It’s winter time, time to get out and embrace the cold.  For many that’s a ski trip, an afternoon skating at the rink or just a nice walk on a snowy day.  However, a growing number of families are going the extra step and building a Backyard Skating Rink.  Rinks have been popping up all over, and instead of staying inside playing video games, kids are out enjoying the season.  Just search “backyard rink” and you will find a number of companies, websites, blog, and news report on the growing popularity.  But from years of experience those rink aren’t easy to maintain.  The snow has to be cleared and the surface has to be scraped, sweeped and treated to keep the ice in good shape.  With all that effort just to maintain the ice, never mind the set up and break down part, maximizing time on the ice is key.  That’s where Backyard Curling came in!After having a rink for a couple of years, I figured why not use the ice for curling too.  It didn't take long to answer that question.  Curling Stones are really really expensive!  Stones sell for about $600 when new and the Blue hone granite stones used by elite teams, can cost around $30,000 for a set.  Really!! This can’t be right.  After several online websites searches I found new official competition curling stone selling for $450.00, while a used stone sells for around $295.00 (if you can find them).  After spending way to much time searching the net, I did find a deal or two (a complete set of used curling stones, a total of 16 rocks, for around $4,000.00).  Of course, buying heavy stones online, especially 16 stones, I didn’t even investigate the shipping cost.  Next idea was to make my own.  Again after a few quick searches I found a few people with some ideas but decided to go another direction.  After a couple tries I developed my first set ( see DYI ).  These stones are still used but now have New DIY Stones.So with a set of stones and some fancy lights we are curling and enjoying our backyard rink even more….