LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner
9K views 18 replies 13 participants last post by  Karson 
#1 ·
I Think Punxsutawney Phil is a Genious!

My family awoke, early last week, to -30C with a -40C windchill. I was choked. Somebody told me that The groundhog, aka Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of all Prognosticators, didn't see his shadow. I thought, "This groundhog is nuts!" We should be prepping the boat and getting ready for a great spring. But noooo, now our backyard rink is covered with drifting snow, and the garage doors are frozen to the ground.

I quickly headed over to Phil's Official Site, and realized that Phil did indeed see his shadow. 6 more weeks of winter. Bleh. I shoveled off the backyard rink and got ready for some pond hockey, but then the wind really whipped up. It was just too cold to get the kids outside. Sunny, but bone numbing cold.



Well, I have to think of something to keep me and my kids from going shack wackey ! So a little shop time for all is in order.

Yesterday afternoon, we headed over to the local box store and picked up an 8 foot x 16" laminated pine shelf. While the kids watched Madagascar 2 I took some time and knocked down some pieces for some birdhouses.



Not fine woodworking, but certainly fun woodworking!

It's been a long time since I blogged something, so I thought I'd shoot everyone a line!

We'll see where the kids get with assembly and finishing!

Cheers!

Tom
 
See less See more
2
#3 ·
I just sent you a message thanking you for the weather, when indeed it was Phil that sent it, not my two fine Alberta LJ friends. Where is that pesky rodent when the shoveling must commence.
 
#4 ·
We are scheduled to get 6-8" and the flowers bulbs are about 8" tall and with buds. The tulips are about 6" tall. So I guess they will be hiding for a while or we will have flowers through the snow.
 
#5 ·
I don't think the weather has really changed much from when I was a kid.
They used to shut the rink down if it was minus 10 °F.
We would put our skates on in the dark, climb over the boards and play until our toes froze.
Somtimes we had to scrape the rink and shovel it over the boards but we still played.
It was a 6 block walk to the rink and I often had to carry my little sister part of the way plus skates and sticks.
We had fun.
Dad didnt help . He had 2 jobs.
I miss spittin on the hot stove at the rink though.
 
#12 ·
Hey guys…yep, Buurrrrrrrrd Houses!

Tom, we have room for a bigger rink on that pond, but that seems to be about the threshold that I feel like shoveling. It's a pretty tricky calculation. I start with my snowblower in about the middle of the width. Then I go in a counterclockwise rectangle for 30 minutes with the blower going in 6th gear. That's the size of rink you get.

Thanks for the comments, and yes Debbie, the finished houses will be in part 2!

Cheers!
 
#16 ·
Hi Tom;

That's quite a back yard!

My son would kill for a rink like that!

Glad to see you remember where the light switch to the shop is.

Looks like a fun project.

Lee
 
#17 ·
Well we got about 8" last night. The snow was wet in the beginning and then drier as the night wore on.

It really is bending over the Holly trees and a few Pines as they have leaves on the trees.



The shop made it through alright, just don't try driving down the driveway to the shop.

 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top