Wednesday is a big day

The Phils start the phightin' all over again at 3:00 against the Brewers. Good thing I am working at home these days. Will have to move the laptop to in front of the TV. Won't be much work done after 3:20ish or so when all the intro stuff is finally done.

Tomorrow night we hit the ice for the first time in a mixed doubles game against Derek and Charrissa. So at least we wont be out there long. Still haven't thrown a rock so this will be the first ones of the season. Should really be interesting.

Also interested to see what the ice is doing. Have heard some comments that it is not curling as much as last year but is faster. HMMM....more ice tech stuff to figure out. Only curling one night a year this season so maybe I will spend some time on other nights just watching and figuring out the ice. This needs to be a paid position if I do all that work.

Later,
JH

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

All is right with the baseball universe. The Mets choke away the final game while the Brewers win. It just doesn't get any better.

The Phightins' take on the Brew Crew while the Cubbies play the Dodgers.

It is so much fun to hate the Mutts right now. They are toast and there hopes for next year are not to finish last. They will be many, many, many players gone from that team including the entire bullpen.

One more time with gusto.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

later,
JH

One more game

The Phils win, the Mutts lose and the Brew Crew win. Phils need one win or a Mets loss and they are division champs. The Mets can miss the wild card and all will be right with the baseball world.

In a year when the Yankees miss the playoffs for the first time in 13 seasons, the Mets could have the NY sports pages all to themselves and they cant get it done. Just a great scenario. That group of players are toast until they retire if they miss the playoffs two years in a row by collapsing. Look for wholesale trades next season to clean house and rebuild the team. We could use a third baseman and wouldn't mind see Wright in Phils pinstripes.

Later,
JH

GNCC happenings

The GNCC competitive camp kicks off tonight at Nutmeg. Think they have around 32 people coming in to participate. Hopefully everything runs smoothly.

The big news that is being worked on is the establishment of a Mens GNCC curling tour. This will be a collection of current bonspiels with points awarded to teams that register. At the end of the season there will be cash prizes awarded. Details are being worked on by the rocket scientist and me. All the details will be forthcoming soon.

Early ice at Nutmeg has been a real hit. Team Gemmell has been in town, parts of Team Surka were around and lots of other folks as well.

Later,
JH

Final week

The final week of the baseball season is here and the Phils are still phightin'. Just need to win out and they get the division title. Hopefully the Mets lose a few and miss the playoffs. That would really throw that team into turmoil. Hee hee.

Of course the Phillies making the playoffs will make it a fun October and keep the betting slip in my pocket alive. Still have the hope of cashing a ticket finally for the Phillies winning the series.

Later,
JH

New curling club

Did you hear that the Columbus curling club now has a dedicated facility? Not quite along the lines of this but certainly enough room for expansion. Best of luck to Stu, Hal and the rest of the crew out there. As with any new club, they could use some funds so why not send them some. Don't forget Pittsburgh is also raising funds as they try to build a facility as well.

Off to the GNCC executive meeting tonight in Albany. I think the agenda might be slightly different than the LBI annual meeting. Our agenda as provided by President Andrea:

Agenda- cocktails followed by pre dinner snacks along with more cocktails. The dinner with cocktails of course. Dessert will follow with desset cocktails. During all of this we might disscuss new membership or just listen to the facinating stories from Jeff our GNCC rep. He can fill us in on all the exciting GNCC meeting details. Or...........we can just have cocktails instead. There will also be plenty of beach redneck quoits and Kubb throughout the weekend! Oh yeah, and cocktails!

Curling season really has started.

Later,
JH

busy, busy, busy

It has been really busy recently. Spending quite a bit of time at the club getting the ice all set for the year. Just a lot of clean up type work and of course more plumbing issues. Seems the valve on the hot water for pebble decided to give up the ghost. So, more repiping to do, oh joy.

Got the new blade for the scraper all set for use this week. Yes, another new toy to play with and it should make a big difference. Now just have to wrap up the old one for the trip to Winnipeg to get sharpened. Still haven't figured out exactly how to ship it there without it costing a million dollars.

Also started a new work project which is based in Trenton, NJ. So, have been making a lot of trips down there for meetings and such. Yesterday was a nice short 14 hour day of driving, meeting, driving.

Upcoming is the annual LBI trip for the year. Should be a lot of fun as always. Also will be getting the new kittie in a couple of weeks after we return from LBI.

And the Phightin's are tied for the wild card and half a game back of the Mutts. If the Mutts collapse again this year shouldn't they fire Charlie Manual? Isn't that the reason they dumped the last guy.

Later,
JH

By request

This is the final process, sealing everything in. So, all the lines and paint are down.

We think it came out pretty well this year. Looks nice and bright. Shorty would call it dog shit, which is a term of endearment for him.

The picture on the right is gonna be the newest member of the family. Haven't really decided on a name but "skippy" leads the way right now.

Later,

JH

One more day

Well the last couple of floods went really sloooow. Just too hot outside on Friday. So had to do another flood on Saturday morning and one last night as well. Just being extra careful that we got all the lines under enough ice. But today is scraping to get all the high spots, then pebble and scrape a bunch. Will put the rocks down to cool and should be good to go for Monday.

Ice tech clinic went really well yesterday. I think everybody got something out of it. First time in 30 years that there was a US sanctioned ice clinic in the GNCC. 23 ice men and women in attendance representing 12 different clubs. Lots of good discussion and exchange of ideas.

Time to catch up on the Phillies and hope they can pull off a sweep of the doubleheader today.

Later,
JH

Inquiring minds

DC wants to know how it went. It was stressful but successful. The white went down without a hitch, we painted the hog lines and shut down on Wednesday at 5:30p. Today was a bit longer. Painted the houses, laid all the lines, sealed everything in, just got home.

In the home stretch now, a couple more floods tomorrow and then it just scraping and pebbling to get to flat.

So, back in the chair tomorrow although there are a few minor things to do while the floods freeze. Some clean up, a little scraper maintenance and vacuum the side boards.

All in all a very successful and problem free ice install. I didn't even yell at anybody until today. Not bad.

Later,
JH

Hard at work making ice

This is the hardest part of the ice making process. No, really, this is the part where you wait for three hours or so for the water to freeze. It is just boring. In the past two years as a new club there was usually some project that took up the time. Now, we just hang out and enjoy the weather.

At least today went smoothly and ended early. Tomorrow starts the stressful bit as we paint the white and cut the circles. Both of which we have never done without Shorty's expert guidance.

Thursday is circle painting and putting in the lines. Friday is the final couple of leveling floods.

Later,
JH

Knock on wood

So far so good. Getting a bit a break this morning as ice girlfriend and the engineer had the early shift for the first flood. The engineer brought in the router setup yesterday. What a great job he did. A nice copy of the setup that Shorty used to cut the circles. It will be put into action Thursday after we paint the white and seal tomorrow.

More pics later as Mrs. JHcurl is still resting.

Later,
JH