Skip to main content

Backyard Rink 2.0

The old Coronavirus got us this week. Despite being sick things still needed to get done. 

Still botheringhis sick dad.

As you can see, Theo likes to be a pill from time to time.

Meadow is always finding ways to lure Pecan into her room. 

The weather this week looked like winter so we needed to get our ice rink built. 

This year we decided to expand it over the sidewalk. 

It was a wee bit small for us adults last year.

Theo helped at times. 


First we just had to figure out what we could build with the lumber we had. We had enough for the base wall at least.

Even Meadow joined us outside for a bit. 


I'd like to move this raised bed back a couple of feet next year to simplify the geometry.

Brooke lent a hand when I needed the help.

We use a DIY Iron Sleek setup. 2 x 12s and these metal brackets are all you need if your slope isn't too extreme.

I had to fill in some low spots with dirt on the part that went over the middle garden.

I had to wait a day or so to hammer in these support brackets. Our garage power runs under this area and through the middle garden.

Day one in the books.


I did a little research and bought this underground cable tester. For this use you plug in the emitter, on the right, into an outlet and then it sends a signal through the wire. The receiver, on the left, detects that signal. Slick.

This is going to be so awesome. Let's hope we get an actual winter this year. 

If we didn't have a few trees, we'd probably go even wider.

Theo told me he wanted to learn to use the sewing machine. 

We started with a simple project of a pillow. 

Nice job Theo!

Look at these crafty little kids.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Japan Family Trip: Exploring Sangenjaya, Shibuya, Harajuku and Shinjuku in Tokyo

After a 12 hour flight and years of planning we finally made it to Japan. I'd been looking for a decent deal to Japan for ages. Tracking on Google Flights. Searching different points websites. Then finally a flight showed up on Points Yeah the same week Meadow and Theo were off for 3 days. After a nervous half hour of transferring points from our credit card to KLM Air France, we got 4 direct tickets to Tokyo Haneda! Day 1 But first we had to fly and fly and fly. Ready for our longest flight ever. At least we were lucky and got a direct flight.  Theo looked nervous. I couldn't really see the kids too well since I was stuck in the center rows with strangers. Meadow, Brooke and Theo got the better end of the deal. He had been worrying about this trip ever since he learned we were going to have to sleep on the plane.  Meadow was excited to see that the flight had anime. First time in a long time that I've had a meal on the plane. My chicken curry was pretty good.  We got an...

Yardwork, Ikea and Pumpkins

My new parents-in-law got us a dehydrator for the wedding. Knowing we were going to be cleaning up the garden and going to farmer's market, we took a gander at our millionth kitchen device during breakfast.   Scott added granola to his oatmeal.  The oatmeal was rather bland, just the way Brooke likes it.   Scott was actually cleaning up so I had to take a quick photo of him as proof.  Scott told me he was, "putting a blanket down for Peanut," while singing. During the winter months peanut needs a warm place to peer through the window. Seeing as it was nearly November, I setup his blanket for him. Seeing as the farmers market season is dwindling down, we headed to the market...once again. The close proximity to the cities central farmer's market has to be one of the best assets of living in NoMi. We were both amazed by the bounty of produce still on sale. We quickly filled up our first bag and took it back to the car....

Dakotas Road Trip: Badlands and Black Hills

  I thought we would skip Wall Drug this time since we've seen it before but Scott was gun ho on going.  Come on. You can't go to the Badlands and skip the world's greatest tourist trap. First stop ice cream.  We thought we would have lunch here but after seeing the prices decided we would cook something at the park instead. But first we had to take a couple tourist pics. When we we decided we were coming here I was expecting it to be 90's and hot. Did not think it would be rainy, chilly and foggy.  I always make Brooke look cool. She on the other hand always finds a way to take a pic at the most awkward possible moment. Either that or I'm just really awkward. Earlier this year, I asked Theo where he wanted to go on vacations this year. He said he wanted to backpack camp at the Badlands because he was sad he didn't get to go yet. This is all for you buddy.