- Dec 13, 2003 - Finally got around to putting up my boards for this year. However, I never did get around to painting them white. Maybe next year. We are having too much rain these days to think about starting my rink. Hopefully I will get it started in a couple of weeks. New this year will be a different liner. I have bought a heavy duty tarp (blue) that is 50'x30'. This will eliminate having to join two sheets of plastic, which was becoming more of a chore each year. It was a bit expensive ($90 Canadian) but I figure I will get 2 years out of it for sure. I plan to install 1"x6" kickboards on the sides and 2"x4" kickboards on the ends. This is to create a clean edge where the boards and ice meet and also to cut down on problems that may be created by the sun's rays hitting the blue tarp.
- Dec 28, 2003 - Still no ice!! The temps have been above zero here for a while now. Christmas Day and Boxing Day were both +12C. To make matters worse, the forecast isn't exactly "ice building" weather. Something tells me this is going to be a shorter than normal rink season. Just the year when Santa brings a regulation size steel net and I invest $90 in a tarp. (2 C Tonight).
- Jan 3, 2004 - Finally I have ice!! On New Years Day I checked the forecast and it was cold, cold, cold, for the next 3 - 4 days. So the kids and I bundled up and put down the liner and let the water run for 7 and a half hours (started at 4pm). This gave me a minimum or 2.5 inches of water in the lowest spot. With freezing, the ice should move close to 3 inches thick. It was a little more wind than I like, but not too bad. The heavy duty tarp stood up to the wind and I didn't have to be so carefull with it as I usually am with the poly liner. I didn't put the 2 x 4 corners in during flooding this time. I am going to do this when the ice is ready to walk on. My plan is to cut the ends at 45 degree angles and screw the 2 x 4's to the side boards. Ice is still not ready to walk on after two nights of -5 C temps. Forecast is snow and rain for tomorrow. The saga begins. (-8 C Tonight).
- Jan 6, 2004 - Skating tonight!! A little later than last year but not bad considering the mild temps we have had this season. The ice isn't perfect, due to the snow and rain we had on Sunday (4th), but the kids didn't mind. Steel net is perfect. I was worried it would be too wide (6') for my rink, as it is only about 20' wide, but it isn't. There is no sound like the "ping" when you hit the steel post. Cold temps ahead in the forecast. (-4 C Tonight).
- Jan 14, 2004 - Skating, skating, skating so much that I haven't had time to update this site or answer any emails. Sorry to those that have sent emails. Skated Friday (9th), Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Ice is very good (90% perfect). I have installed my inner boards, and corner boards, so now my liner is covered. This looks very good. Had a storm today...took me 2 hours to clean up rink and flood. Snow started just as I finished the flood...it is real cold so it shouldn't be a problem. We have had quite a bit of snow in the last week. Nothing before that. (-10 C Tonight).
- Jan 22, 2004 - My apologies to everyone that has sent me email over the last week. My PC got a virus and it has taken me this long to get back up and running. The good news is that I didn't loose any data, including my email files so I will reply eventually. Not much skating this week mostly due to the fact that we had a snow/rain storm last Friday and the weather has been pretty mild since. So it has been hard to repair the damage (shell ice) done by the rain storm. My rink is in pretty good shape with about 75% glass ice. The rest has a few small bumps on it or shell ice. If the temps would drop to a good freezing range I could put several layers on in one night and it would all be fixed. I have added a Montreal Canadiens logo at center ice and I need to put a couple of floods on top of that before we use it uncovered. I put snow on it until it is below the surface enough. (-7 C Tonight).
- Feb 1, 2004 - It never rains but it pours. Just as I get my PC back up and running (more troubles ahead) ... then I come down with the flu which keeps me sidelined for most of last week. We managed one skate over the weekend and the ice is pretty good. The weather is nasty again now (it is the weekend after all) but nothing to cause too much damage. Here is another pic from some time ago. (0 C Tonight).
- Feb 11, 2004 - Skating the last 2 nights, but only the 3rd time in the last 2 weeks. I have been sick and both Brad and Stephanie have been sick. Everyone is about 90% again now so we should be getting out more over the next two weeks. The ice is very good but I am experiencing more shell ice this year than ever. I am contributing it entirely to the milder than normal temps we are having here this year. During the day the sun has been strong and a gap has been created every day around two sides of my rink where the ice meets the boards or fence. Then when I flood at night, during -5 temps (lucky to get that this year), it takes several hours to freeze and the water must be seeping down to the gaps below. I am pretty sure that if we were getting -10 C temps I wouldn't be having this problem. But I have no choice...I either flood in -5 C or don't flood and then the rink isn't fit to use. Most shell ice is gone at this point in time and the ice is like glass on 90% of the rink. (-5 C Tonight).
- Feb 16, 2004 - Bitter cold tonight but we decided to skate anyway. Forecast is calling for rain in a few days so we better take advantage of the cold. Finally made myself an ice re-surfacer and the jury is still out on it. I have only used it once and I was impressed, but I don't see how it saves anyone time. I still have to clean the ice, although not as well, and flooding with an open hose only takes 10 mins tops. I can probably do it in 5 with the homeboni and the surface probably will be smoother, but I am not sure it was worth the money ($40 Can). I finally got a decent pic of my Habs logo at center ice. This has worked out well and I will continue to do this every year. Basically it is printed on regular 8.5" x 11" paper and laminated. Cost about $1. (-13 C Tonight).
- Feb 25, 2004 - The weather here has been terrible for rink makers since last Thursday the 19th. We skated on the 18th because we knew the bad weather was coming. We had snow and then rain and then more rain. Then we had a couple of real mild nice days. It eventually got colder but just barely below zero. I cleaned the snow off before all the rain and all would have been fine if the temp had dropped to normal levels. Instead we got a little more snow and only -2C temps. I left this snow on the rink to try and protect it from the sun, but the surface is now very "salt crystal like". It could be fixed with a couple of nights of -10C...which we are supposed to get this coming weekend. Only -2C until then. (-2 C Tonight).
- Feb 29, 2004 - Skating today...one of the few "day" skates this year. Used the homeboni last night as it wasn't very cold (-4C) and I didn't want to create any shell ice. Figured I would just put down a very thin layer. It worked ... the ice turned out much smoother than I expected. Tonight is a bit colder so I did a thicker flood around 10pm with the open ended hose. I am hoping to fix a few uneven spots created by that rain/snow storm last week. However, overall the ice is pretty good. Forecast is calling for rain on Wed the 3rd. Tues will be 8 weeks for the rink. (-6 C Tonight).
- Mar 1, 2004 - Skating again tonight...ice was not very good at all. Smooth as glass when we first went on it...but near the edges and ends it quickly chipped up and became dangerous. I light flooded last night and I should have heavy flooded, but the temps weren't really cold (-6C) and I didn't want to create any shell ice. Plus today was a beautiful (i.e. mild) day and it weakened my ice. This year may be drawing to a close for our rink. Forecast is calling for rain on Thursday and possibly for the next 3 days after that it will be very mild with rain and wet snow. This season was one of my worst years for ice quality. I am not sure what to blame it on but it could be the blue tarp or it could be the milder than normal temps. My guess is it is a combinaton of both. (-6 C Tonight).
- Mar 8, 2004 - This may be it. We haven't skated since last Monday (1st) and we have had some terrible weather lately (snow, rain, more snow). My ice wasn't very good before all the bad weather, so I am having a hard time convincing myself to spend hours and hours attempting a rebuild it with so little time left to skate anyway. This is March 8th, and I have never skated beyond March 17th (last year) so for the sake of 10 days (maybe 3 skates)...I may call it a season. We got 8 weeks in and both Brad and Stephanie got close to 20 hours of ice time in so it certainly was a sucessful year. That makes two in a row. Here are some more pics of this years rink. (-4 C Tonight).
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