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| Photo courtesy of Christie Cochran Retired Maine game warden John Robertson of Portage Lake has found a secure place to keep his valuables — inside the toe of his favorite Red Wing boots. |
By Christie Cochran
Special to the Aroostook Republican
Losing things around the home happens all the time to all of us and most of the missing items turn up eventually. One case in point was a truck key lost at the home of John and Wilza Robertson of Portage Lake. The couple searched high and low, even at their woods camp, through their vehicles, storage areas and garage to no avail for about a month. Of course the male of our species always try and blame the female, but Wilza’s reputation was kept intact when all was said and done.
They didn’t have a replacement made right away as the key had a chip in it that made duplication quite an expensive option. They finally decided to just sit back and wait for something to happen and the key would show up. And show up it did, in a most unusual way.
John’s boots were Red Wing Irish Setters and were a very comfortable fit for him as he was busy working in the woods, hunting, fishing and guiding. And at the last of it, the soles were wearing thin and needed replacing. The boots were taken to Sleepers of Caribou, a franchised Red Wing dealer, where they would then be sent to the factory in Red Wing, Minnesota for a four-week vacation without their owner.
When the work was done, the boots came back to Caribou and John received a phone call to pick them up. Upon arrival at the store, owner Joe Sleeper brought the boots out with a surprise tied to the boot strap on the back of the boot — the infamous missing key! Apparently, they were found at the repair shop in Minnesota nestled in the toe of one of the boots.
The staff at Sleepers found it quite humorous and Joe Sleeper asked John if he planned on telling his wife about it, and when John said ”Yes,” Sleeper said he wished he could be there when she was told. John told him that that could be arranged quite easily since Wilza was shopping in the store at the time. Sleeper lost no time in locating her and telling her who misplaced the key and where it was found!
Now that they are back, John can enjoy the comfort of his boots as well as the money he saved by not having to order a new truck key! This incident surely made for an amusing tale and will be shared with family and friends for a long time to come.
