Back to the Pond
Well, I got out of the house and back on the pond. Environment Canada promised us an early, hard, long winter. They got the first bit right, at least. Unfortunately, after a nasty, cold November, it warmed up for most of December and we just never got quite cold enough, long enough.
Now we’ve had a run of fairly cold nights, with the lows ranging between -8 and -16. Certainly cold enough to freeze the neighbourhood ponds over. So the boys and I got out of the house and onto the frozen water.
It’s a lovely, quiet little spot, surrounded by trees, a two minute walk off the beaten path. Easy access, decent size and outside the purview of Karen and her ban on unauthorized fun.
So, after a morning of cleaning and a nice lunch, I took the boys and a shovel out to the pond. On the way out the door I warned wifey that it might be dark before we got back.
Well, it wasn’t dark, but it got close.
My middle boy, who last year would last about 15 minutes before complaining his feet hurt, didn’t poop out until 90 minutes. My oldest lasted 2 hours. And my youngest? I had to call it at 2-1/2 hours. I could see he was exhausted, and knew that if we stayed much longer, when we did get home he’d be falling down tired. As it was, he was falling down on the walk home.
So much for the boys, but what about ol’ Daddy?
Obviously I was out there for the whole time, and in addition to skating, passing drills and shinny with the boys, ol’ Daddy got the joy of shoveling the pond. And it really was a joy, there’s something special about that first scraping of the pond at the start of pond hockey season.
I’m exhausted.
The only problem is, I’ve been a little sluggish about my exercise lately, and I’m exhausted. This was one of those, “Yeah, Imma pay the Iron Price for this one” activities.
But you know what? It was worth it.
I may be basically non-functional tomorrow. I expect to be basically non-functional tomorrow. I know the aches I’m feeling in my back, quads, glutes, feet and abdominal obliques are going to be full on pains tomorrow.
I don’t care.
When I went out, I was hurting, mentally. I was having a bit of an episode with my depression, and getting out of the house, getting some exercise, doing something for my boys and playing with my boys has lifted my spirits in ways I can’t even describe.
So, DOMS? Pfft. Do your worst.
