A huge pile of...

We spend last weekend aboard our boat, roasting in the blistering heat.

When it's this hot there's never any wind, so for relief we motored out to Schoolhouse Bay on Middle Bass Island and went swimming. The lake temperature is right around 70* - freezing when you first jump in but instantly refreshing.

Back at the harbor I noticed this bird.

I have seen it a few times this summer but had no idea what it was. It never comes too close and with my antique digital camera I wasn't able to get a great shot, but this was good enough for me to identify it as a Black-Crowned Night-Heron. You can see his 'black cap' in the inset photo and it has two long white plumes on it's head that blow in the wind. It's an interesting bird. Looks sort of like a cross between a great blue heron and a seagull.

The hubby volunteered to be in charge of a local hockey gear swap/sale this fall and the association had a storage unit they wanted clean out, so Nelson and I drove there today and loaded the gear from boxes into his truck, then piled it up in our garage. It took us 2 full truckloads (and believe me, we were packing it in there!) and if it wasn't for the tano cover on the bed of his truck the boxes would have fit and it might have made it a little easier to load & unload, but this is what my garage looks like at the moment.

A mountain of smelly, dirty, somewhat mildew-y hockey equipment, jerseys, socks, etc. It all has to be sorted, organized, pitched or washed, and man am I glad I'm not involved in that part of the deal! It was bad enough that we had to load and unload it all in 90* heat. I haven't been back out in the garage to see if the aroma is blooming. Hopefully it's as stinky as it's going to get.

I do have some other fun news involving a big boat and air-conditioning, but I don't want to count my yarn balls before the sheep is sheared, if you know what I mean. Stay tuned for more details. . .