Well, last week was a bout of warm weather followed a wicked rain/snow storm. I figured that I was done but I made the "mistake" of asking my youngest daughter whether or not I should attempt to clear the rink ("mistake" as in I already knew the answer and I was preparing myself for the work).

So Friday at 5:30 PM, I pulled my little snowthrower out of the garage and prepared to explain to her that we were in for a battle. There was about an inch of freezing rain/hardened slush covered with over a foot of heavy wet snow. I started on the outside of the rink slowly working my way inside to the middle. By the time I got about 6' around, the snow was too heavy for little 'blowie' to throw it out of the rink so passes had to be made over the parts that were already cleared. This process continued until there was about 10'x40' down the middle of the rink. I considered several times to call it quits, pack it in, throw in the proverbial towel but I just couldn't do it. I tackled the remaining section by blowing it in the one direction, unfortunately the snowthrower couldn't make it over the now 8' snowbanks surrounding the rink when it was close to the boards. It then became a process of shoveling the snow back from the boards so that blowie could get it out of the rink. As discouragement started setting in again, I turned around and saw my wife scraping the ice behind me (now that's love!). We worked for a little while longer and then I happened to turn around and see a snowball being thrown at me. My buddy had shown up for a pint; instead he grabbed a shovel and started throwing the snow out of the rink. It wasn't long after that the rink was finally cleared. In total it took 3 hours to clear all the remnants of the storm off the rink. At that point we retired to the warm basement and drank a couple of 40 Creek Whiskeys... mmmm, good.

It was finally cold enough at 12:30AM to douse the rink with some water. It took an hour to soak the frozen slush and wouldn't you know that it started snowing as I was nearing the end. I got up on Saturday morning and went for a skate. Skated again on Sunday afternoon - a little soft in the warmth of -3'C - but at least we skated.

All in all, the couple of hours of skating on the backyard rink this weekend was easily worth the hours of backbreaking work on Friday evening. Hope others are doing their best to hang on to their last pieces of ice.

Great story man. It is truly a labor of love made much easier when you have other folks helping out. I have been holding out on giving up for the year even though logic and common sense has been telling me to throw in the towel for a couple weeks now.

The ice gods have smiled on me somewhat this week providing a couple of nights with temps down in the low teens (Yankee scale) here in NE Ohio. It was just enough to give me a decent slab of bumpy ice the last couple days. A late night flood last night and I was able to get in a short but enjoyable skate this morning.

At this hour though the bright sun is beating down and water is coming up thru some cracks and around the edges.

The forecast is calling for rain this afternoon and then snow. Temps the rest of the week are not projected to be favorable. Reality hit me today. The days are becoming too long and the sun getting too high to keep up.

But even though the end is upon me, now that I have accepted the inevitable I can look back on what was an unforgettable first experience with my own rink. The long hours, the back breaking toil, the late nights have all been more than worth it for all those days of great ice. The memories will last forever and for once, we made winter something the whole family has cherished all the way through. We looked forward to single digits and wind chills. Weekends with no plans became opportunities to get outside and work on our technique. My daughter has gone from a beginning skater to a kid who skates circles around other kids her age. She wants to skate every chance she gets. That progress alone was worth every minute I put into the rink, times ten... Next year, she starts the local youth hockey program. The wife conceded to this just the other day after months of resistance. Again, this helps make it all worthwhile.

In the end, we got 19 days an the ice. First skate was 1/2, last skate was this morning 3/5. But the memories and the sheer joy of having our own private slab of ice will carry us thru the whole summer; until we start planning our new and improved rink about the time the leaves start changing next fall.

I have learned a lot, made a bunch of mistakes, but wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

Many thanks to all for the guidance...

We skated on March 2nd. I felt pretty smug about getting a march skate in to wrap up the inaugural season at our house. I was over the moon.

Believe it or not we have another cold patch coming in tonight and into early next week.

I have been kind of quasi-maintaining things over the past 10 days or so just in case. Last night I put some water on and let it melt through some porous sections and a little shell ice. Water has come up over the slab around a few spots, but the thing MAY still be skateable tomorrow morning with a little TLC this evening after kids are in bed.

Low tonight is 22, then lows of 10 on Saturday, 25 on Sunday, 10 on Monday, and single digits Tuesday and Wednesday nights, with Highs in the mid to upper 20s.

It is not out of the realm of possibility that we could see a March 20th skate...

This is perhaps annoying to those south of here, but I had to share.

Thanks to everyone for providing advice and guidance that yielded a terrific experience for our family this Winter...

- Bob in Minneapolis

I flooded the rink on Thursday night once it got cold enough - it was rough and took a while to fill all the blemishes. Let it sit and I was skating on Friday night. A couple of guys came over on Saturday night and we played a little 2 on 2 with a goalie. Gave it a solid couple of floods on Saturday night and the whole family (including my wife who NEVER skates) went for a family skate last night. It is sunny and cold again today so we will grab another skate tonight before that snowstorm hits.

Hoping to clear the snow and squeeze in at least one more skate before the warmth hits on the weekend.

Kevin

I came home on Friday night and decided to attack the latest snowfall with the snowthrower. The rink was cleared by 5:30 PM and it was -2'C at the time. I let it sit for a couple of hours and I was skating by 10PM! Grabbed another skate on Saturday and Sunday morning while the sun was still low. I believe March 24th is a new record for my rink - as I looked at it this morning and the sun damage looks like it's done for the year now. I don't think I will ever beat this winter for skating length: first skate (November 30) to last skate (March 24)

Kevin

This year has been absolutely bananas. February was a complete waste, and if I'd kept up on my rink, we could have skated the last two weeks in March. What a wonky sentence to write.

Our last skate was last week on Tuesday evening. 3 Months to the day after the first skate. What a phenomenal first year. Its sad to watch the ice melt, degrade, sublimate, wither, etc...but it has to melt before you can have the fun of doing it all over again next season, right?

Once more, I express my gratitude to this site and group of regular posters for advice along the way.

Bigger and better next year...

Here's to a repeat of the weather, eh?

Thanks all,
Bob in Minneapolis