Winter has eaten my wheels: a delayed report on last weekend's horrible discoveries

I gave the Kuwahara a wash and took off the chain for cleaning. While fiddling with the chain I noticed that the rear wheel was out of true. This was the result of one spoke that was unattached to the rim, the top of the nipple having sheared off. I've never seen anything like this before. The spoke and rim were fine and I just replaced the nipple and trued up the wheel. I also had a look at the front wheel and discovered a couple of spokes were very loose. While I was trying to true and tension up the wheel one of the nipples pulled through the rim. There was no cracking or bulging around the spoke, the top of the nipple just pulled a circle of metal out, leaving a nice neat round hole. The metal seemed crumbly round the hole. I used a small brass washer to effect a temporary repair but the wheel isn't as true or as evenly-tensioned as I'd like. I just hope it will last until the snow and slush depart and I can build up a new front wheel. Anyway, it's survived the week. I wonder if both these failures are a result of the corrosive effects of salty slush.

Right now the furious winds of the last couple of days have fallen and it's quite warm and sunny. And I haven't been on the bike all weekend. Oh well ..