Backyard Skating!

Things have been pretty busy lately, so unfortunately I've kind of neglected the ol' blog.  My last article was posted on January 5, which was only day 2 of the rink building process.  The weather has been cooperating this year, and I've been able to work on the rink just about every day.  Which brings us to this:

This picture of my son was taken on Saturday the 15th, and it was the first time anybody skated in our backyard for almost two years.  It's supposed to be pretty cold and not very windy tonight, so I'll be back out there giving it another flood.  In fact, the forecasted high temperatures are well below zero for at least the next couple of weeks, so this should be a great year for the rink.

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I got a note from my Uncle Joe yesterday...you remember him, he is the Uncle I made famous in this blog post.  He is also working on a patch of ice to skate on, as he has done for years, and he was wondering why we do what we do.  I think we carry the same gene that gets some people on their knees out in the dirt - and the heat and the flies - planting flowers.  Personally, I'll take a cold, crisp winter's night over a sticky hot summer day anytime.  As Joe said, "I feel good flooding the ice on a moonlit night when I'm freezing my butt off, even if no one ever skates on it."  Man, Joe, that's poetry.  As we both know, the work-time to skate-time ratio is always about 150:1 for most backyard rinks, but it really is time well spent.

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This blog isn't really the place to say this, but here I go anyway:  right now, I hate pro sports.  Explanation: my favourite NFL team is the New England Patriots, and my favourite NHL team is the Calgary Flames.  The Flames will be playing an outdoor game next month, so I'll probably write about that when the time comes.  Or not.  Ah, whatever.  I'm going outside now!