For several years, I have kept a pair in my car. They look a bit silly, laying there in the middle of summer. But I know full well that if I move them some other place I won’t know where they are when I need them. And I certainly won’t have them with me.
While we might not have gotten the flash freeze that many feared on Saturday night, it did get cold. And there were places that became a bit icy over the weekend. I found one of those places on Sunday.
The dog was being rather demanding on Sunday. She wanted to go for a walk. It was a nice looking day, and the rain on Saturday had limited her time outdoors. She was ready to go. And she knew where she wanted to go. One of our favourite spots, along a gravel road.
I was a bit suspect about the gravel road, and with good reason. While the rain had melted some of the surface back to the gravel part, there were sections which had remained pretty icy. As the temperatures dropped, the icy part increased. Some of those sections were smooth enough to make any Zamboni driver proud.
So thankfully, I had my cleats handy. You don’t need them often, but when you do, you really need them. I have tried on many occasions to go for a little walk on the icy roads. I have usually ended up laying down, wondering why I thought walking on ice was a good idea. A person could slip and fall. End up laying on the icy, trying to figure out which was is up. Also trying to figure out if your limbs still work. And we won’t talk about the possible concussion.
But I had my cleats, so everything was good with the world. Even the dog struggled a bit with the ice. A couple times I had to drag her to the snow or where a bit of gravel was showing through, just so she could get her feet under her.
My cleats are starting to get a bit old. The rubber bindings are getting a bit rough. But they are well over ten years old and have kept me from laying on the ice, closely examining the sky while my senses returned. I find as you get older, you tend to not bounce as well as you once did. So cleats are important.
That’s why I like to make sure I know where they are. When you need them, they really do come in handy.