8:40 am. It got fairly hectic out here on the lake yesterday as more people arrived for the big Saturday night luau. Naturally, amid all this activity, something went horribly wrong with the brand new ski boat. Apparently a part that the manufacturer knew to be defective failed (not surprisingly — the surprising part was that the folks who sold the boat didn't send out a warning). John had it out with those responsible over the phone, but there's only so much to be done from long distance.

"Bring it in and we'll fix it today," they said. Which would be fine, except that we're in the middle of Shasta Lake, and they're in Petaluma, over 300 miles away. There don't seem to be any mechanics available on the lake during the weekend, so we're stuck for now with using one of the other four ski boats and two jet skis that are tied up to the two houseboats.

It's more than an inconvenience; it changes any plans that we've made about activities, and ferrying people back and forth to the marina. And it puts everyone in a bad mood, at least until they have a chance to get over it and realize we're still in the middle of a beautiful lake, miles away from our real problems.

So we were twenty-one in number for the luau last night. We set up tables and chairs on the flat area on top of the bank above the houseboat. By the time we'd had hors d'oeuvres and mai tais, it was fun watching everyone stumble up the hill to dinner.

We always eat well up here, and the shrimp and pork kebabs we had last night were especially good. Everyone takes a turn providing a meal, and this was John and Suzanne's turn, so it was bound to be great.

As careful as I've tried to be, I got a little too much sun yesterday. I've been lathering up with heavy-duty sunblock and wearing a hat, and just basically staying out of the sunlight as much as possible. These are long, hot days, though, and the lake is too inviting to stay out of. I'd like to sit on the swim platform, read my book, and dangle my feet in the water, but when I've done that for ten minutes I can see myself turning pink.

So I spent a lot of time yesterday hovering in the shade what little there was of it. I was afraid I'd wake up this morning feeling roasted, but I seem to have come through it all right. I'll still be careful, though.