Night-At-A-Time...

 53 coats on the lower now, thanks to Chris, Craig, Jeff, Andrew P., Matthew, and Kurt.

We keep saying this is the last flood, but this might be it.

We showed up at 8 pm and saw some young lads playing 2 on 2. So we let them play as we cut back the banks. Kurt and Craig. Then they volunteered to help scape. 

The young skaters had a great idea, get the nets out of the ice. (Austin above, and Cru below helped to chip out the nets)

Cru is putting his back into it with the chisel. His idea by the way!

It takes a team and a village to keep the ice alive.

Austin and Cru took turns on the WET end of the hose. They are both naturals at 16 years old. Future volunteers.

Cru and Austin leaving for the night after playing and plowing the ice. Thanks guys, your'e the best!

Finished three coats and looking nice for the weekend,

Keeping the hose on the ice,

Kurt

Another Cold Flood

 Lower Only now 50 coats in total. Ready for shinny Tuesday night. AND -19ºC.

Bill, Chris, Adrian, Craig, Andrew P., and Kurt

Stay warm, even our beverages had to warm up.

-19ºC

 upper = 44  lower = 47

..And Cold!

Wish we had some more help on Monday. It was just Bill, Andrew, Danny, Craig and Kurt. Craig built a fire but we could warm up cause we had lot of work to do. We manage to blow and scrape before adding two big coats to the upper and three on the lower.

A lot of water was going down.

Danny managed to warm his cold hands before flooding the lower again.

Second and last coat on the upper.

Last week Peter commented on the lack of cold weather that produces the cone on the nozzle. Well Peter, here it is!

Keeping the hose on the ice,

Kurt

Keeping the Melting At Bay...

Total Coats 

upper = 42   lower = 44

 

John, Bill, Chris, Kris, Peter, Andrew G., and Kurt scraped and coated last night ready for shinny.

Warm weather has caused us to use drastic measures. Sand bagging... Kris' great idea (not Bud's), to prevent the melting water from the parking lot running onto the ice durning the day. 

Kids having fun creating moon-like craters in the whoopsie doodles.

The team tonight!

Andrew doing THE finish coat on the lower like a pro.

Let's keep the ice going and flood again Thursday if weather permits.

Keeping the hose on the ice,

Kurt

Counting the Days...

 Total 41 Coats on each...

Danny (the official rookie), (who passed the initiation), Craig, Bill, Kris, Adrian and Kurt laid down two coats on each after a light scrape.

Craig started a fire because he likes it, and we needed to stay warm between the two coats tonight.

The official Rookie, Danny on the wet end of the hose doing the lower AND the upper.

Danny making us veterans look bad.

Final coat by Kurt showing the Rookie how to do the "Duggan" technique. The "Duggan" is only rarley used when temperatures are above -10ºC otherwise it doesn't work well. Kris never did like this application, but Kurt was showing Danny "ropes" (in this case the "hose").

Lets keep the hose and shovels on the ice,

Kurt

PS. 

Looks like snow Thursday, so lets keep a watchful eye on the weather.

"Let it SNOW!"...

 Holding at 39 coats.

Snow started right at 8 pm as we cleared the lower. So, that was it for the night... No flooding.

Let it snow!

Danny, the new iceguy, is now a full "Rockie". We took the opportunity to bring him into the fold with our initiation ceremony last night. He Passed it...

After we scraped, these two skaters arrived about 9.45 pm and had to shovel the freshly falling snow.

Celebration

Crosses the finish Line

Running up the hill...with the ribbon.

Danny at the start, he was timed to race up the hill holding a hockey stick and a spool of red ribbon. He was to tie a red ribbon around three trees. It was a timed event, and Danny set a record. (He was the first to ever do the event).

Letting it snow.

Well lets see what happens over the weekend, we may need some help if the snow persists. 

Keeping the hose on the ice,

Kurt

Just Cold Enough...

 Two coats last night with a 30 min wait between them.

Total = 39 coats each. (might be a new record low in Coat Counts for February)

The New Guy, Danny on the wet end with a the best teacher Andrew G. showing him "the hose".

Andrew G. warming up by the "one match" fire that Craig started.

Danny, the new guy, recruited by Craig in the middle. Andrew P. on Right.

Wrapping up the hose for the night.

Danny reels in the 300 ft hose after two coats.

Keeping the hose on the ice,

Kurt

February Warm?...

 Let's get out tomorrow, Monday night at 8 PM and see if we can flood. Get it ready for shinny Tuesday.

Thursday night BBQ.

2011

Kurt was down today and cleared the lower...

Keeping the hose on the ice,

Kurt

Back to NORMAL?...

Upper = 37

Lower = 37

Last night 3 coats on each. ONLY after Bill, Kris and Peter took the afternoon and two hours to clear off the snow from the week of bitterly Cold Sub-30ºC for a week. The extremely cold weather prevented us from clearing, let-alone flood.

Three coats last night, Kris, Craig, Andrew P., Andrew G., Jeff, Andy and Kurt stayed warm by the fire.

Keeping the hose on the ICE,

Kurt

Winter is BACK!...

Four Coats last night.. ready for the week ahead, which is going to be very Cold. 

Upper = 34 Coats

Lower = 34 Coats

Full Squad last night to make the multiple coats happen before the freeze this week.

Kris, Chris, Craig, Bill, Jeff, Jamie, Andrew G. and Kurt.

Sunday morning emergency snow removal:

It was like a military exercise on the snow covered slippery stuff.  We cleared both rinks in just over one (1) hour.

Craig only use one match and 300 ml of fossil fuel.

Upper ice was really thirsty

The Saddle dome has slightly better ice.

Four coats and done.

Strong enough that Kurt doesn't fall through!

With the weather being so cold this week, we will not be flooding Thursday (reports of -27ºC, ouch). So we will go again the following Monday Jan 15th.

Keeping the hose on the ice,

Kurt