So one morning Vern and me just showed up on the job site in the concrete truck that we were gonna use to pour foundation with. We parked it and jumped out and as soon as both doors slammed, Vern says, "Aw shucks, the keys". Just then, the big beast starts slowly coasting backwards down the hill straight towards a group of 22 nuns. Not only had Tiny locked the keys inside, he forgot to put on the blasted parking break! The first thing that crossed my mind was, "I gotta stop this truck". Just then I remembered my new steel-toe boots that Shirley got me for our anniversary. So I jammed my left foot behind the back wheel. The truck came to a halt without even pinching my toes! That night all of the guys bought me a WORK beer. They said I sure earned it today. I give all the credit to my steel-toe boots though. Because of them at least 20 lives were spared...two of them nuns looked pretty quick. Al Depantsue Danville, VA

I never knew the value of a good pair of steel-toed boots until I stuck my foot into a lawn mower. Sure we've all seen that warning label next to the grass chute on side of the machine: Keep hands and feet clear! But after years of pushing a lawn mower and reading that warning over and over again sometimes curiosity gets the best of you. It happened to me last summer. I had just finished cutting the backyard and the mower was idling next to the shed. I was reaching down to hit the kill switch when an urge hit me. Keep hands and feet clear! Maybe it was an impulse. Or maybe it was just an urge to see for myself. Whatever the case, I left the mower running, hiked up my jeans a little and eased my left foot in. There was a horrible noise. My foot and lower leg went numb. The mower stalled. I pulled foot out expecting the worse. Boy was I surprised. The noise I heard was the blade stopping on the boot, and the pain, well the pain was from the same thing. The boot had a nasty gash from the arch all the way to the tip of the toe – you could actually see the steel under the leather. And even though my foot was bruised a dark blue and ached like the devil, all my toes were right where they should be. All thanks to my steel-toed boots. Joe Mossledorf Lakewood, OH

We were painting a new house back in the spring of 97'. We had a young guy working for us then who always wore sneakers. He said boots made his feet hurt. About two days into the job it begins to rain. The rain keeps up for about week, and turns the whole job-site into a swamp. A big mess. Some of the guys laid walk boards up to the house so as we wouldn't track mud all inside. The young guy really didn't want to get mud on his shoes. He'd pick his way across the walk boards from one dry spot to the next. And that's when it happened. Too busy looking for mud, he doesn't sees the 6-penny nail sticking up out of the board. It goes through his shoe, his sock and right out the topside of his foot. He starts hopping around and wouldn't you know it, his right foot finds a second nail and this one sticks him just as good. Now he's really hollering, and really stuck because he's got both his feet nailed to these ten foot long muddy boards. I'd never seen such a site! We cut the boards and put him in the truck. On the way to the hospital I had to ask the question: What hurt more, boots or nails? Daryll Dayburry Shamokin, PA

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