A no-slip winter

Winter is a prime time for accidents on the ice. Lynette Ott, practice manager at Barton Heights Veterinary Hospital in Stroudsburg, Penn., found a way to keep safety slip-ups on the ice to a minimum by using a plastic seed broadcast spreader to spread salt.

"Keep the seed-spreader filled with de-icer material and roll it out over your walkways and parking lot as needed," she says. "Make sure your de-icer product is flaked or comes in small pellets so that it doesn't clog the seed broadcaster opening."

She also says to make sure the de-icing product you select works below the lowest temperature in your geographic area. "It's a disaster to have a sub-zero cold snap and find out that your de-icer is only good down to 20 degrees!"