My 2006 Backyard Rink - Howard's Corner of the Web

My 2006 Backyard Rink Journal

Dec 2005 - No changes this year at all. I put my boards down (still not painted white) around mid-Dec and I am waiting for cold temperatures. From the signs of things I may be waiting a while. It has been pretty mild in Dec.

Jan 1, 2006 - Still don't have my rink started for this season. We are having really mild weather this year. Tonight it's only -2C...and this is the day when I usually flood my rink. My boards are up and ready to go, but Mother Nature isn't. (-2 C Tonight)

Jan 12, 2006 - The weather has been unseasonably mild to say the least. Frustrating doesn't come close to telling how rink builders around here feel. Not much below -2 C at night usually, and currently it's pouring and +5C. I made my liner today, so that it will have a few days to sit in the warm. This will allow the gum on the tape to really bond with the plastic. It's gonna be stuck real good because the forecase here for the next week is plus temps during the day and the coldest at night is -3 C. This is shaping up to be one of those rinks that I only get to use for a couple of weeks. It could easily be the end of Jan before we get our first skate!! ( +5 C tonight )

Jan 31, 2006 - I finally have my rink started. Sunday (Jan 29th) was a beautiful day (no wind and -1 C) for laying a liner in place, so I decided to take a chance on the month of Feb and go for it. It only took me an hour to get the liner down, and I let the water run for 8.5 hours. Of course a storm is in the forecast for tomorrow, so I am hoping three nights of -5 or -6 C will be enough to allow my to get the snowblower on it. Probably not. What a mild month Jan has been. A friend told me that it was the warmest January in 100 years. Not sure if this is fact or not, but it's the warmest I have ever seen. ( -6 C tonight )

Feb 25, 2006 - Well, it's over for me. Actually my rink never did come to life this year. A rink comes to life when someone skates on it, and this year we didn't get there. It is with a heavy heart that I admit defeat. In a winter such as this one, timing is everything. If you were lucky enough to get your rink started at just the right time, then you may have been successfull. I know at least a couple of people that did get their rinks going. Timing was good for these people. Not for me. About 4 days after my initial flood, (temps were about 5C below zero) the ice (in 9 inch end) would still not hold my weight (175 lbs) and of course then came the wet snow. This was followed by more semi-cold temps (-5C) and more wet snow. I kept it clear for a couple of weeks hoping the temps would plummet and applied more water to try and get a surface. But more snow storms followed and considering the season is nearly done by mid-Feb most years, I decided to forget it and pack it in. Funny enough, the temps have now dropped, but more snow storms are happening as I type and this week will see Mar 1. Only a couple of times have I skated in March. So the odds are not good that skating will happen this March as it has been a mild winter. ( -4 C tonight ).