Every so often the Old North winds blow long and fierce enough to give us some fun with a good layer of ice on the pond.

This past week has been just that. The best of it is that some of our grandchildren were here to be part of the fun. They had not been on ice before. A new experience!

The pond has frozen over several times in previous winters. This freeze though is the thickest layer of ice we have had since living here. It is over six inches thick! We measured it after one of our sons drilled a fishing hole in it. He measured the ice at over 6.5 inches thick in the middle! Ice is thicker in the middle of a pond than on the edges. The edge measured 5 inches, still plenty thick and safe for skating. Cool! Time to break out the skates. We have various sizes to reasonably fit several pairs of feet, adult or child. No professionalism going on out here on this little farm pond. Just fun.

Our greenhorns did a fine job for their first time on the ice. It must help that they have been on in-line skates before, as well as skateboards. Having this special time with them was terrific.

Before we got out the skates, we played on it with our families to get a feel for the ice!

Several days have now passed since I started this post, and alas, the ice is no longer safe to be on. Another good round of freezing weather yet may offer more skating fun. Only time will tell.