Ice Rink

For the last couple weeks now I’ve had intentions to write something – and have even thought it would be good for me to keep my blog regularly updated … especially since I’m beginning the process of being tested to see if I’m a good candidate for kidney transplant. I have to make a point of going to the hospital to get an ECG and chest Xray. I have to get the hepatitis vaccine. But I did a 24 hour urine sample end of last year, so I’m glad I don’t have to do another one now.

But aside from the kidney issues, we’re attempting to build an ice skating rink in the backyard. Neither of us are carpenters, so the snow is the walls and my garden is the location. We started it about a week and a half ago and it’s still not to the point of skating. Part of the reason is because most of this week the temperatures have been crazy cold (-30s with wind chills to -50). I was home on Tuesday because we failed to plug the van in so it wouldn’t start. After a day of being plugged in, it was gracious enough to comply and allowed us transportation again. Personally, I would have said “No, Way! Do you know how cold it is out here?!?” Makes me glad my car can’t talk back.

Now to the rink. We’ve made the bottom layer with packed snow and added water so that it would be icy snow. But now when we are trying to flood it to make the water level higher, the water still seems to find all the holes in the ice and just disappears. It’s slippery, but there are not ice layers building up.
And our garden is very uneven since I put a whole bunch of leaves into it in the Fall, so it’s uneven and slippery and not flooding nicely. I’m beginning to think we should take a friend’s suggestion and just find an outdoor rink somewhere within driving distance (that would mean practically anywhere in the City), and drive the kids. Well, the rink sounded like a good idea at the beginning.