Snow Day!
It turns out that snow days as an adult are just as fun as (maybe even a teeny bit more fun than) snow days were as a kid. And when they unexpectedly extend a vacation by a day, they're even better.
In honor of today's snow day, my partner and I decided to construct an ice rink in the back yard. We both play hockey and have been talking about the cost/benefit ratio of a rink for a while. Given a long, cold winter, it sounds like a great idea. But there's always the chance that it will be a short winter with lots of thaws. And let's be realistic, when the National Weather Service says there's a 40% chance that it will be a colder-than-average winter, that does also mean that there's a 60% chance that it will be an average or warmer-than-average winter, so a seasonal forecast doesn't really mean anything. But the snow day seemed like a sign.
Based on a number of online sources, we opted for the second lowest-cost option, lining the rink with a plastic drop cloth. You can also go with no liner at all, but that seems to work best in the really frigid climates a bit further north of here ('here' being Chicago). Construction of a wood-based perimeter sounded like too much work and too much money for me. So on the way back from work, where we were informed at the gate that the lab had been closed for the day due to weather conditions that probably should have kept us off the roads, we stopped at Walmart and bought a 20' x 25' plastic sheet.
plastic sheet from Wally WorldOnce home, we set to work in the back of the yard. My understanding is that it's advantageous to have nothing overhanging the rink, as dead leaves and twigs will serve as little solar absorbers and melt your ice. And obviously working in a flat area is advisable. Just about every yard in the Chicago area fits the 'flat' bill, so no trouble there.
Flat, check. No overhang, check. Perfect ice rink? Check.We first built a snow bank around the perimeter and then began clearing the middle of the future rink. The interwebs suggest either clearing or packing the snow, and we vacillated for a while but eventually settled on clearing. It didn't take long for everything to start coming together.
Imagine the music to go along with the montage...
Bum ba-dum
Deedle-dee bee
Do deee-do
Ba-dum dum dum
We then re-measured to make sure the plastic liner would come up the sides of the snow banks sufficiently far to contain the water during the freezing process.
MeasuringAfter measuring, we ascertained that the ice rink was going to be somewhat smaller than initially intended. It turns out that 20' x 25' minus some wiggle room with the plastic liner is about two strides worth of ice for someone who knows how to skate. So after some careful reassessment, we settled on this solution:
The bottle of Veuve we meant to drink for New Year's, our makeshift flutes,
cranberry juice for poinsettas, and a lurker in the background.
In honor of today's snow day, my partner and I decided to construct an ice rink in the back yard. We both play hockey and have been talking about the cost/benefit ratio of a rink for a while. Given a long, cold winter, it sounds like a great idea. But there's always the chance that it will be a short winter with lots of thaws. And let's be realistic, when the National Weather Service says there's a 40% chance that it will be a colder-than-average winter, that does also mean that there's a 60% chance that it will be an average or warmer-than-average winter, so a seasonal forecast doesn't really mean anything. But the snow day seemed like a sign.
Based on a number of online sources, we opted for the second lowest-cost option, lining the rink with a plastic drop cloth. You can also go with no liner at all, but that seems to work best in the really frigid climates a bit further north of here ('here' being Chicago). Construction of a wood-based perimeter sounded like too much work and too much money for me. So on the way back from work, where we were informed at the gate that the lab had been closed for the day due to weather conditions that probably should have kept us off the roads, we stopped at Walmart and bought a 20' x 25' plastic sheet.
plastic sheet from Wally WorldOnce home, we set to work in the back of the yard. My understanding is that it's advantageous to have nothing overhanging the rink, as dead leaves and twigs will serve as little solar absorbers and melt your ice. And obviously working in a flat area is advisable. Just about every yard in the Chicago area fits the 'flat' bill, so no trouble there.
Flat, check. No overhang, check. Perfect ice rink? Check.We first built a snow bank around the perimeter and then began clearing the middle of the future rink. The interwebs suggest either clearing or packing the snow, and we vacillated for a while but eventually settled on clearing. It didn't take long for everything to start coming together.
Imagine the music to go along with the montage...
Bum ba-dum
Deedle-dee bee
Do deee-do
Ba-dum dum dumWe then re-measured to make sure the plastic liner would come up the sides of the snow banks sufficiently far to contain the water during the freezing process.
MeasuringAfter measuring, we ascertained that the ice rink was going to be somewhat smaller than initially intended. It turns out that 20' x 25' minus some wiggle room with the plastic liner is about two strides worth of ice for someone who knows how to skate. So after some careful reassessment, we settled on this solution:
The bottle of Veuve we meant to drink for New Year's, our makeshift flutes, cranberry juice for poinsettas, and a lurker in the background.
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