BYI's 1st B-Day

My first blog entry was on January 6, 2010, which makes this blog now one year old.  Quite honestly, there hasn't been much to blog about with regards to actual results in the construction of my rink, but I have enjoyed writing about other aspects of rink-building and skating outdoors.  Some highlights:

• I discussed my experiences competing in the World Pond Hockey Championships in Frozen Bodies (…of Water): Part II;
• I demonstrated the unbelievable differences in recent winters in March 9, 2008 Redux;
• here's a Father's Day post comparing the backyard rink to a garden [Gardens and Barns (and Happy Father’s Day!)];
• and, a recounting of some great stories told to me by my father and uncle about skating outdoors a long time ago can be found in Joe, Bob, Terry and Jim.

I'm really looking forward to year two of Backyard Ice, and I have many more stories for the blog bouncing around in my head.  However, I'm hoping that the next couple of months will be full of stories about our experiences skating in the backyard.  Oh, and speaking about that...

I've managed to get a decent start on my rink this year.  We had a green Christmas here in Beresford, and the first "big" snowfall we got after that melted away after a few days.  So, the only real work just started after we got a good bit of snow on Monday; on Tuesday night I spent some time splashing around in slush to work on the base.  It's now Wednesday, and I just came in from putting more water on the rink.  Its should be pretty cold for at least a few more days, so I'll be out there as often as I can puttin' the water to 'er.  Hopefully by the time a forecasted snow storm hits us on Saturday (20-30 cm, according to the Weather Network) my base will be built up and smooth enough to run the snowblower over it!

The Culture of Outdoor Skating

The inspiration for this post arrived this morning, when Rebecca and I went to Tim Hortons and we noticed that our hot beverages were in cups printed with a winter scene that includes some kids playing pond hockey.  This got me thinking about some examples where skating outdoors has made an impact on our culture.

Other than Tim Hortons winter cups, pond hockey can be seen on Canadian five-dollar bills.  So, for the benefit of Backyard Ice's international readers, here is a picture of two (or three) Canadian cultural icons:

(And by the way: yes, this blog does have an international readership.  According to Blogger's stats, well over a hundred Americans have visited Backyard Ice since May, as have handfuls of people from Russia, China, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, and Taiwan.  I have no idea how all you people ended up here, but let me welcome you!)

You can't see it in the above picture, but our five-dollar bill also includes a line from the classic Canadian children's book "The Hockey Sweater" by Roch Carrier:

The winters of my childhood were long, long seasons.  We lived in three places - the school, the church and the skating rink - but our real life was on the skating rink.

Speaking of books, someday I would love to read "Home Ice: Reflections on Backyard Rinks and Frozen Ponds" by Jack Falla.  He was a great writer, and I'm sure this book captures everything that is wonderful about skating outdoors.  I know you can't judge a book by its cover, but just the title alone summarizes quite nicely the aim of this very blog.


Despite what coffee cups and Canadian currency would have you believe, I think that fewer people actually skate outdoors anymore, and I'll give you some reasons why that may be.  I've blogged about natural bodies of water, and why I contend that they are unreliable skating surfaces, and that may be part of the reason.  Another reason could be that the backyard rink requires a huge amount of time and effort to achieve success, and you still have to depend on the weather.  Also, people think that backyard rinks are a great idea...just don't ask them to go outside every night when it is minus 15 to flood it.  Finally, of course, the modern kid is much more likely to play Wii Pond Hockey than skate on natural ice.  (OK, I don't know if Wii Pond Hockey is an actual product, but you know what I mean.)  Still, I believe that as long as there are cold temperatures and water, there will be some people who will skate outdoors.

Other than the blog you are currently reading, you can still find some articles about outdoor skating.  Many of these are nostalgia-themed, and a few links to some great pond hockey articles are listed on the right side of this blog.  TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger is a advocate of the backyard rink, and he is inviting other rink builders to send in pictures of their works-in-progress...see if you can find the truly World-Famous "Brook Garden" (...explanation) in TSN's gallery!  Obviously, there are some other die-hards out there who are keeping the culture alive.

Happy B-Day Bec!

Well, you said you wanted me to write a blog article for you on your birthday, and here ya go.  Keep in mind, that (1) this is a blog about skating outdoors, and (2) you don't really do that very much.  Remember this? Yeah, so what else can I write about?

Maybe I'll just show another pic of you taken somewhere in the general vicinity of the backyard rink:

Hey, what are those things on your teeth?

Did you know that you share your birthday with Tie Domi and Megan Wing (who, I am sure, have both skated outdoors at some point in their lives).  Also, the NHL awarded a franchise to the Boston Bruins on November 1, 1924 - the Bruins, of course, played an outdoor game last season at Fenway Park.

There...it wasn't easy, but I managed to associate your birthday with the general direction of this blog!  Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Floodin' & Mowin'

As stated in the Backyard Ice theme song*, when you are floodin' you don't have to think or nothin'.  Well, actually, sometimes you think about topics for your blog.  Like the fella says at the bottom of this web page, ideas for this blog tend to arrive when I am standing outside in sub-zero temperatures pouring water from a garden hose.

Mowing the lawn is a similar experience to flooding the rink because when you're mowing you also don't have to think or nothin'...it's just another great activity for mulling blog topics.  And so it was that a little less than a month ago, as I was mowing the lawn on the rink, I came up with the idea for this blog entry (and, it turns out, some future ones, too).

I took a picture of the rink with the intention of taking pictures from the same vantage point throughout the season to document the evolution (or lack thereof) of my backyard ice.  I'm betting that the next picture will be a lot whiter.  At the very least, I guarantee that the wood pile in the background will be smaller (...it already is).

I suppose that the rink-building process could start any day now - it's not unheard of to get a ton of snow dumped on northern New Brunswick in early November - but a quick peek at the forecast for the next two weeks doesn't look promising, as the average high temperature is about 6 degrees.  Real progress only happens when the average high temperature is about minus 4.

It seems wrong to be hoping for an early winter with lots of cold temperatures, especially when you consider that I spend about half of my time at my job in the great outdoors.  However, that's the mindset of an outdoor rink builder.  I'm actually probably the only person who isn't wishing for a repeat of last winter, only because I don't want to be blogging all winter about hoping to go for a skate in the backyard.

* 700 ft. Ceiling by The Tragically Hip