Ice cleats – get ’em!

While the rest of the continent is experiencing the polar vortex, our temperature spiked to 7°C today with rain.

That means our driveway is hard, wet, and incredibly icy. Like a rink after the zamboni passes, with a steep incline.

This is the only way to travel to the outside world:

These ice cleats are may be one of the BEST inventions ever. I’m not even sure if you can get a grasp of just how awesome the sharp screws are on the sole.  (Available from Lee Valley) I keep them on the winter boots I wear around our house all winter (but don’t try wearing them inside!) I’ve had them for years and haven’t had to replace the screws yet. They really last.

When Jeff came home from work, he couldn’t easily park the truck to get the mail. The driveway is too slick and the truck kept sliding. He banked it in the snow and came up for some sand and salt. I joined him for the hike back down to the road in the road (both in our ice cleats). He  re-banked the truck in the snowbank and spread some salt and sand around the tires.

Here’s hoping it stays put and doesn’t slide onto the road or into the lake overnight!

As a nice treat to working from home, my car is parked up here by the house and is patiently hibernating 🙂

I was dreading this rain because of the growing ice dam on the roof, but I was just outside in the dark with the flashlight and the gutters seem to be flowing well! I think we’re going to be okay!

Tomorrow the temperature heads back down below zero with a bit of snow to help dull the slick driveway.

Meanwhile, I see every highway and county road back in Huron, Bruce, and Perth counties in Ontario is closed tonight from the blizzard they are getting. This winter is so awesome!

Here’s me from last Friday’s snowstorm that gave Jeff a storm day:

Here’s our neighbour Buddy on Saturday pushing our banks back for us with his tractor: