Frozen Pond

Memories and musings by and on a semi-solid body of water. Plus, a cat has her first encounter with ice.

MUSIC:

• “Music Box Theme” by Kevin MacLeod
  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
• “Infinite Wonder” by Kevin MacLeod
  Released into the public domain in October 2015

SOUND EFFECTS:

• “Game Sound InCorrect Organic Violin” by Bertrof
  Licensed under a CC-BY license from FreeSound.org
• “UHOH” by xtrgamr
  Licensed under a CC-BY license from FreeSound.org

[spoiler title=”Click here to expand and read the transcript”] ADAM: Hello, Earthlings! Today is January 16th, 2017 as I’m recording this, and (ah!) the pond is frozen. I love it when the pond freezes.

The first time I remember walking on this pond was a very, very long time ago when I was a very small child.

MY DAD: Many, many years ago, when Adam was very young, this pond froze to eight or nine inches. We were out there skating, playing hockey…it was a blast. And we had three teachers from Argentina who came to visit. So they were walking out on the pond, just very carefully walking along, giggling because they’d never seen a frozen pond before. It was a lot of fun. The Hoppers, who lease our field, they had a, uh, a box full of skates from the Winterhawks; old skates and hockey gear. So when we were sure it was strong enough, we were out there playing hockey, skating all the way to the far end. I had a big bonfire out here, had spotlights, and just had a big party for a couple days. Hopefully, it’ll happen that way again someday. Today: only three or four inches. You know, maybe five if you get way-IF you could get way out there.

ADAM: A few years ago, I made a video in which I walked out on this ice, and I was kinda hoping to do something more extensive with that again, and really play with it. But unfortunately, by the time I got out onto it this time, after almost a week—maybe a little more—of freezing, the sun was already beginning to melt it. And by the time I got out towards the middle, I started hearing those cracks. And by the time I got back here again with a second person to keep an eye on me in case I fell in, it was cracking everywhere.

This is the spot where I successfully stepped before. But when I stepped out on it again a mere 10 or 15 minutes later, it cracked far and wide, so I had to jump back. And there’s the spot I jumped back onto.

I hope, one day, to have this pond really freeze solid enough, again, to go out and really play on it. Unfortunately, with global warming, I highly doubt that is…likely. [LAUGHS]

But hey! It’s still pretty to look at, and at least the cat is having fun.

While I admit there are a lot of downsides to winter, it is generally my favorite season. I love snow, I love ice, I love the holidays, and one day…one day I will skate on this pond.

That’s probably a lie. It’s probably never gonna get like that again. But I can dream, damn it! I can dream!

Well then, I am a very cold, icy Adam the Alien wishing you a very happy winter. So until next time, fare thee well.[/spoiler]