Thursday nights are for the boys around here. When the weather turns cold, we leave the comfort of the cigar room and hit the ice for our own redneck version of curling. This is where we will spend 3 to 4 hours outside in 10 degree weather, having a couple cigars, couple of drinks and making up rules as we go along. First team to 11 wins. No one is scoring? Fine, first one to three wins. We just try and keep it moving and fun. Teams get switched up, people judge if a stone is in or out. Nothing serious comes out of it, just a great time together.

Every year a neighbor in our hood sets up a curling rink. It’s not official by any means, and we don’t actually have “stones”, but we make it work. These are our home made stones which are simply put, two salad bowls slipped together, filled with cement and a pipe fitting handle put on, wrapped with a sliced garden hose as a bumper and lots of duct tape. … And they work! Making the circles? A nail and string scour the edge and then filled with food coloring. It’s basic, but works just fine for us. This is the quintessential if you build it they will come example. Have I…

Just some photos from our Thursday Night Curling league. A total of nine people showed up to play and we spent roughly 3 to 4 hours out in the 10 degree weather throwing some stones. Cigars were had, stories swapped, and drinks shared. Always a great time.

Last Sunday was the opening day to our neighborhood curling season. Coffee and mimosas were served in a very gentlemanly fashion, teams were chosen, and stones were thrown on the ice. We started this year with confidence as we cancelled out scores as per the rules. In past games we just added them all up so we could eventually go home. Blame the ice, blame the cold, or blame the booze… Your pick. The ice was a little rough as we have had some interesting weather lately, but care was taken to smooth it over as much as possible with a propane fired torch. We also found the muscle memory…

We have had a few new members join up – Folks from outside the neighborhood. It has been fun to see this grow. Last meetup we had Vermont Treehouse Beer, hard cider in a pressurized keg, a couple of pizzas, a nice fire, and evenly matching curling teams. Sadly it won’t be long before this is over already. The season has gone by too fast. Looks like next week we will have another cold snap, so maybe that will freeze up the ice enough to have a match. After that, March is coming and all bets are off.