Day 13 - No Hockey???

I really don't like cancelling hockey, but it's happened.  I really, really don't like missing a game, but it's hard enough to get people to come out, so when there are no goalies at all then it's really not worth it.  I still don't like it!  I was surprised there were no goalies though.  We usually have one, even if that one is not the guy I work with.   Oh well - I shouldn't be bitter.

What I didn't do today was make it to the gym.  I ended up taking a whole lot longer getting to work than I thought I would, but mainly because I took awhile to get started.  Shoveled half the driveway because I was worried everything might freeze up later today.  Someone finished it for me sometime during the day, but wife doesn't know who.  Snowblowers are such toys - can just clean one!  Driveway that is.  My delays were nothing to those who had to travel the actual highways, especially the 401.  The consensus was that people either over or under-compensate for the weather.  My contention is that people can generally make one adjustment per day, so if they get it through their heads to slow down and drive carefully in the snow squalls, they can't speed up in the bare-dry sections later on.

I was really wondering what hockey would be like tomorrow, as it's supposed to be pretty cold overnight.  Forecast calls for -18 C, but it might get colder.  It's -12 now, but -19 with the wind chill.  It's the first time it's been really cold this winter, although there were a few times I felt pretty cold because of the wind.  Anyway, the cold temperatures overnight help the rink we use to freeze better.  The cold would not help my new skates fit better, I think, and that is what I was curious about.  Plus I need to put more time into those skates so they will fit better!

The cold weather reminds me of the episode of Mythbusters where they were testing winter-related items.  That episode truly showed how very, very Californian they all are.  They doubted the tongue-sticking-to-flag-pole myth.  I guess the "tongue stuck on chain link fence" that I remember from being a kid just doesn't sound as cool.  Then they tested cars-on-ice  and avalanche myths.  The avalanche bit was pretty wrong.  It was obvious they wouldn't be able to trigger one.  Now if they were in BC this month, totally different story.  They've had so much trouble there because there was a cold snap with some snow first, followed by warmer and wetter snowfall in massive amounts.  In other words, big heavy snow on top of smooth, frozen ice pellets.  A snow conveyor if you will.  When you get a couple of metres on top of those ice-bearings, things flow in a hurry.  I guess you don't realize how much you know about something, like ice, snow and winter, until you see people who know so very little.  One thing I can't criticize in any way is the avalanche safety team, how Adam and Jamie got to use a proper tool to make the mountain safer - dynamite thrown from a helicopter.