Having spent a lifetime skating outdoors, the recent article in the Monroe Times hit home with me. My Dad started my sister and me skating on a neighbor's small pond. By high school we moved to a place where the Root River flowed through our property on its way to Racine. Once, a boy with a Ford 8N tractor got hotrodding when clearing snow and hit a bridge. The skaters were a bunch of unsupervised teenagers. They had bonfires and played crack the whip.
I can understand all the problems with outdoor skating. Weather is number one. It can be too warm, too cold and then there's always the issue of snow removal. After moving to Green County we dug a small pond in a wet spot on the farm near Trow Road. The pond was shallow to afford freezing and safety from drowning or having a tractor get stuck. Our neighbor Chuck Pence, a salvage operator, let us use an old post office vehicle for a warming house. We furnished the neighborhood kids with hockey sticks and pucks. It wasn't hockey in the sense of blue lines, referees, etc. but it was a great outlet.
Later we acquired land that had an irrigation pond on it. It was much larger and deeper and outstanding. One time when it was cold we wanted to plow snow off the ice with a jeep and plow. One problem with this large pond was dense grass on the edge that prevented freezing. The Jeep and blade went thru the ice at the edge, along with us. My daughter and I had to walk one mile home to get a tractor to pull the jeep out. After we got the jeep home there was a big chunk of ice on the top of the engine.
I still am not what you call a great skater. In fact, I never could skate backwards until my wife taught me. All three of our children skated and our youngest played women's hockey for UW-Madison when it was a club sport.
As the decades went by and the neighbor kids left, I got a small snow blower to make ovals on the irrigation pond so I could skate alone with speed skates. That means slow speeds but it was a learning transition.
An outdoor skating enthusiast has to be on the lookout for every opportunity no matter where. I skated in St. Paul near a wedding we attended and in Green Bay during a convention. When they still had the Badger State Games in the winter I competed as a senior once with hockey skates.
Next on the list was Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is home to the Rideau Canal, billed as the longest ice rink in the world. The people actually commute to their jobs over the ice which is covered every night with fresh water pumped from large ice fishing-type holes regularly spaced. Even with all this effort, the weather range provided the issues of the bitter cold and then thawing complications.
Another highlight was on a Danube Cruise which stopped near a skating rink I spotted on the opposite shore in Slovakia. Alter gaining permission to leave the ship, I walked over a bridge to the small local rink. It was run by volunteers fueled by their new-found freedom. I managed to rent a pair of skates and enjoyed not only the feel of ice under the runners but all the local color- and club-like atmosphere. When I returned my skates, they gave me my money back. I had skated for free! The money was just for a deposit.
Further downstream the ship stopped in Budapest, Hungary. The bus tour of the city went past a large skating rink. After returning to the ship I had to get back to the rink. It was a fairly long walk but I didn't get lost. I finally found out which line led to the rental area. The staff was having a rough time of it but eventually I got a pair of skates. The place was huge, with people everywhere. They had special areas for those who wanted to play hockey. In summer they used that place for other things and entertainment. One of their famous spas was nearby. After successfully skating I returned my skates and in all the chaos I found out one of my orthotics inserts was left in one skate. I had to get new orthotics when I got home. Budapest skating was considerably more expensive than in Slovakia! The adventure ended with a subway ride back to the ship.
Outdoor skating is as close to nature as one can get but the fine folks at SLICE know that you need a more reliable venue to serve regularly-held events.
I skated one of the last times Monroe had an outdoor rink and I understand the problem. On a brighter note, the last time I skated outdoors was recently when our granddaughter Lily was an upperclassman at MSOE in Milwaukee. Milwaukee County has a small park with a nice rink. It is a nice mixing with public and private. The county furnishes the rink and Starbucks furnishes the warming house. It was a beautiful experience skating with Lily and all the nice people. I mention this not to compare Milwaukee with Monroe but to illustrate how important outdoor skating can be. This is a sample of my skating outdoors.
- Richard Horn is a lifelong, semi-retired dairy farmer who resides in Brooklyn Township. He and his wife enjoy traveling now that his son has taken over the farm. He also enjoys farm work, the woods and anything German.
I can understand all the problems with outdoor skating. Weather is number one. It can be too warm, too cold and then there's always the issue of snow removal. After moving to Green County we dug a small pond in a wet spot on the farm near Trow Road. The pond was shallow to afford freezing and safety from drowning or having a tractor get stuck. Our neighbor Chuck Pence, a salvage operator, let us use an old post office vehicle for a warming house. We furnished the neighborhood kids with hockey sticks and pucks. It wasn't hockey in the sense of blue lines, referees, etc. but it was a great outlet.
Later we acquired land that had an irrigation pond on it. It was much larger and deeper and outstanding. One time when it was cold we wanted to plow snow off the ice with a jeep and plow. One problem with this large pond was dense grass on the edge that prevented freezing. The Jeep and blade went thru the ice at the edge, along with us. My daughter and I had to walk one mile home to get a tractor to pull the jeep out. After we got the jeep home there was a big chunk of ice on the top of the engine.
I still am not what you call a great skater. In fact, I never could skate backwards until my wife taught me. All three of our children skated and our youngest played women's hockey for UW-Madison when it was a club sport.
As the decades went by and the neighbor kids left, I got a small snow blower to make ovals on the irrigation pond so I could skate alone with speed skates. That means slow speeds but it was a learning transition.
An outdoor skating enthusiast has to be on the lookout for every opportunity no matter where. I skated in St. Paul near a wedding we attended and in Green Bay during a convention. When they still had the Badger State Games in the winter I competed as a senior once with hockey skates.
Next on the list was Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is home to the Rideau Canal, billed as the longest ice rink in the world. The people actually commute to their jobs over the ice which is covered every night with fresh water pumped from large ice fishing-type holes regularly spaced. Even with all this effort, the weather range provided the issues of the bitter cold and then thawing complications.
Another highlight was on a Danube Cruise which stopped near a skating rink I spotted on the opposite shore in Slovakia. Alter gaining permission to leave the ship, I walked over a bridge to the small local rink. It was run by volunteers fueled by their new-found freedom. I managed to rent a pair of skates and enjoyed not only the feel of ice under the runners but all the local color- and club-like atmosphere. When I returned my skates, they gave me my money back. I had skated for free! The money was just for a deposit.
Further downstream the ship stopped in Budapest, Hungary. The bus tour of the city went past a large skating rink. After returning to the ship I had to get back to the rink. It was a fairly long walk but I didn't get lost. I finally found out which line led to the rental area. The staff was having a rough time of it but eventually I got a pair of skates. The place was huge, with people everywhere. They had special areas for those who wanted to play hockey. In summer they used that place for other things and entertainment. One of their famous spas was nearby. After successfully skating I returned my skates and in all the chaos I found out one of my orthotics inserts was left in one skate. I had to get new orthotics when I got home. Budapest skating was considerably more expensive than in Slovakia! The adventure ended with a subway ride back to the ship.
Outdoor skating is as close to nature as one can get but the fine folks at SLICE know that you need a more reliable venue to serve regularly-held events.
I skated one of the last times Monroe had an outdoor rink and I understand the problem. On a brighter note, the last time I skated outdoors was recently when our granddaughter Lily was an upperclassman at MSOE in Milwaukee. Milwaukee County has a small park with a nice rink. It is a nice mixing with public and private. The county furnishes the rink and Starbucks furnishes the warming house. It was a beautiful experience skating with Lily and all the nice people. I mention this not to compare Milwaukee with Monroe but to illustrate how important outdoor skating can be. This is a sample of my skating outdoors.
- Richard Horn is a lifelong, semi-retired dairy farmer who resides in Brooklyn Township. He and his wife enjoy traveling now that his son has taken over the farm. He also enjoys farm work, the woods and anything German.
