These strange windrows you see... Magnetic forces? Aliens?
No, it was me. After the kids and I arrived home early today, I got the strange notion to go out and clear off the pond. It was a great afternoon to be out, with the temperature finally about 20 degrees, little wind, and clear skies to show the last lingering sunlight.
My usual method is to shovel a path down the long side, then alternately shovel rows from each side of the path. That leaves me with what you see here, a bunch of narrow rows of snow on either side of the main path. The pattern, the repetition, the work...kind of a Zen thing...
Then I push these rows of snow closer and closer to the edge of the pond. By the time I called it a night in the fading twilight, all of the snow was probably within 8 feet from the edge of the pond. I intend to go out first thing in the morning, before the sun has a chance to crust these windrows over.
The ice beneath is the smoothest, clearest ice I have ever had the pleasure of shoveling the snow off of. (Grammar check please!) The snow was a light, fine crystalline powder, so it was easy to move it. Because of that, I cleared probably the largest total area I have ever done. Tomorrow's temps are forecast to top out above freezing, so it should be a great day for the first family skating outing of the year.
3 comments:
Wow. And I was just marveling this morning about how most of the top of one of our ponds had frozen over. Nowhere near enough to ice-skate on. Not that you could find a pair of those for sale within 500 miles of here...
Actually I have seen ponds freeze over (like yours) only once in my life here in Alabama!
Yay, pond skating! I've had a few good experiences with that over the years, including some stock-pond skating in Kansas. No clear ponds near where we live right now, but it IS a great thing about MN living, isn't it? Have fun!
rurality- people are also ice fishing now, believe it or not! I don't know if they're driving out, though. I still wouldn't.
gtr- the kids and I had a blast today. I grew up ice skating, mostly thanks to my grandpa who would drive his tractor out in front of their lake place and clear off a skating rink. My dad also enjoyed skating across the lake when there was new ice and no snow...maybe he still does.
Post a Comment