but I spent a large part of my first fifteen years with tanned toes and calloused soles.

But my children would think I was crazy if I even suggested they walk around here barefoot! We don't even go barefoot in the house, because goatheads are brought in on the bottoms of shoes and hide in the carpets, where you are sure to find them when you least expect them. YOW!

Lucky Bean children!