June 29, 2011 -- In Leech Lake

This morning's weather was even nicer than yesterday. The temperature was in the mid-60s, and would hit 70 by noon. The wind was fairly strong at 10-15 mph out of the SSE, but the water in front of our properties was calm. The sky was sunny with only a few clouds on the horizon.

After breakfast and a couple of cups of coffee, I set out to move several wheelbarrow loads of rock from the pile at the cabin to around the harbor wall at the house. Even though Peterson Excavating had brought in a dump truck load of rock, they only put it in the spots where they had added cable to reinforce the harbor walls. There were still other areas that needed to have rock added to fight against erosion by providing better drainage.

The temperature by this time had climbed to 81 degrees and with the humidity at 82 percent, I was soaked in sweat by the time I had finished my work. So, I did what I always do at Leech Lake when I'm really hot -- I jumped in the lake.

The initial shock of the 69 degree water was electric, but after a while the water temperature felt great, and I ended up spending a half an hour playing and swimming in the lake.

Later in the afternoon, when she had returned from her 6-mile run, Kathleen decided to take a bath in the lake using camp soap and wanted me to join her. We swam between the docks at the house and cabin, and washed ourselves in the water near the dock at the cabin.

After playing in the water a bit, we climbed onto the dock at the house and sat in our lounge chairs for the next several hours just talking and hanging out.

Finally, just after sunset we went into the house, had some dinner and just enjoyed the warmth of the summer night.

Tomorrow it's supposed to be even hotter -- some forecasts calling for temperatures in the 90s. I'm sure if it does end up being that hot that Kathleen and I will end up in the lake again.