Nothin' Goin On

Yup, that's right... Not much going on lately with the rink. Between severe cold (read -40C with windchills), a major snow dump (over 3'), the holiday's and one kid with broncitus, not much has happened with the rink.

In fact, there's still 2' of snow sitting on it atm.... I finally got around to snowblowing out the driveway/pathways etc etc the other day...

We're still around. Rink is still there.


We're just a bit frozen atm.

Damage Assessed...

It's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be... Temp hovered just above zero today, and the rainfall was actually VERY minimal. It just made all the existing snow sticking... and HEAVY. Laura shovelled most of the snow to the sideboards of the rink while I slept today (working midnights) so her son could play... I had to get that snow off the rink, less it freeze into an unmanagemable mess. 1/2 hour later, it was done. I'm hoping to clear it right off tomorrow and do some flooding to repair the damage that was caused last Monday.

Rain.

Yes, it's raining in Thunder Bay. December 26th, 2008. It's raining, and +5C.

Had I known that, I would have shovelled the rink today... But I didn't, I slept before my midnight shift instead. Hopefully it's just a sprinkel tonight, and I can get at it tomorrow afternoon after I get up... Or maybe early this morning if I have any energy left.

Scooter asked how the side boards are holding up: VERY well indeed! I didn't put any bracing behind them this year - I simply screwed them down to the frame, and then screwed in 1' pieces of 2x4 between every panel - holding them together. They were quite sturdy before - and now they're rock solid due to the reinforcement of snow behind it. :)


Hopefully I can shovel and do a flood to get the ice back up to skateable level this week :)

Merry Boxing Day!

K

Red Wings Skate

Red Wings Skate
Originally uploaded by Big Swede Guy

Well the Holidays are settling in... Hannah's Red Wings won their final game of the 2008 year in fine fashion (7-2) and had a post party at Boston's Pizza. Hannah asked if she could have some of the girls over to play hockey on Monday afternoon...

Sure, why not.

So 5 of them spent 3 hours out on the rink after Dad spent 2 hours shovelling the 2.5' of snow off of it. Things would have been MUCH worse, if it wasn't for the fact that I figured out that the fan belt slipped off inside the snowblower...

The girls had great fun... and so did I. I ended up playing goal for them for the first hour... just can't keep up to those 10yr old legs anymore!

They did do quite a number on the ice though - it's going to need some patching and repair work once the snow stops falling her...

Anyways, MERRY CHRISTMAS folks! Hope everyone has a festive and safe season, and may your rink by solid and smooth in 09!

- Kev

These skates are made for walk'in... and that's just what they'll do...

So during a normal conversation with my father, I asked him if he knew anyone who had access to old converyor belt rubber... And he did! One of his buddies buddies owns a shop here in town...

Last week he dropped off a 60' roll of 3' wide converyor belt rubber! :D

I placed a piece inside my shed, on the walkway into the shed and all along the western edge of the rink where the kids get on to it... So now the kids can put their skates on in the relative warmth of the shed, and walk right out onto the rink without worries of dulling their blades or falling.

Way to go dad!

Good and the Bad

Side Boards
Originally uploaded by Big Swede Guy

So.... what's first?

Might as well get the bad out of the way.

When I did my first big fill, I discovered a smallish hole in the liner along one side... After it had frozen. The water level didn't get nearly as high as I would have liked because of it. So I found the leak, chipped out an area of ice and patched it up using soley "200 mph duct tape". Great stuff that.

So I decided I needed another "big" fill... So I did on a relatively cold night. Added about 3" of water overall. Apparently this is a bad idea. It froze alright... at least the top did anyways. In various spots around the rink though air was trapped between the bottom layer of ice and the new top layer and created soft pockets where the ice broke easily.... We found that out while the kids were skating on it today. Nothing too serious though, but not something I'll repeat.

Today I added 2' side boards on one 1/2 of the rink, at a cost of approx. $75. The boards actually turned out quite nice. I'll just have to paint them white and put that pressure treatment stain on them in the spring. I hope to do the otherside before Christmas... but money will of course be tight for awhile because of the season, so may have to wait.

That being said, Hannah and Parker skated and had fun out there for almost 4 hours today.

It was a good day.

My homeboni!

My homeboni!
Originally uploaded by Big Swede Guy

So I finally got around to building my homeboni this weekend... I've yet to try it out because it's been a little warm. I'm hoping for cooler nights this week :D

Parker was also the first skater of the year... November 23rd offically, although it could have been a week sooner. Not too shabby :)

I'll let everyone know how the 'boni works as soon as I can!

First Skate of 08/09
Originally uploaded by Big Swede Guy