Friday, March 2, 2012

I'm Still Here...

Lately, the combination of work, family commitments, and (hooray!) top-notch backyard rink conditions have meant that this isn't the most prolific blog on the internet.  However, while I was out flooding the rink this afternoon, I decided to take a few minutes when I was done and crank out a small article.

Yeah, in between the occasional snow storm and minus 25 wind chills, Joey and I have had some quality skating time on the rink this winter...just not since about a week ago; here's what has happened in that time. 

Today was the first flood I have done in quite a while, as a winter weather occurrence eight days ago brought first a little bit of snow, then a fair amount of rain, which was all topped off with about 10 more centimetres of snow.  I removed the 10 cm or so of snow to find that the initial snow and rain made a crumbly kind of rough ice that, if I was so inclined, could have been scraped off with maximum effort.  However, the next day the whole family left for Moncton for Molly's figure skating competition; while we were there, a big winter blast dumped 35 centimetres on the rink.  So, after we got home (and I managed to dig out the driveway) it was back onto the crumbly snow/ice with the snowblower.  In the few days since then, we had another dusting of snow which I scraped off today and the rink was finally ready for a flood.


You can kind of see the crumbly ice/snow wherever the water isn't.  I wasn't sure how the flood was going to work - I was concerned that it would only make a crunchier snow - but it turned out very well.

The forecast is calling for another 15 centimetres tomorrow, but I'm hoping there will be a few more good days of skating this season.  Next week is March Break, and starting on about Wednesday quite a few daily forecasted high temperatures are above that crucial zero degree line...

On one hand, it is good to see that winter is coming to an end.  On the other hand, I am always a little sad to see the outdoor skating season is also almost over.  Better get out there and enjoy the rink while we still can!