Getting the lakefront ready for 100-degree weather

VALOIS, New York, USA - The great summer weather of the last few weeks has given me incentive to have all the water toys ready, all the time. The boats are all working fine, the swim toys are blown up and ready for use. Even the dock cooler is ready for ice and beverages.

And it's a good thing.

The temperatures have started going over 90 degrees Fahrenheit consistently each day and now the forecasters are saying we are going to see 100-degree days - with nearly that high a number for the humidity - for the balance of the week.

It's giving new meaning to working up a sweat. You can do that by reaching in the cooler for another cold beer. (Hmm... good reminder..)

Yoga and bookclub house

Earlier today, I headed a few miles down the lake driving the pontoon boat Spirit of Louise to pick up Admiral Fox from her yoga session which was followed by a book club meeting, all at our amiga Laurie Welliver's lakeside house.

I tied to the end of her dock while I waited for the book club to end, just past Laurie and her husband Scotty's fleet of lake toys: a ski boat, a sailboat, and a pontoon boat.

After that foray, we returned to home base at the Valois Point Yacht Club, took a short respite and then barreled out again down to the water, this time aboard the sailing vessel Panacea. We met up mid-lake with Eric and Tina and their amiga Andrea.

Panacea sails like a charm and might get entered in this year's Peachy Dandy race in August - just a few days before we have to head back to California for our last-ever semester of teaching at CSU, Sacramento.

The checklist is drawn for the next few days: buy three bags of ice, a case of beer, a case of bottled water, a case of beer (oops, mentioned that did I?), snacks and towels to take down to the dock. Add a case of beer to that list. We are talking several days here.

In addition to the air warming up, so has the lake water. I haven't tested it with a thermometer, but Adm. Fox has been diving in for the last five days - and staying in to swim. That means it must be getting close to 80.

Neighbors ready for the hot days ahead