Finally we have ice on Lake Gertrude at Abercrombie! And it is good ice too. I love it when this happens because Abercrombie is so darn convenient. Nora and I can go skating after she finishes her paper route but before it gets dark. Over the weekend we went a couple of times with her cousin Leo.
Lake Gertrude has trees all around and so tends to be less windy and more protected than other ponds. It also does not have houses all around on shore. But best of all, since it is within a state park there are no occasional snow machines, ATVs or other motorized contraptions out on the ice. Nothing like someone doing mindless circles in an ATV to ruin the whole experience, and this does NOT happen at Abercrombie.
However, it does seem that people have been throwing rocks out onto the ice more than is usual. I try to chip them out and keep the ice clear, but this year it has been really difficult. Yesterday I hit a rock at high speed and had a bad fall. Once, years ago, I hit a rock, ruined my skates and got a mild concussion. Another time I banged my knee badly. So why do people throw rocks out onto the ice? It seems everyone is worried about falling through the ice, but I think you are far more likely to get hurt hitting the errant pebble thrown out on the ice by some idiot and having a bad fall. Imagine if someone put sharp spikes into all the trails in Abercrombie? There would be an uproar, and yet rocks on the ice are pretty much the same thing. Patrick
Have you ever thrown a rock onto the ice and listened to it as it skips across the surface? They it out and you may get your answer as to why folks throw rocks onto the ice. The eerie reverberations are mesmerizing.
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