The funny thing is - when I look at the house foundation - how much foundations is exposed between ground and bottom of brick siding - it all looks even to me. There is no way there is a 6" or more difference between the 2 ends of the house. So it still really surprises me that our yard is so unlevel. When it rains, we never notice precipitation draining towards our driveway. Not sure if we are going to try again this year. The whole thing is covered with snow right now. We never took it apart - I just drained it before we got that storm. So to start over we would need to first disassemble what we have. We originally installed it shortly after Thanksgiving. On a relatively nice day. But we didn't lay out the tarp then - I was concerned about potential branches falling. Or neighborhood dogs running through it. And if you get a hole in your tarp, the tarp is useless. And we didn't level it then. Since we weren't sure where the frame would need to be leveled. And we have no means of checking the leveling over the 34 foot span. (And in hindsight, I would have leveled the wrong places!) The manufacturers instructions say to wait until you are filling the rink to lay the tarp, and they say to level it as you fill it. I just never dreamed that our front yard was on such a slope. We own the rink now. In huge letters all over the box there are huge caution signs saying that you cannot return the tarp after you open it. So make sure your yard is level before you open the tarp. And I'm reading it saying Duh, how does someone not know if their yard is level or not. So I guess I'm that huge Duh! My daughter is a skater, so I justified the purchase of this rink by telling myself that I wouldn't have to pay for practice ice time over the winter months. But instead I just bought ice time for January and February. The world is full of good intentions.

Thank you, Jane. Yes, it snowed again last night, and more expected tonight to add to the stuff that was still there! Thank you , Lynne. I love that cloth too, I have had it for years! Jeanne, yes, doll Baby must have a cloche. CTS had the little butter cloches for 1.50! Karen, yes the skates are from CTS. I was hesitant to buy them. They are breakable so may be a problem to store! Candy, Hans Brinker was a fave of mine. I remember getting it in 4th grade from my aunt, and couldn't put it down! Luvs, none of your comments show up on my blog. But thank you for trying. Did they show up on OA's? Frou, too funny your DH looks as mine never does! Thank you all for taking the time to comment! :)

Crafty, Your skate looks so pretty too! Very festive looking. I think I would be very comfortable in your home--we both seem to like oak and crafts, and florals! Love the pinecone swag too--did you make it? Bet my chances of finding an ice skate in So. Calif would be pretty slim, don't you? Still I am going to make it a point to watch for them now after seeing how you and Frances have decorated them. Thanks for sharing. Luvs

I had a similar problem. I was loosing too much heat to the attic and that caused premature melting on the roof giving ice dams and huge icicles. A couple of years ago when I re-shingled the roof, I had double wide, anti-ice dams sheets installed. That helped tp control wetting of the walls, but the ice dam problem was still there. The main problem was too much heat in the attic. Last fall, I brought in an insulation contractor. He found that inside air was escaping to the attic from the tops of the interior walls. A powder room fan was vented into the attic. He sealed the wall tops, installed a roof vent for the powder room fan, installed insulation dams were the roof meet the supporting walls (to keep the attic insulation from contacting the roof and to keep a clear path from the soffet vent to the attic. After the prep work was done, fiberglass insulation was blown in to a depth of 2 ft to raise the insulation to R50. Four more roof vents were added plus 4 more soffet vents. This winter, there has been no ice dams and no icicles. The snow either blows off or does not melt until the air temperature is high enough to clear the rain gutters; End of problem one. I have to wait to see what happens for problem 2. Problem 2 is rain on a roof full of snow. That happens at this location about once every 5 years. My fuel use has reduced. I used "therms per degree-day" to make comparisons. I am 10% less than last year and 13% less than 3 years ago. This is a rough comparison because it does not factor in wind. I have a two story house and wind does affect my heat loss. However, the reduction is large enough to say that good attic insulation is important.