Yes, let's go over this old song and dance again.

See in Seattle you only have like 4 or 5 snow days a year, and of them only one will be of any real concern. This morning, I had problems getting out of my driveway, and all I had to do was roll backwards. It's not that I'm inexperienced with snow, I lived in Spokane for many years, but Seattle snow is inevitably glacial ice until the sun comes out. Usually because it snows, melts, freezes, then snows and snows.

So on my way to work, driving 10 miles and hour on the highway and leading a mule train of cars and trucks through the sheet of ice called the road, I was considering that maybe getting walnut shell studs might not be a bad idea. At the very least walnut shells won't trash the road surface and get me lynched by the local soccer moms for ruining the perfectly smooth asphalt - god forbid their Escalades experience bumps. But the practical side of me is thinking, "right, I'm gonna spend 500+ bucks on new tires so that I can drive safely for MAYBE 4 days a year. Just slow down and stay at home if it gets really bad you lunkhead or put on your chains like you should have done."

I have to agree with that cranky voice in my head, but still as I'm passing the corpses of cars I'm having doubts.

Really I think the only thing that got me through was the 200 lbs of sandbags and landscaping bricks in the bed. Today was a chains day to be sure.