I hate it when I panic-buy. Monday at work, inbetween waves of this snowstorm, I remembered, once again, all the times I slipped and nearly slipped on the ice. Well, I figured that since the temperatures were going to hold steady around the freezing mark, maybe getting some snow melt/salt before I got home would be smart. Get that done quickly enough so it could absorb and dry up all the snow before it melts and refreezes overnight.
So even though I had a game to go to at 8, I thought it smart to drive to the hardware store, buy it, get home, apply it, then quickly go back out to Williams Arena. Well, I actually had more time than I thought because the traffic was extremely light for afternoon rush hour. (The biggest bottleneck goes from 35WN to 94W, and I didn't have to step on my brakes even once. I barely had to slow down.) I think people were anticipating how bad traffic would be, so they either decided to leave early, leave late, or, if they knew about the storm getting in earlier than previously forecast, just stayed home the whole day. That just gave me more time to spread the salt and shovel before I had to get gas and then go to the game. So I went in and quickly bought it.
But as soon as I picked up the bag, something was hinky. First of all I finally noticed the pictures on the bag. Those pictures had dark spots on things like the floor as well as the ground. One of the pics says something like, "Good For Traction On Snow And Ice," which is what I need. But then there were a couple others that made allusions to oil and other spills. Huh?
I was still in a rush to get home, and I was in a mindset of, Well, I bought it, I might as well see what I've got. So I open up the bag and, sure enough, it's not salt that was in there. It was -- as the front of the bag says, right there -- an "oil-based absorbent." I don't exactly know what that means, but I wasn't sure if that meant that I can put these things on the ground and they'll just melt, drying up all the snow that could turn into ice along with it. That's what I wanted, and the bad thing about this is I didn't know if this was good enough or not even close.
Then I looked at the fine print. There are instructions on the back of the bag -- not for ice and snow, but for these spills. I don't remember exactly what they all are, but the last one was, basically, "Pick up the absorbent and dispose of properly." Huh? This crap is going to stick around? It's not going to melt? I have to throw it away -- and maybe not throw it away but actually put some thought and time into disposing it properly?!?!?! Oh, crap.
So it looks as though this absorbent is clay. It does a great job of handling industrial spills, which I guess is its main and best use. Why in the hell was it next to the snow melt I have no damn clue, but it tripped up this guy in a panic.
Hell, I used it anyway. Used a lot of it, all up and down my driveway (well, parts of it, I didn't have that much time) and especially on the walk up to the front steps. And ever since I'll say I haven't slipped once, and it looks like it's absorbing the snow once it melts, even though it is not the agent of melting that snow. However, 36 hours after putting it down (and using some more), that absorbent is still on the ground. So does that mean I have to clean it up? That definitely isn't what I want, no matter how well this does it preventing falls.
So I think I need to return it. And I think I can exchange it for actual salt, too. Should do it soon, because after I used that stuff Monday night I looked even closer at the fine print on the bag. There is a warning for its use: "Do not breathe it in for it may cause cancer." WHAT?! May cause cancer?!?! Why in the hell was I allowed to buy something that could give me cancer?! What kind of carcinogenic snow melt is this?!?!?! I've had to stash it close to the basement because I'm scared I'll breathe in the dust. Now that I wrote this paragraph, I should really do this immediately, shouldn't I?
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