Operation TCOYS

The Boys did Practice Ice on Tuesday. I was not there. Usually when Dad does Practice Ice, I'll check and reorganize the Skate Bag, since the myriad of skating accessories don't make it back into their proper places and chaos ensues when I take Stitch back to the Rink.


Sadly, I lapsed in checking the Skate Bag Tuesday night. What followed last night was worse than chaos.

The wet skates had not been dried and no one had put soakers on them. Worse, they had been placed not on the towel in the bottom of the bag, but on the plastic bag that holds all the gloves and socks. There were big nasty rust spots.

"Stitch," I held up an offending skate. "These are your skates. It is your responsibility to care for them, dry them and store them properly after each time you skate. I'm not always around to do it for you."

Stitch threw a mini-fit. "Rust?! I can't skate in those! Sharpen them! Sharpen them now! How can I do crossovers? How can I do three turns?"

"Stitch. The rust will skate off after a lap or two, but this is only a day's worth of damage. Imagine if we had left them until Saturday. You think your little butt is well acquainted with the ice now, imagine working with Coach in this crap. YOU are going to have to take responsibility for this, because Dad doesn't know. I can only have them sharpened so many times before they wear out, so we want to avoid sharpening unless they're dull from skating, not rusty from being lazy."

Stitch whined while I unlaced the skate. The laces were tight down to the toes, which told me that Dad had once again ignored my directive to unlace all the way down. Again. This meant that he had fought the skates on and off, further wearing down the padding on the tongue of the boot.

I don't make up this shit for frunz. I don't do it to complicate people's lives. I do it to lengthen the life of expensive equipment. It's terribly frustrating when The Boys either don't understand or completely blow me off. It's sad that I have to be around in order to assure that things happen. I can tell the both of them right now that I am not going to bother with boots or blades any better than what we have if they won't be taken care of.

Okay, so my next project: Operation TAKE CARE OF YOUR SHIT. I've devised a Post Skate Checklist, which will be put on a luggage tag on the Skate Bag.

1. Dry Skates with washcloth.

2. Put Soakers on blades

3. Skates go in the bag FIRST

4. Put all gloves and socks into the zip bag.

5. Put zip bag and Skate Jacket into bag.

6. Check surrounding area for lost items before you leave.

7. Take skates, gloves, boot covers and soakers out of bag and set to dry when you get home. Put socks into hamper.

Sadly, with Boys, this is what it often comes down to. It's not passive agressive, it's reality. If the list isn't followed, then whine all you want about Rusty Blades, don't say I didn't warn you. There will be absolutely no Bunny Soakers in Stitch's future if I find rusty blades again.