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To prepare for our upcoming kitchen countertops, we have to remove the existing black granite tile countertops. This afternoon, Kyra and I were lounging around and I told her I was going to spend a few minutes working on the island to see if I could figure out the easiest way to remove the granite.

“A few minutes” turned into a two-hour project that involved me, her, Pepper, and Cil and Jim (who are visiting). After removing all the drawers in the island and stripping the trim around the edges of the tile, it was clear that there was no easy way to pop those tiles off.

“I notice there’s a chainsaw sitting there,” you might be thinking. Yep. We decided the best way to remove the top portion– so we could get to work on the main part of the island– was to take a chainsaw to it. I cranked it up (how many people can say they’ve used a chainsaw in their kitchen?) and cut the length of the bar on the island to remove it. Sawdust everywhere. Jim and I carried out the bar, which probably weighed well over a hundred pounds (quarter-inch granite plus a half-inch of cement atop inch-thick plywood).

The top surface proved resilient. As we work on various projects around the house, we’ve learned the builders were quite thorough in their work twenty years ago. Everything was built well, built sturdy, and built to last. But this island was no match for our gift from Thom and Katie:

Some strategic sledge-hammering eventually freed the top, bringing with it some of the particle board and ripping out a few screws. But in the end, we were victorious. The island lays bare, ready for a new stone countertop next week:

I thought that might be enough demolition for one day, but nope, we kept going. Jim and I pried off the trim on the main countertops, and I started chiseling away at the tile.

Jim disassembled all the plumbing under the sink. I hate plumbing.

Tomorrow’s supposed to be really nice outside, and it seems a waste to use a beautiful day on tearing out countertops. So we’ll probably finish the job on Friday. More to come.

On Sunday our friend Pattee suggested we check out Holland Lake and the accompanying Holland Falls. Since the weather was nice today, after some yard work we hopped into the car and headed south. I’m glad we did; it was amazing.

Near the start of the trail, Kyra and I posed overlooking the water. The photographer, who shall not be named, didn’t do a great job centering on us.

A different photographer captured me and Pepper pretty well.

Cil and Jim joined us. Even though they’re both in their 70’s (and Jim has two artificial knees) they didn’t have too much trouble with the trail.

Holland Lake and the surrounding scenery is gorgeous.

There were several kayakers making their way across the calm water. The weather was just perfect, and we wished we’d brought our yaks. Next time.

The trail was really quite easy, and we were surrounded by majestic pines.

Near the falls, there’s a magnificent overlook of the lake. Wow.

You can hear Holland Falls for quite a distance along the trail, but (like many waterfalls) they kind of sneak up on you: you turn a corner on the trail and bam there they are.

The picture doesn’t really do it justice– the first waterfall is easily 50 feet high, and it continues a few hundred feet downstream across steep rocks. Kyra and I hiked up some slippery rocks to get closer.

The spray was intense. There’s a lot of snowmelt runoff, which means a lot of water is gushing over these rocks. Within a minute, the two of us were drenched. It was cool and refreshing in the warm sun.

I attempted to use some dark neutral-density filters to capture more of a “flowing” water shot of the falls, but there was simply too much water– it just looked like a tower of white. More to the point, the spray covered my camera and I couldn’t keep the lens dry. Oh well. I did manage to take a ND shot of a smaller stream along the trail:

And just for fun, a tiny branch budding off a larch.

After the hike we enjoyed some dinner at Burger Town, a local haunt that everyone says is amazing. Our consensus: it’s very much “meh”. And then we spent some time soaking in the hot tub, enjoying sunset over Flathead Lake.

A great ending to a great day.

Exhibit A: Loch Doine, in the Scottish Highlands.

Exhibit B: Lake McDonald, in Montana.

It’s pretty cool how similar they are…

I saw this on a truck the other day. Loved it.

Hah, Linux joke!

Today was an amazing warm, sunny day… I think the ol’ mercury hit 77 degrees, which is the hottest it’s been since we’ve lived here. When we looked out our window and saw how flat Flathead Lake was, we knew we had to hit the water.

A gentle breeze gave the otherwise glass-smooth water a few languid waves.

I took my brother-in-law, Jim, out for a spin. He and his wife are visiting for a few weeks. He seemed a little timid at first.

But he soon got the hang of it, and was zipping across the lake.

We headed north along the shoreline, until I found the dock that belongs to my neighbors. It has their name on it, which makes it pretty easy to spot. Their land is immediately south of ours, so I knew that if I moved out from shore I’d be able to see our house way up on the hill. Sure enough, it was peeking out of the forest halfway up the mountain. Immediately to the north of us are our other neighbors, and they have a fairly nice house. It, too, is easy to find on the water. Here’s our house in the center, with the neighbors on either side.

It’s surprisingly difficult to find landmarks from the water; everything looks very different from that perspective.

After Jim and I turned south for a tour of Blue Bay, we came back to meet Pepper and Kyra, and I swapped my jet ski for a paddleboard. Because the water was so smooth, it was awesome to just stroke gently across Yellow Bay. Wow, what a great day. Summer’s getting closer!

We have a bit of a dandelion problem.

Fortunately this is in the cherry orchard, and we don’t really care if there are a lot of dandelions there. As it happens, pretty much every orchard up and down the highway has a vast field of yellow and white growing beneath it.

That said, I do care about the dandies in our yard and flowerbeds, so I’ve been on a quest to pull every last one of them. A few of the buggers keep popping up, but I think we’re down to just a handful at this point. I just hope the gazillion seeds from the orchard don’t blow uphill to our yard…

We just bought some new patio furniture– a pair of nice aluminum couches. So this evening we decided to eat out. Outside, that is.

It’s a little brutal facing west as the sun is setting. This was at 8pm; we still had at least an hour and a half of daylight to go.

You can’t beat the view, though.

My niece Tara is visiting this weekend with her daughter and son. We’re having a good time playing games and whatnot, but I felt like I needed to take the young-un’s out on the lake. They’d never been on jet skis before, which seems a shame. The weather was overcast and a bit chilly, but that’s what wetsuits are for, right?

We headed over to Bird Island and Emi took a turn driving (with Kyra on the back). The water was so smooth it looked like glass.

Ethan was a little nervous about driving (he’s 14), so he just rode behind me. I guess it was pretty fun.

We hiked around the island a bit, took an obligatory selfie, and then explored a few other nearby islands.

Good times all around. Even when we sucked a rock into Pepper’s jet ski engine…

We were doing some yard work, cleaning up dead plants and debris, and I found an enormous slug!

Kyra was grossed out, of course. I named him Sluggo.

He was kind of chewy. Tasted like chicken, though.