“One of the best things about getting old is that all those things that you cudn’t have when you were young, you don’t want anymore.”

My brand-new pair of Old West Goatropers that I just got from Sheplers in Wichita, KS were made in India...’n in the same box wuz a brochure for an American Buffalo wallet with a genuine American Buffalo nickel for only $59.95 plus shipping...I dunno but maybe this puts a ‘hole ‘nother spin on the Cowboys ‘n Indians thing...

Now, I don’t want’a be misunderstood here...they’re pretty okay boots for the price ‘n ever'thing ‘cuz all I wanted wuz a pair of knockaround boots...but I ain’t sure that I wud’a bought ‘em if I had known they were made in India...not that I have anything against stuff from India ‘cept maybe every cotton shirt I’ve bought that wuz made in India shrunk so much that I gave ‘em away after the 2nd washing...’course, that wuz clearly my own durn fault for ignoring the ‘once burned, twice shy’ rule...

A lot of people are upset over the fact that everything they buy from Walmart seems t’have been made in China but you’d think that with all the publicity about that issue that the only surprise’ud be if you wuz to find sumthin’ in Walmart that wuz made in the USA...

When I wuz a boy, all the cheap stuff wuz made in Japan...’course, that wuz after WWII, ‘n the Japanese were tryin’ really hard t’get back on their feet after the two A-bombs being dropped on ‘em...

I recall when I wuz over there that there wuz a story going ‘round about a Japanese town that changed it’s name to Usa so they could tag their goods “Made in USA’...dunno how true it wuz but it made for a good story at the time...

Now, of course, Japan has radically improved the quality of their goods ‘n the pricing reflects that...

I expect the same thing’ll happen with Chinese goods unless we really are in the ‘final daze’ ‘n we’re all going to rapture...not quite sure what that rapture thing is but, at my age, if it don’t happen in the near future, I’ll prob’ly miss it...

“The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.”