I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

I think it depends. In Hawaii it's rude if you don't take off your shoes. We, though, insist that people leave their shoes on as too many people seem to have some kind of foot rot that I do not want in my house. If they take their shoes off then I go round and disinfect everywhere they've walked. Too much work. Yeah I know... ocd

I don't like walking barefoot so I always leave on my shoes. DH does too. Daughters and grands don't take off their shoes either. But others who come in often de-shoe. I guess they worry about scuffing the hardwood floors. Everybody in my family always wears soft soled shoes we don't hurt the floors.

Well, I'm barefoot all the time.  Tile feels cool and smooth in the summer, and not particularly hard if you've been walking on sidewalks in barefeet.  If you're not used to going barefoot, it is harder than hard wood.   By the way, you get foot rot from shoes.  Feet have more sweat glands than the rest of our bodies; enclosing them in socks and shoes causes them to sweat.  Fungus also needs dampness to grow - which is why people who wear shoes are more likely to have foot fungus and barefoot people rarely do.  My feet have nothing worse on them than what is on the average shoe - less, probably, since I either wash them or wipe down with baby wipes several times a day, and how often do people wash the bottom of their shoes.

Blue, yours is very dark...much harder to keep clean.

GG...Foot rot...sounds lovely.

kad2kar....a very happy 49th.to you and you DH.  Sounds like it was fun.  Good for you.

Wow !!! Learning a lot about woods, bamboo, tile etc.  Our first lake house had Pergo.  It was in small strips and they all were individually coated with a glue before being laid down.  The farm-house planks all had a groove on the edge and the piece that fit it had a projection.  They were pounded together.  Someone mentioned....floods on those planks were bad, bad, bad.  On the Pergo floor ( sigh !!!  obviously we didn't learn much between the two houses and their floors ) we flooded once but it really didn't have a bad effect.  We got it up fast enough apparently and the glue apparently didn't allow any seepage to make its way into the wood.  Any way.....learning a lot for when if ever we change our flooring. 

Jackie

sandy - you are totally right - people who go barefoot all the time rarely get foot rot - which is why I don't have a problem people taking off their shoes in Hawaii - it's in Seattle, where people where shoes all the time that it's an issue for me - I know I didn't make that clear at all...    sorry

I'm not feeling well at all right now, as I just had a dust-up with my BIL's GF.  So I'm signing off.  Maybe I'll talk about it later...

Isn't anybody else but me so flatfooted that it almost HURTS to go barefoot?  Slap, slap, slap go the feet - and I don't know WHAT I did b4 I "discovered" Keen Presidio's and sandals - have a HUGE bag of show inserts if anybody wants them, but speaking of foot rot, yikes - I better BURN them.

Thinking of E - and determined the newest med is gonna be THE ONE that really REALLY works.

Rain.  Did I mention rain, lately.  WOW - our summer alleregy season has started almost 3 weeks early this year.  My acupuncturist is so wonderful, now taking her Chinese herbs instead of OTC antihistamines, and they are SO MUCH BETTER.  They work, and don't knock me out. 

Jackie, that is beautiful! Thank you.

Good morning after the rain last night though must admit its humid now.  There will be more rain.  This yr. is quite unlike last year.  So wet for this one.  Well, I think from now on we can expect the un-expected. 

GG...I think I sort of know what you are getting at with the shoe issue.  While carpets will fare better to an extent if shoes are not worn ( oh the multitude of things we step in or on outside ) inside and transfer so much filth....yet it wouldn't mean that a lot of negative transfers were not taking place anyway. 

Hoping a good day for all.

Jackie

Also carpet cleaning isn't a full answer to any of it either.  Spots removed tend to come back because it seems so difficult to get what may have been forced far down to return to the surface.  Also, a really powerful vacumn as dirt tends to settle farther and farther down getting into the underlay.  Still, I think with diligence one could have carpet and be happy --  but too many allergies ( so well controlled now ) and way too much dirt here in the woods for me to ever desire it again. 

Are there problems with being flat-footed, other than fitting into shoes and not wanting to go barefoot?? I guess the "slapping" wouldn't be good, but does that cause pain, deformity?  Now that I have a nice dose of taxol induced neuropathy (1 year and not getting any better), I find that I can only hike uphill without burning.  Unfortuneaetely, what goes up, must come down.  Standing or walking on cement is a bear, so shopping is kept to a minimum.

Oh, but have we discussed cement floors yet?  I have to say I really really like them (with acid etchings and color swirlled in), but probably not good for old age (or babies) and all of things that can go wrong with feet.

Anyone with flat feet - GET THEE TO A STORE WHICH SELLS KEEN SHOES.  Seriously - I don't even need inserts with my Presidios.  Divinely happy.

What are SAS shoes?  Gotta go google it....

SAS is out of San Antonio Texas. Their website is www.sasshoes.com. I will check into Keen also.

Hahahaha Benghazi hahahaha scandal hahahaha oK back to the serious issue of feet... love keens. I wear them and birkenstocks. Period. OK occasionally naot, too.



Sorry sick of serious. When I can get to a keyboard 'stead of a phone I'll talk about it. What a mess.

Oh Blue -- Jim is indeed dead, and he was a rocker, but ugly????  Wow!

Have never seen Keens here, but we do have Birkenstocks, Mephisto, Allegra etc.

As for serious stuff -- well, when you've got nothing else, I guess the only thing to do is keep beating that dead horse.......40 times or so......

A good point:  There is a group that knows that too.