Required reading: day 1; day 3

By day 6, the ice had completely melted and the water was well on its way into the atmosphere.

Repair work on the sand had to wait until it dried out, so the problematic cracks in the sand were still spreading the ugly.

Since the sand had to wait, this was a perfect time to work on the cooling pipes hidden in the sand.

I didn’t take exact measurements, but the three pipes shown above span (very) roughly one foot.  In other words: there’s a lot of pipe below the ice.  The pipes carry antifreeze to keep the ice icy, and I’m sure the ostensible curiosity of using antifreeze to freeze water makes Alanis Morissette happy because it’s a lot like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife.

Along with patching those pesky cracks, re-leveling the sand was one of the other maintenance tasks to be undertaken while the ice was on vacation.  To make that task more exact, the crew made use of a construction laser level, which they set up while the sand was still drying.

The laser level will see action here in a couple days, but next will be day 7, when the first new sand was added to the rink.