... the season begins anew

It's almost October... That means soon comes the cold of November and the snow of December.

On the flip side, I was on kijiji and someone was selling a rink rake (an official NHL licenced one!) for $10. I bought it. Turns out the seller was someone else who works in my company, just in a different office. Small town.

Hockey draft is this week.

I'm thinking about installing a sillcock this year. (Go google it Laura, you'll see) Hot water is the bomb, but running a hose from the kitchen sucks - especially when you have to leave the door open when its -40.

It's all about making life easier.

Is this the end?

The coming of spring often times brings about major changes in ones life. There's some personal upheaval atm, which I'm not going to write about - but I will discuss the ice situation.

Recently we've had some very warm weather (+5C) and some snowfall, which has left the rink pitted and bumpy.

I think we may have seen the last "skate" of the year last week. It's still great for boothockey though, so that'll be ongoing for another couple of weeks I'm sure.... And after the snow is gone the long arduous task of dismantling the rink for another year.

Et le but!

Et le but!
Originally uploaded by Big Swede Guy

The 2nd "Annual" Hockey Day in Canada was held on my rink this past Saturday. We had 9 participants for the 3 on 3 boot hockey game - people subbed off as they needed to replenish their drink, or, in the case of Jeff, catch their breath.

It was a perfect day. Jay and I spent about an hour clearing the snow from the rink. I would have loved to have flooded it the night before (to provide that EXTRA slipperiness), but alas, it was snowing.

We had a firepit goin' on the side to warm up by... although with the temperature a balmy -5C it was a gorgeous day.

Festivities started around 2, and carried on until after 5 when dinner was served. The day ended with a few of the guys watching UFC 94.

I forgot to get ideas on a rink name... Will have to work on that.

All in all, a great day!

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