Frozen Stones Jan 1 2009

[Detroitpete]

You western boys have ALL the fun! Hey wait, I've been practicing here in Michigan since my season ended. My stones have been frozen since October ;-)

Have a blast--throw hard!

[Ryan Nielson]

Probably about 28 degrees I'm guessing and 20 mile an hour winds which seemed to make it feel MUCH more cold. We had a little practice and quite a few guys showed up. We were pretty freaking cold. Tossing the caber is a totally new experience in cold like that. It's been rained on, snowed on and then frozen solid they all felt much heavier, and the pain on your hands, joints, face makes throwing it much less enjoyable. I threw the hammer pretty good, didn't measure it but I am not far off my best numbers at all on that. All the other events felt a bit awkward and the sheaf was pathetic like it usually is. It was funny watching the creative ways people were trying to stay warm and get a practice in. It was really fun to be able to have a practice again after so long though. I heard we will have a few guys coming from California and Oregon area competing in this. I don't know if they are used to cold weather I hope they have fun. I will try to get a lot of pictures of this event for sure.

The real highlight will be to toss a caber on the first day of 2009. I heard we will probably be getting a large canvas tent with a wood burning stove put in it so we can go in and warm up for a bit between throwing. Life is good. See ya.