Planning for Winter, Prepping the Mule, its New Chain Guard, and How I got it

First of all...no it is not snowing here in Western New York, at least not yet. The above photo is of my bike I fondly call the "Mule;" the photo was taken last winter. It's an old Trek that I purchased at a flea market for $40.00 and made some adjustments and have ridden it for the past 4 winters...it is truly a good ride and  a rugged piece of machinery. Anyhow, like many bikes sold in America it does not come with a chain guard...I can't tell you how many pairs of pants are either stained or ripped because of this. Here's a picture of the crank up close.

After tearing the pant leg of a brand new pair of jeans last spring I decided to do an internet search for universal chain guard. I came across one that looked good by a company out of Germany called SKS. I originally found it at this page on Amazon and at closer inspection I saw that it was sold through Niagara Cycle Works, which after Googling it I found it was only about 30 miles from my house, and they, in fact, had the same item listed on their website. So on a cold, rainy, and slushy day last spring I drove my vehicle to their shop. When I asked for the item the sales person told me they didn't have it. Will you be getting it in? I inquired. No, he replied, we don't actually carry it. But it's listed that you do on your website. To get to the point, he told me that many of the items listed they don't actually carry at their store, they are at their "virtual warehouse." Huh? He told me I would be better off just ordering it through them on Amazon because if I didn't like it I could return it through Amazon but If I ordered it through the store directly it would be un-returnable. I say again, huh? At any rate, I put off ordering it through the summer but  as the cold months are encrouching I decided to prep the Mule for the winter and I finally got around to ordering it. It arrived today and it looks pretty good (pictured below). I haven't installed it yet because I lack the neccessary crank tool to do so (I'll visit the bike shop tomorrow). The guard comes in a few sizes and I ordered the larger size (I figure it would be easier to modify a larger one if it didn't fit perfectly than try to stretch a smaller size)...anyhow it looks like it'll fit pretty well. I'll post pictures after it's installed. I'd be interested to know how other bikers out there in the blogesphere deal with a guardless chain, or if they've used this item. And also...do you ride through the winter :)