My tarp has been in the rink for about a week now in the hope of catching some rain water as well as not having to lay it down when it's -10 and snowing. When 'Superstorm' Sandy blew through early last week, she deposited many leaves, spruce needles and small branches into the tarp. I needed to figure out a way to remove the majority of these leaves and other debris without damaging the tarp. I was planning on just getting my hands wet when my wife suggested that I borrow my brother-in-law's pool skimmer. What a glorious idea! With a little help from my 16-yo nephew and another skimmer in hand, it took us about 1.5 hours to clean the rink - a job well done.

If you don't know someone with a pool and you have an abundance of maple trees on your yard like I do, this might be an investment that could save you some time and your back. You'd be amazed at how the sun's heat is attracted to those leaves in the middle of January and February. Nothing worse than losing skating time to unwanted leaves in your ice.