A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara
I started teaching at a new school last year. It was quite an adjustment. The classes were larger and longer. I did not know what the students had already learned so I spent most of the year floundering.
About December, I decided that this job would require good shoes. I had enough challenges without suffering from aching feet.
I mentioned this to Beekeeper Brian who immediately took me to what I like to call the “old lady” shoe store. Actually they carry men’s and children’s shoes but they specialize in comfort. We bought a pair of sturdy black shoes and I wore them every day. My feet never hurt even after doing Animal Boogie and playing the turkey game repeatedly.
In the spring I decided to get a pair of sandals. While I am not a fashionista by any means, wearing my black shoes with my light color clothing just didn’t seem right. I found a pair of tan sandals of the same brand. I was a little leery – after all how could sandals be as comfortable as my black “old lady” shoes.
Well one morning a chicken got on the wrong side of the fence and I found myself engaged in a rousing game of “catch the chicken before the dachshund does.” Of course I was wearing my new sandals and they did great. If I could chase a chicken certainly I could chase my preschoolers.
This summer the store had a “tent sale.” I figured I could use a pair of black sandals so off I went.
Alas, there were no black sandals with a back that were in my size and price range. They did, however, have a pair of slip on sandals with the same sole as my brown ones. 
I talked to the salesman at length about the possibility of them flying off as I chased children. He could not say from personal experience but he had never had any returned for that reason.
So I bought them and brought them home.
I wore them to teach preschool this week. It was my last week for the summer so I chose to do some of their favorite things – including Ruckus on the Ranch. This meant galloping around like Wyatt and Ruby in each of three classes. Not once did my sandals fly off! They passed the Wyatt and Ruby test.
Now all I need is a pair of brown close toed shoes and my collection will be complete!
Thanks Sara for your comments. My sister is a teacher and I’ll pass along your neat story to her.
Comfortable shoes won out after retiring and finally have relegated myself to tennis shoes, which are very fashionable, I might add. They have cutouts and slight elevated wedge. They are so female…. pink, of course! I would add a pic, but not sure how to do that on this blog.
I do wear comfortable dressy low heels, though, for church, lol.
On my grandmother’s farm my play house was located in the chicken lot. This isn’t as bad as it sounds. The lot covered some land and the chickens were fed at the other end so they tended to hang around that area. Until they saw me creep through the gate. The minute they spied my feet in sandals they hanged up to peck at my toes. I hated those chickens and would gladly have let the dogs have them, but my dog was afraid of them too.