Last night I was in the sound room of our church helping push buttons to keep the Christmas program on track when suddenly I got a whiff of a familiar scent. I mostly detected the smell of ammonia but also a hint of day-old horse manure. But I wasn’t wearing barn clothes or my barn shoes. Oh man, I think I walked through the barn in these shoes. How embarrassing. I mean I live in the country and all and many of the people we know have horses but still, I’d prefer to not smell like horse excrement all the time. I’m hoping I haven’t doomed yet another pair of shoes to barn duties. I have a pair of Justin cowboy boots I use for horse stuff…riding, working in the barn and pasture. They hold up well and offer better protection than old sneakers. Once I tried to clean them up to wear out somewhere. Nothing fancy but more than a trip to the feed store, if you know what I mean. Soap and water and boot shine make them look almost new but they still reeked of ammonia. I suppose it soaks into the rubber sole or leather.

So let this be a lesson to us all: don’t wear shoes around the barn that you’ll later want to wear in social situations!

Photo by Timothy Barlin on Unsplash