Be careful out there!

Hey everyone in cold weather territory, be careful! Here in MI last week we got a bunch of rain and then snow on top of it. The snow is mostly gone now but the temps dropped so fast everything is locked down in a thick coat of ice. Driveways, gravel roads, walkways and such. I was walking yesterday from my truck to my shop, and with the sun shining, the ice had a little bit of water on it. My feet went out from under me so fast I didn't have time to react, smacked the back of my head so hard my glasses flew off and slid under my truck. I had a hard time finding them, as I don't see well at all without them. I just wanted to lay there for a bit before I got up, but the back of my pants and sweatshirt were wet from the water on the ice. Had a terrible headache the rest of the day, and yet this morning when I went to cut wood, but it is gone now thankfully. I THOUGHT I was so sure footed until that little episode. It knocked my marbles loose, but I'm young enough to spring back. But it makes me worry about my dad, he walks every day from his house to his shop, and has it all packed down into ice. He is like me, thinks he is sure footed, and he is too stubborn to wear anything for traction on his shoes. I think I'll get him some salt and do up his path to his shop real well, it makes me worry when my mom is gone and he's out and about by himself.

Ross

I took a hard fall on the ice a few years ago. Went to gander mountain sporting goods and bought a pair of slip over the boots ice creepers.. They work great. Kind of a steel spike deal that ice fisherman use.

I see there's already a bunch of schools closed tomorrow. Central Montcalm and Carson City Crystal among them. I don't know if they're closed farther over your way or not?

I slipped Friday when it started warming up. Didn't go down too hard luckily. Just went down on one hip. Didn't hurt anything but my pride.

I slipped on ice about 8 or 9 years ago. I was in pain for over 6 weeks. It turned out I broke my tail bone. There's nothing that can be done for it except I got a donut shaped pad to sit on and it helped a lot. I've slipped a few other times but never anything like that.
DWF

(quoted from post at 03:44:05 01/18/16) I see there's already a bunch of schools closed tomorrow. Central Montcalm and Carson City Crystal among them. I don't know if they're closed farther over your way or not?

I slipped Friday when it started warming up. Didn't go down too hard luckily. Just went down on one hip. Didn't hurt anything but my pride.

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A couple in Manistee Co. are closed as of Sunday night, and I wouldn't be surprised if more in the area shut down. Blustery up here tonight.

It got very cold here in west Michigan today, and you're right, there is a lot of ice under the snow. Best investment is a pair of ice grippers that slip over your boots or shoes, they really work good.

I think I'll just go buy something like that and slip em on his boots next time I'm over there.

Ross

I haven't seen anything about any of the schools closed around here yet, but I normally don't watch the news anyway. St. Johns is closed tomorrow for "records day" lol, aka MLK day. I had trouble getting up a hill on a gravel road this morning from cutting wood in one of the farm fields in Clinton Co. Solid ice. Hard getting up it, but not so much fun going down the other side lol, and should have had plenty of weight for traction, had the 8' box on my pickup stacked cab high all the way to the end of the tailgate. Already know what I'll be doing at work tomorrow... Trying to peel ice.


Ross

Glad you are ok. Now there is something I never worry about, that is slipping on ice. You need to watch out for your dad. Would it be possible to run a rope to the shop, from the house? If he is stubborn like me he might not even use it. Stan

One night I ran out to check the cows and slipped and went down hard .If I was knocked out I don't know but trying to get back inside was really difficult took some trying to get to the door and get it open. After that I always wondered if I fell and was knocked out in the cold and nobody knew I was there it could have been bad

I fell a total of three times today. The last one took out a shoulder and knee. I'm going to feel it tomorrow.

Here it isn't the ice. It's the rock hard frozen hoof prints, tractor tracks, and solid meadow muffins.

Oh man those solid muffins can really twist you ankle!

My daughter gave me a pair of Yak-Tracks for Christmas a few years ago. They are great. You can drive with them on. Just don't wear them on tile floors like in a store. They also go by other names, Ice Walkers, etc. Like chains for your shoes.

Ross- sounds like a concussion to me- you [u:46897f302e]should[/u:46897f302e] see a doctor (but I probably wouldn't either)...

Down here, we had so much rain and 40+ that all the ice was long gone, until Sunday's snow started.

By last Wednesday, we had already had two people slip and fall at work and break bones- ribs and ankle. Both are OSHA recordable injuries. Not a good start for our safety record, and thereby our bonus!

There has to be a lot of slipping going on around here. We had a slushy snow last wednesday which was supposed to be followed by a pretty good rain. I cleared everything anyway, good hing I did because it turned out colder and everything froze up. While out driving I noticed that a lot of people didn't bother to clear their drives and steps and now have a lot of ice.

It's 2 degrees this morning. I wanted to check the air in car tires. Pole barn has no heat. First time I had to use a 1100 degree heat gun to warm up quick coupler on air hose to connect air chuck. Glad I air in tank. Not sure how well compressor would have liked starting in this cold.

After a fall like that, you need to see a doctor. I know of two people who had falls and hit their head. Both had brain bleeds and didn't survive. MIL waited two weeks to see a doctor and it was not treatable by then. If she had seen about it sooner they could have drained it off. A neighbor got hit by a gate.went to get checked and they had to do emergency surgery for a bleed, and is doing fine. Tommy