...except in my dreams I was younger and thinner and a much better skater ;-D.
We don't normally get cold enough long enough to grow enough ice to safely skate on farm ponds in Kentucky. It's not been over 30 since Christmas and it's been as cold as -4. When I was walking out back the other night and saw June out in the middle of the pond and how thick the ice looked...I got the bug.
I can remember as a kid, riding the school bus looking at frozen ponds, wishing I had a pond to skate on. We'd go down to the creeks and fake skate, but it wasn't the same. One year it did get cold enough to skate on a nearby lake and I remember going over there to this day.
I decided to take a chance on finding a pair of skates in Lexington yesterday and hit the road for the Lexington Ice Center. They didn't have any skates for sale, but gave me the name of the person at the pro shop who "might be able to help". I gave her a call.
I have a feeling she'd been asked many times over about buying skates for use on farm ponds but was kind and as helpful as she could be. She could take my measurements and order skates, but by the time they got here, I knew it would be too late. I was crushed.
"Wait, I do have some used skates for sale. What size do you need?" I told her and she thought for a second and said "I have one pair that might work for you. Let me call you back in a couple minutes." She called me back with instructions to go in and find the manager and he would show me the skates.
As the pro shop wasn't actually open, she spent several minutes on the phone giving me fitting instructions and a stern warning about skating on unsafe ice. I went in, tried on the one pair of skates she said might work...and they fit perfectly. I headed home in near disbelief...or as we like to say "I can't believe it's finally happening!"
This first thing I did when I got home was take a drill out to check the ice thickness. The thinnest spot I could find was a little over 4" and a couple other spots I checked were at least 5", deeper than my drill bit. I checked for any spots that might have any current or some other issue and felt like it was okay. I only got to skate for a couple minutes though before it got dark.
This morning I went out to see if I could broom off some of the snow patches that were giving me trouble last night and, yikes, the pond was cracking and popping and I quickly beat tracks back to the house. I did some google research and found out all sorts of amazing things about ice, especially ice when the sun hits it and the temperatures are increasing or decreasing...
I felt like "on paper" the ice was just fine, even thicker today than yesterday, but discretion being the better part of valor, decided to wait until Tim could get home to babysit me. He drilled a few more spots and walked all over the pond and declared it safe. I laced up my very own skates and had an amazing afternoon skating on my very own ice rink. I can't wait to go back out tomorrow!
I'm sitting on a lawn chair here, not flat on my butt on the ice ;-).
21 comments:
If that was me, I *would-* be flat on my butt on the ice! Skating on blades, or on two in-line wheels instead of four set out in a rectangle, has always amazed me. Good for you! Enjoy!
Oh what fun!
I'm so glad you got to do this! The few times I tried skating were fun except for the incessant falling down. Your skating is what it looked like in my head! Good tip on how to check ice thickness. My father used to test it on our pond by driving the Ford 8N tractor out onto it. :-0 In retrospect I'm sure he was already confident but it did reassure one to see the tractor having no problems. Hoping you have more skating days!
Looks like fun and brings back memories. We didn’t have a pond but skated a lot at a lake we walked to as kids. And there was a guy who drove a tractor out to make sure it was safe. Hope the ice stays thick for a while and you get more skating in!
How cool!! So glad the stars aligned and *your skates* were waiting for you, to take you skating on your pond! Wheeeee! (Thankful for your intrepid scout, walking out onto the ice to show it was pretty frozen -- surprised she wasn't out there "helping" you skate..... And thanks to your safety-officer/lifeguard for making sure you were ok. I suspect skating on ponds may be like swimming -- best done in the presence of someone who can help if needed.)
ps -- your pond is huge! Way, way bigger than the pond I walk by in the neighborhood park. "My" park raises a dozen or more ducks every summer. Do you have a lot of water fowl on your pond, in summer?
You could sell tickets!!!! That is a huge skating rink (pond). So glad you got to experience ice skating on your own pond - very cool. Thanks for sharing you story and the film. A nice morning wakeup.
Awesome! If you have one of those straight snow shovels- the kind that have a curve like a plow blade- you could skate with it and clear the snow as you skate.
Our little pond needs to freeze up again to be skateable, the water level rose and now there are wet spots on top of the ice- and it's warming up this week.
It's great that there is a benefit to all this very cold weather. Skate on! You'll be wanting a zamboni next.
What a fun winter day you had!
They say 4 inches is enough for a vehicle to drive on--however, I would rather be on my own feet or skis on ice. We have to cross water/ice for our ski practices almost every day. So glad you got out on the ice and enjoyed the freedom of gliding along!
How exciting to be able to skate on your pond! So fun!
When things line up like that it was "meant to be"! So happy that you had such fun. Being a Californian, born and bred, I have never seen a frozen pond! Maybe something for my bucket list.
I haven't skated since I was 10. We had a creek out back that ponded just enough for a small skating rink. My sister & I thought we were Peggy Fleming, haha! Enjoy your Winter Wonderland to the fullest!
BTW, how deep is the pond?
Gosh, this brought back memories of when I was a kid. We used to skate on a small lake and I still remember bubbles under the ice pinging and the cracking sounds as we skated. Some town official would put up a sign that said the ice was thick enough to skate on. I think the whole town turned out in those days.
Your pond looks huge! Skating by the light of the full moon is a great experience. Thanks for the great pictures.
Just too sublime for mere words! I'm crying b/c I'm an old gramma now but I used skate with my Daddy bitd.
Sara, I grew up on Chautauqua Lake (Western New York) and I loved it when we would get black ice like that. It was three miles across from the bay I lived in and we would take a sheet way out there and let it blow us down the lake for a couple miles. The bad part was skating home.
I know how much you like winter...glad you had this opportunity.
I am TOTALLY impressed that you are able to skate and record AT THE SAME TIME! And I am relieved to read that you took every precaution to insure safety before venturing out. I had a cousin fall through ice and drown and the thought of skating on a pond fills me with terror.
Your video confirms my belief that you live in paradise... Enjoy!
kim
You are ice skating!!! And you're good at it!! I loved watching your feet as you skated around. I really believe our pond is frozen hard enough to skate on, but I've never had on a pair of ice skates, and besides that I would be be scared to death. As of last night, we had been 161 hours in below freezing temperatures. This morning it was 3.9. I don't remember ever having freezing weather stay around this long in this part of NC.
I grew up skating on ponds in southwest Ohio but not much opportunity as an adult. Still have a pair of skates ready to use though and would love to get a chance.
The video was making me dizzy! I am thrilled that you got to skate and learn all about ice:) You are a good skater! :)
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! What fun! Thank you for taking us skating!!!
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