"Give me my (rubber) boots and (wooden) saddle"

What comes to mind
is that miserable old line
about selling refrigerators
to Eskimos.

That is to say,
I live in Tucson where it last rained
during the reign of the Conquistadores--
which is not true: it did not rain, then--
and I have just bought
a pair of rubber boots.

Another guy, buying similar boots,
said he had a dirt driveway
(leaving his argument there,
as if boots were a cure for dust),
and that cactus spines stuck
to his sneakers, so. . . .

I bought rubber boots because
I wanted to reset and replumb our birdbath,
and the birdbath stands in a dense bed of greenery
from which I have occasionally seen snakes come out.
Some of those snakes made rattling noises,
and I read that snake fangs will not pierce
a stout pair of rubber boots.

That may not be true
but I am a believer
and I do know fangs
will pierce sneakers and socks.
The proof of the pudding
is that I did the job
and no snake struck through
my new rubber boots,
or anything else, since
there did not seem to be any snakes
today.

I thought of it as an international experiment
since the boots were made in Canada,
and I am in Arizona,
and the snake was in Mexico on vacation.

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