Sheet Z in all its glory.
My adventures in driveway curling. Yes, I'm nuts.In an effort to get more ice time to perfect my rock-throwing stance, I took advantage of the bitterly cold stretch of late December 2010 and early January 2011 and tried to freeze my own sheet of ice -- Sheet Z -- at the top of my driveway in Hermitage. It almost worked.I started the week after Christmas by dampening and compacting about 4 inches of snow. Stomping on a sheet of masonite compressed it, and a watering can supplied the water (I didn't want to use my expensive garden hose for fear of it bursting later from residual water in the near-zero weather). Additional late-night waterings built up a more ice, though it was freezing-ass cold to do. I eventually had an inch or two of thickness. Hack? A piece of oak firewood spiked into the blacktop. Rocks? Three 34-oz. plastic coffee cans full of water left outside to freeze solid. Unfortunately, I only got to try it out briefly a couple times before the next thaw. The coldness that created the ice also made it unappealing to test in the darkness after a long day at work. It had a downhill slope of a few inches, but otherwise I was on to something. It had a natural pebbling, though I was prepared to take something heavy and flat to it to buff the surface. Next year: I'll spray it with a scrap garden hose so I don't have to haul water from the kitchen. That, and hopes that no neighbors are watching the nut next door from their windows. |     |
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