January Ugh!

 

These are called IceTrax.

Annie gave them to me for Christmas. 

After taking the dogs from the house via the front door instead of the usual garage exit for their morning doggie duty, I decided to give the trax a try. 

One look out the garage exit this morning, revealing steady rain falling on ice, I had decided it was prudent to take another route. 

So, instead of the lane and the fields, we went to the south woods.  Even with water dripping from the trees, it was a good choice because I could walk through the carpet of snow without falling down. 

On the second trip outside, I decided it was time to try the IceTrax. 

Then, came the danger.  

How many out there have come close to injuring themselves while trying to fight the war with preventive packaging. 

The object is that nobody steals and nobody can inject poisoning, so package the Hell out of all those products. 

No way will our fingers allow us any more to open a potato chip bag, let alone packaging for batteries or electronics or IceTrax. 

A knife or scissors is often required, and therein lies the danger.  How we direct that knife or those scissors could be a life or death process. 

And, yes, I have stabbed myself while opening some packaging. 

The IceTrax package had a zip tie holding the trax to a piece of card board along with a baggie for the trax. 

It took wearing my glasses and some very careful moves, but no blood was spewed in the opening process. 

Next:  will my fingers be strong enough to attach these things to my boots?

By golly, Annie bought me some flexible and pretty in pink trax.  I attached each to the boots on the first try. 

Finally, will I still go slipping and sliding in these trax with all that water on ice?

No. 

Their grip was perfect AND, by this time out the door, the rain had stopped. 

Long story short, I enjoyed a relatively safe stretch of walking down the lane, through the fields and on the road.  Through all those steps, the trax stayed on. 

Happily, I have sustained no injuries removing the packaging or walking in water on ice. 

All that said, even in the darkness, it's pretty ugly out there, and we all know that ugliness and January often go hand in hand. 

My main message this morning for locals is be careful out there and wear your trax if you have conditions similar to ours. 

Twas quite an impressive "wolf moon" last night. 

We heard no wolves howling but really liked the moon.

 

January Ugh in North Idaho includes fog, dirty and mushy snow on top of water, slippery ice and generally gloomy conditions. 

January is a long month, so there is often a lot of Ugh!

My friend Steve says his pants go with anything in his wardrobe. 

I said that you sure do notice them. 

On the sports front, the Sandpoint Bulldogs defeated Wenatchee High School yesterday. They came home from the GESA tournament with two wins, one loss, making their record 7-4. 

YAY!

After that, the Seahawks won their division in a tight game with San Francisco. 

YAY!

The ZAGS men who almost put their fans in ER rooms Friday night will play again tonight. 

YAY, I think. 

This time they host the Loyola Marymount Lions in the Kennel. 

Game time:  6 p.m. PST on 

Fox 28 or ESPN+.

Let's keep it exciting, ZAGS, but keep the mortality of your fans in mind and don't overdo it. 

I've never seen birds sitting at the bar, but I think this is a cute feeder. 

The one enjoyable aspect of January Ugh weather is that the birds entertain us by spending a lot of time at the feeders. 

Below:  my friend Chris gave me this beautiful dish towel last night.  She purchased it in New Hampshire where her son lives. 

It's too pretty to use, I think, but Chris says the embroidery holds up well.