I bumped into my friend Jim at breakfast the other day. It was a blustery, rainy day and he was sporting a short-brimmed, leather Western-style hat.
Jim, like myself, is “hair impaired” and talked about how great the hat was in the rain. He bragged about how well it protected his (hairless) head. I pointed out the relatively narrow brim didn’t put the drip line outside the parameters of his body. He’s a pretty big guy and we discussed how wide the hat brim would have to be to accomplish that.
That reminded me of a friend in my younger years that wanted to go backpacking in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado . He decided he needed a sturdy leather hat to protect himself from the elements and went to a custom leather shop to have it made. He picked out the sturdiest leather, decided on a wide brim and gave them the go ahead to make it.
When he got the hat it was great looking… but very heavy. And very stiff. He had picked out leather almost a quarter inch thick. Undaunted, he took it to Colorado and headed off into the mountains with his backpack. We learned later he only made it about a mile before he decided to hide the hat in a tree to be retrieved on his way back out. Why? It weighed so much it was killing his neck and shoulders… more than the backpack! Eventually, the hat occupied a prominent place on the mantle of their fireplace as an accent and conversation piece. Later versions of the story would grow to include a Grizzly Bear…
I merged the two stories into the cartoon. It makes me wonder if the idea for the first umbrella was conceived from a bad hat experience…