- Oct 2004 - Major changes to my boards for this year. My fence corner that I always use for my boards is much less than a 90 degree angle and it always causes problems laying my liner. Plus it actually shortens up my rink by a couple of feet. So this year I decided to construct boards at a 90 degree angle (or close to it) to make things easier and perhaps add a couple of more feet on to the length of the rink. Looks like nothing will be painted white again this year though.
- Dec 29, 2003 - The forecast looks good so I decided to finish the last couple of boards that needed to go down. I had snowblowed away what little bit of snow we had to make it easier to put them down. A friend of mine gave me a couple of 2"x10"x10' boards that I would now use as my end boards opposite my fence end. The old 2"x6"'s that I had used as end boards will replace the 1"x6" boards I had used as side boards. (-2 C Tonight).
- Dec 30, 2003 - Decided to go ahead with the flooding as planned. Forecast calls for -10 C tonight so it's a good night to start. I had to adjust my end boards back a couple of feet as the tarp wasn't as long as I thought. Let the water run for 9 hours!! This is NOT good...I am beginning to think the tarp is leaking!! (-10 C Tonight).
- Dec 31, 2003 - My worst fears have been confirmed...my tarp is leaking!! Not sure what I am going to do to fix this. I pulled away the tarp to see if the unfrozen water would run off and it didn't. So I stapled the tarp back on the boards and smoothed out the broken pieces of ice as best I could. Hopefully this will eventually freeze solid and I will probably put a poly liner over the top of the ice. If that doesn't work, we may be without a rink for the first time in a long time. (-2 C Tonight).
- Jan 4, 2005 - Bought a new "super 6 mill" poly liner yesterday and put it down today. I had to join it as always. Our local rec center was once again kind enough to let me use their gym for a half hour to get it done quickly. The super 6 mill thickness is definitely worth the extra $20. It cost $63 tax included and when joined was 51' x 19' 10" wide. The work I did this past fall squaring up my end boards was also worth the effort. It made laying down my liner a lot easier. It's a great day here today (no wind and -6 C ) for laying a liner. I left everything in place and put the new one right on top of the blue tarp. It was frozen in with a lot of ice and I couldn't remove it. Turned on the water and let it run for 6.5 hours. Forecast is good so we should be skating by the weekend barring any more leaks. (-7 C Tonight).
- Jan 9, 2005 - First skate today. Even Molly got in on the action. Made a whole day of it!! 3 days later skating this year than last year however. I am blaming that on the leak in the tarp. Busy with hockey as well. It's been really cold for the last few days. Great rink weather. Ice is really good. Probably the best "early ice" I have had in a few years. Usually some wet snow will fall shortly after my initial flood and will make the surface uneven. That hasn't happened yet. Almost all the kick boards are down ... will finish them tomorrow night. (-15 C Tonight).
- Jan 13, 2005 - Skating again tonight. Ice is in great shape. Won't be for long though... +10 temps will hit tomorrow. Brutal!! (-5 C Tonight).
-
Jan 15, 2005 - I can see that this year is going to be a challenge. 2 days of plus temps (+10 and +5) have left my rink
in a mess. Only about half of the ice that was there on Thurs night is still there. I discovered the leak in the blue tarp
that caused the problem during my first flood. During the 2-day thaw the ice below the second liner has started to melt and run
off through this hole ... I lost about an inch and a half of water overall in two days. I would say anyone without a liner lost
everything. I couldn't really patch the hole because there is a plastic liner preventing me from getting at it from the inside.
Patching from the outside isn't really an option. So I packed snow around it in the hope that when the temp got down to -5 or so
it would freeze that part and stop or slow down the leak considerably. I put the hose on
for 2 and a half hours and got the water level back up to where it was. Supposed to get down to -10 C tonight so that should
get things going in a hurry.
(-10 C Tonight).
-
Jan 18, 2005 - Everything froze solid after the heat wave and then started to melt
again with a shorter heat wave yesterday.
Gonna be a frustrating season. Rink is in pretty good shape considering the ridiculous weather we have had lately. Flooded
tonight and hoping to skate tomorrow. Thursday should be a definite. This weekend will be mild again!! Hopefully the forecast
is wrong as it often is.
(-8 C Tonight).
-
Jan 31, 2005 - My first report in almost 2 weeks. Hockey tournaments and bad weather (rain, snow, rain, snow)
have kept us off the rink since the 20th. More freezing drizzle tonight. Should be able to start re-surfacing tomorrow night.
Here are some pics of Stephanie and Brad with friends from a couple of weeks ago.
(-8 C Tonight).
-
Feb 9, 2005 - Still no skating since the 20th. The weather has been really poor...for rink making. We have had a lot of
rain and only a few nights that were fit for re-surfacing. I did get the rink back to very good shape about a week ago, but we
never did get a chance to skate on it. The forecast is above 0 C until Sunday. (0 C Tonight).
-
Feb 20, 2005 - Things are looking up. The last couple of nights have been below zero!! Even if it was only -5C, it's still reason
for optimism. Much colder tonight and the forecast is good. So my daughter, Stephanie, and I flooded with the hope of using the rink tomorrow
night. We still haven't skated since Jan 20th. This will probably be the longest drought ever, if we do get to skate tomorrow. (-11 C Tonight).
-
Feb 22, 2005 - Skating last night!! A whole month in between skates. That's a first. Rink is in excellent shape
considering the bad weather we have had. There were a few bad spots but overall very good. Here are
some pics taken today when we were out in our boots. The floods over the last
couple of nights have fixed the bad spots . (-12 C Tonight).
-
Feb 24, 2005 - Skating again last night!! This time I laced 'em up...by myself.
Both kids were busy so I took to the ice for perhaps the last time anyone will for the year. I am guessing the season is
getting short.(-1 C Tonight).
- March 27, 2005 - My first report in over a month. My skate on the Feb 23rd was the last one for the season. We have had a lot of rain since then, some scattered cold nights approaching -10C but nothing sustained. We have even had some plus temps during the day. This season was generally regarded by most in our area as being very poor. Too much rain, slushy snow and mild temp. My personal situation of being busy with 3 hockey teams meant there were only 2 days or nights during a week that I wasn't at the rink with one of those teams. It's hard to find time to maintain a rink under those circumstances, especially when mother nature is not on your side. This is an important consideration for someone thinking about building a rink...make sure you have time to maintain it. The forecast for the next 5 days is 2 to 6 degrees C above zero during the day. Looking forward to next year. (-7 C Tonight).
| 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 |
| 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
