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

Backcountry Camping with Kids in Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Day 1  Back in May I stumbled upon Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I had no idea there was a National Park in North Dakota and that it was the northern end of the Badlands. Usually our summer vacations coincide with Scott's work trips. Since he didn't have any this summer I thought we should take advantage of actually taking a vacation. What, my workcations are always classics? I suppose a second real vacation this year wouldn't hurt. We definitely have more time than normal. As long as we took Covid-19  precautions and avoided people. We finally settled on a time to go. Blake joined us so we borrowed our dad's van so we could ride together. Scott had just driven from Michigan the day before. Blake had met my parents in Wisconsin to get the van and then drove from Duluth to pick us up. I offered to drive since I literally only drive twice a month.  I was still pretty tired from a long drive home. Since we were near Fergus Falls we had to stop by the abandoned state ho...

Work Trip: Carlinville, Illinois and a St Louis Walk on the Hill

Every few shoots for my main client I end up somewhere I'd never heard of before. This time it was Blackburn College in quaint Carlinville, Illiniois. Apparently famous for it's chili factory and its parlor. The family friendly chili parlor faces the town square, meanwhile the Anchor Inn faces the street behind it where the chili is also served alongside beers and rail drinks.  I was informed the chili comes with a kick and that was no lie. Knowing this fact I went with the chili mac and I'd do it again. Even though Carlinville is much closer to St Louis, the Anchor is definitely a Cubs bar. This town rules. After my shoot at the tiny Blackburn College I drove back to St Louis, where I'd flown into, for dinner. Well, one of the inner ring suburbs that's more urban than parts of Minneapolis. Anyways, Balkan Treat Box may have been the best meal I've had all year. After dinner I drove over to the Hill, an old Italian neighborhood of St. Louis. I don't know wh...

A Weekend of Bike Rides

With the kids finishing up school we had to treat them to Sushi Train. They picked the downtown location, which meant a family bike ride.  Theo asked why we don't go to this location anymore. The other location is more convenient but we agreed to go the one downtown this time.  I swear we did in fact eat sushi. We seem to always miss strawberry picking season. This year I was determined to go. Afton Apple was the first place I found that was open for the season.  One of their old fields that they were ready to retire was producing a lot of fruit this year.  Luckily today turned out to be a cooler day.  I treated the kids to strawberry shakes.  Then we drove over to Prescott to pick up some food for lunch and ate at Point Douglas Park. Then we did some hiking at Carpenter Nature Center to do some geocaching. Later Scott and I bike through some rain to Northeast to go to the soon to be closing Bauhaus one last time.  Gonna miss you Bauhaus. In the mornin...