Through a combination of weather events linked in time and place, circumstances arise sometimes that pose a real risk to one's health. Yes, there's the annual concerns over flu, particularly this year when a combined strain of influenza has rendered its onset seriously dangerous to both young and old and the vaccine that was formulated has been rendered largely ineffective, but there are also other routine dangers to life and limb in the form of environmental complications in this season.

We're in a situation where exterior surfaces are entirely ice-covered. This occurred as a result of succeeding days of snow, rain, snow again and freezing rain transforming the dry snowpack into a danger zone of slick, thick ice lathered over the snow. The ice would not present as such a problem were it not paired with exceedingly cold temperatures and icy winds. Accompanying the extreme cold is clear skies, a mixed blessing under these circumstances, since even the wan (at this temperature and atmospheric distance) warmth of the winter sun is able to slightly melt the top layer of ice, which immediately freezes to a greater depth when night falls and so does the temperature.

On Monday during our ravine walk the icy conditions were such that we had to break through the layer of ice on the trail, which revealed the snow that had fallen the day before. At one juncture during our walk while we were on a  height, Jackie's curiosity sent him too far to the lip of a hill and he slid about a hundred feet before he could stop at one of the trails running alongside the hill below.
Yesterday, punching out way through the ice on an even colder day, the snow beneath was also ice-crusted and uneven and our little dogs preferred the unbroken surface of the ice which holds their inconsiderable weight, which was fine for them as long as they were on a level surface.

We called them back to us repeatedly as they approached the tipping point where they were too close to the descending hillside, but despite that, Jackie found himself in yet another predicament, sliding downhill toward the now-openly-running creek. He was momentarily stopped from sliding further by a protruding tuft of long grasses, and I began breaking the surface of the ice to access the hillside where he sat unable to move upward, fearful of sliding further downward. As I did so, one of my boots caught on the rigid surface of broken ice and I fell to a crouching position on my side, managing to reach out to him and haul him back by the handle of his harness while I struggled to free myself from the ice and my awkward position with my husband's help.

Today, while we were in the commercial parking lot of a medical center which charges an arm and a leg for parking so that patients can access medical practitioners, my husband, wearing good sturdy boots with a reliable grip, slid on the parking lot's icy surface, falling on his back. Seems the property's owners are determined to wring every penny they can out of clients, but cannot bother ensuring the lot surface is safe.

So, fearing another slide by one of our little dogs, ending in harm, we've opted to give our usual daily ramble in the winter woods a pass until the threat implicit in the presence of an overall ice surface has passed (we're expecting milder temperatures in another day), we'll wait out the threat until it's a bit safer to venture forth.