November 6-10

The past few days were a classic example of why I operate the way I do where the dek hockey league is concerned. It rained overnight into Monday, I stopped by the rink after lunch and found it buried under leaves. Although we had no games that evening I cleared the rink anyway because (a) it had to be done and it wasn't happening by itself and (b) there was rain in the forecast for Tuesday. When I left the surface was as clear as I (and the Billy-Goat) could get it, on Tuesday afternoon it didn't look any different largely because the winds were out of the west-northwest. The forecasted rain arrived in mid-afternoon and continued well into the evening, the night's schedule was postponed and reset for Monday the 13th. On Wednesday Jenny and I had our usual midweek lunch, on the way back into town I checked out the rink. It was still in good shape since the rain had fallen on a bare surface, had those leaves still been there it would have been a soggier mess than Monday had been. On Thursday I gave the rink a final once-over after lunch, the evening's schedule went on as planned but it wasn't particularly enjoyable. The local TV weather forecast indicated small patches of light mist here and there, it was all supposed to clear out and be gone by 7:00. We played most the night in misty conditions, there were periods of rain that didn't stop us but it was just enough to be annoying. Winners on the night included the Riot over the Pub Dawgs, the Steamers over the Misfits, the UniLords over the Hammerheads and the Kings over the Owls via shootout. Overnight into Friday temperatures dropped into the 30s, during the day we had plenty of sunshine but the winds made it feel very cold. I had a haircut appointment in the afternoon and called it a day from there. High school football began its district playoffs but I am very provincial in that regard, "if we ain't there I don't care" (especially when the wind-chill factor is in single digits). Take care, thanks for reading.