Dale and Charlie,

I have some of those slip-on things for the bottoms of my shoes/boots, and they do work. I live on the side of a hill, and without them I'd slide down the driveway to the bottom. Think "Princess on the Glass Hill" from Grimm's Fairy Tales. I park up on the street so I can have traction to get around otherwise my car would be driveway bound for the winter season.

ol'cs,

I agree this cold weather has come upon us way too quickly, and we have to have our wits about us when we're outside.

I always make sure my care is in working order, and I just bought new tires (ouch!) because I put about 69,000 miles on them in the past three years. I've been lucky as far as being out in the bad weather. I have an agreement with my boss. When it's bad out, I take a vacation day, or I work from home. I got stuck once, and I was so stressed by the time I got home I couldn't move. I sat in stalled traffic due to a snowstorm. It took close to 5 hours to travel 37 miles. I told him that I would never do that again, so whenever the bad weather comes, I'm home under the covers with the cats and a good book to read.

Unfortunately I don't have a cell phone though because they don't work well where I live, and don't want to spend money on something that doesn't work. They bounce off to voicemail and the signal breaks up unless the user goes up on the hill and stands with their back to the sun and twists their head sideways to get the signal to come in.


John