We’ve reached the time of year where flannel and fleece are the fabrics of choice and the idea of stepping out into another gray Wisconsin day can be a challenge.

My wife and I have developed a routine of crock-pot meals, watching a rotation of shows on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime, covering up with fleece blankets and having our cat lazily sleep on our laps.

The most heard questions in the house are, “What do you want to watch?” and “What do you want to eat?”

She’s on her smart phone. I’m on my laptop. The television is on. Laundry is being folded. Emails are being answered. Facebook is being watched.

The only trips outside are to clear snow, go to work and the store.

While shoveling on Sunday afternoon, I discovered there was more than an inch of solid ice in places around our house. It was covered by a thin layer of fluffy snow, and just trying to remain upright while walking around was tricky.

Salt doesn’t melt ice unless the temperature is around freezing or higher. It can help provide traction, as can sand. However, hauling around buckets of salt and sand is dangerous on the ice, because your weight is off balance.

I don’t want to fall. It’s a long way down to the frozen ground.

Twice in my life I have fallen down icy steps and severely bruised my tailbone. There’s a special kind of pain that comes with a bruised tailbone and it’s crippling. There’s really no comfortable position.

I think anytime you complete some chore outside when the temperature is below freezing is a gold-star moment.

Ice is terrible for livestock, which really aren’t equipped to balance four hooves on a patch of glare ice. Farmers caring for livestock outside in icy conditions have a difficult job.

Driving into Monroe on Highway 81 on Monday morning was treacherous. I could see the ice and feel slippage in some places. I slowed down to about 40 miles per hour.

After cresting a hill, I saw the red-and-blue flashing lights of a law enforcement cruiser and what clearly was an overturned, wrecked vehicle off the west side of the road.

As I passed the crash scene, I noticed the officer was talking to a person still in the vehicle, which was flipped on its roof and appeared to have taken quite a beating. The person in the vehicle appeared to have unbuckled themselves and crawled toward the door facing the road, which was a good thing.

After passing the scene I continued at 40 miles an hour, being very careful.

A couple more miles down the highway I saw a pick-up truck that had crashed off the east side of the road earlier in the morning.

Shortly after that, I caught up to a Green County plow, which was clearing off the edge of the road and salting the highway.

I’m happy to drive a safe distance behind a plow, the road has just been cleared and salted. It feels safer.

I made it into work just a little bit after 8 a.m. I was hoping the person or persons who were in the wrecks were OK.

It’s less than 30 days until the clock springs forward by an hour and less than 40 days until the official start to spring.

There’s plenty of time for more winter weather in the coming weeks, but we’re starting to get on the downhill slope of the coldest season.

I’m thankful for that.

— Matt Johnson is publisher of the Monroe Times. His column is published Wednesdays.