Got Ice?

Got ice?  I've been hearing that a lot lately amongst friends and family.  It seems everyone is making their own backyard ice rink...  (Please click through and let me know if you've got ice, what's your secret?)  When I was a kid, my father would flood the yard behind our house and let it freeze over so we could skate.  It really wasn't a big production.  Basic science, the temperatures drops, flood the yard, and before long it turned into an ice rink for the neighborhood kids!  Today, it's quite a different story.  My husband spends hours upon hours devising his plans, laying out boards and plastic and watering the yard - in the winter - to make ice.  This will be our fourth, and hopefully best rink this winter.  We found out when we set up the first rink a few years ago, just how uneven our yard is.  All the water kept shifting to one side... eventually though we got ice.  The second year went a little better.  Jerry used some pallets under the plastic to level the ground.  Last year, he had a neighbor attempt to level it for us with a tractor... we just ended up with a mud patch and really no ice for the winter.  This year, Jerry and my brother, John, spent some time really leveling the ground out.  They set up a homemade rink Jerry found on Craig's List, complete with boards, netting, lights and flags.  Looks pretty cool... but will there be ice?  He's been watering it, and watering it... the latest trick is to use the sprinkler.  We'll see how it goes!  So, Got Ice?  (Please post your comments below!)