Cabinet Shop
Custom Classic Construction, Inc.
Since 1985
cabinets4u@built-incabinets.com
Those of you not familiar with the term.
A Blog is a weB LOG. A journal or open diary
A page where we will share our thoughts, new ideas, frustrations and information with you.
A personal view of us & our business
Click on a year below for older posts
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I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,
and to the Republic for which it stands,
one Nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all
November 29th
The greenhouse project is well on it's way to completion
Ed Person (Ledgewood Farms) personally delivered the greenhouse and spent over an hour going over the details.
We had contacted Ed and he told us how to determine positioning the Greenhouse for optimum sunlight..
We had our plot staked out level and square by the time the greenhouse parts arrived.
To start we would need to dig 26 holes.
It was not an easy task. even with a gas powered post holer most of holes required hand digging to remove huge stones as we attempted to sink our posts 36:" down.
We managed to do 13 holes in 4 1/2 hours. It was a long afternoon.
By then end of the 2nd day we finished the posts on the north wall, returned the post holer.
And assembled and set the final bow with lights from the Gator.
Day 3
ran for 2 X 10 treated lumber for the baseboard and installed the purlins, ridgepole corner braces and crossties.
At the end of the day We have about 12 man hours into it.
Day 4
spent on our knees installing the baseboard on the south side .
Day 5
spent the day installing the north wall baseboard
Including the bolts for the bows a total of 52 bolts. 26 of them needed to be drilled through the baseboards
Day 6
Ran for lumber for the end walls
Found 6-windows 40 1/2" wide by 53" tall on Craig's list in Perth for $ 100. drove out and pick them up.
Started framing the end walls
Day 7
ran for Lumber 1 X 10 pine boards for siding and 2 X 4 for the hip boards.
Finished framing the West side end wall
Day 8
Sided the West end wall
Day 9
set up on the east end framed it out and started on the siding..
Day 10
(Thanksgiving morning) We finished up the siding
Day 11:
installed the hip boards
Day 12
Jim started building the doors and a cradle for the rolls of plastic coverings
The winter winds have started so we are in a wait and hope mode for a dead calm day so we can install the 2 layers of poly
4 days later
The morning is calm so we hurry to get set up to roll out the Poly
Do not follow Jim's lead
WARNING WARNING WARNING Never stand on the top rung of a ladder it can be extremely dangerous.
Inspired by the words of MHPgardener ( The man that inspired us to erect a High Tunnel)
"Here Kitty Kitty" as the pply was pulled arcross the bows.
As soon as the 2 layers are on we hurry to screw off the poly to the hip boards
Next step was to install the roll up sides and install the windows and doors
We were buttoned up for winter took a deep breath and the following day it looked like this.
At this point we still have the rake boards and the batting on the east wall to install. Unfortunately a storm dumping over 19" of snow will have to wait until spring.
We
set up a weather station to monitor the temperatures at all times . I have set
alarms to go off to let me know when the temps in the high tunnel are hovering
around 32 and when they climb to 75.
There
is so much to learn. And now Jim has an additional 400 ft of snow blowing to add
to his winter chores.
WE
dug out around the baseboards and put 1" X 12" Styrofoam insulation
around the perimeter.
We
also amended the soil, ran the tiller and raked out the beds leaving a sitting
area for us to soak up some sun in the dead of winter.
The tunnel is 48 Ft long by 21 ft wide.
It cost up to this was just under $4,000 That includes the top soil end walls,
doors, windows, stain and the 1 X 12 pine for the raised beds.
More to follow................
October 31st
BOO!
Happy Halloween
Ok let us begin at the beginning:
Lewis Carroll story of "Alice's Adventures in wonderland" was one of my favorites as a child I still have the leather bound book my Grandmother bought for me. so many years ago.
Meet Alice when she was just small. and obviously before she started bleaching her hair.... Ha ha
One sip makes you larger
One pill makes you small.
From pureed pumpkins we grew this summer I made pumpkin spice muffins That I used for the "eat me" pill and I found those little wax filled bottles for the "drink me"
I gave Everyone Breast Cancer Awareness sticky note pads and all the kids got books.
Just before I headed out Jim snapped a few pictures:
The tea kettles were filled with Orange Dreams It has been our official "Adult" beverage of the holiday for years and the neighbors look forward to it.
Some of my neighbors liked having there pictures taken.
This little boy was fascinated by the Gator He climbed aboard with one hand on the steering wheel and one firmly wrapped around his pumpkin muffin..
He liked it so much he told his dad
"Daddy we should buy one but let's get one that has a horn. 
How many elements of the story can you spot?
Ended my trip as usual with a stop at "Da Mayor" of White Road Our dear neighbor Richie.
For the past 50 years he has opened his home up to the neighbor on Halloween.
we shared an evening of gabbing with our neighbors while enjoying some of the finest homemade food on the planet
Since my pies were such a hit I made Hubbard squash pie, an Apple pie again this year but I also brought a jar of my homemade Jalapeno Pepper Jelly along with homemade biscuits to spread it on.. There was a smorgasbord of breads pastries casseroles and appetizers
As always I never have enough room to sample all of it so I choose carefully.
One neighbor made Brie cheese from his sheep's milk. It was awesome.
I arrived home to see my display all a glow
So here's looking at ya
Till next Halloween I will leave you with this
Today is July 29th
It has been a busy time tending to our vegetable garden..
I planted: all heirloom vegetables and all from seed.:
Inside the fence area are :cucumbers corn,, cabbage, Snow peas butternut& Hubbard squash, zucchini and yellow squash, Sweet peppers roma & brandywine., tomatoes ,winter onions Jalapeno peppers, Herbs including ,basil, parsley, Cilantro, rosemary thyme and sage., carrots beets and Yukon gold potatoes
Around the outside of the fenced areas Sunflowers, hale melon cantaloupe watermelon, shallots red onions pie pumpkins and
jack-o lantern pumpkins, and of course my 2 fig trees and key lime tree are at the garden gate in pots for the summer.
The dry weather had caused everything to basically stop growing it wasn't from lack of water I was watering it once a week. I am pretty sure the high temperatures we were experiencing didn't help but I feel real culprit was lack rainwater. And I am right once we got out first rain the garden made a dramatic turn around.
. I am harvesting cucumbers, zucchini and squash every day and we have enjoyed several meals with Snow peas , frying peppers and fresh beets this week..
The corn went from my knee on the 4th of July to over 6 ft with ears formed and starting to plump up.. I planted the corn in blocks of 5 rows deep by 10 ft long every 2 weeks We have 3 plantings.
The shop's projects due for August delivery include:
The best part is early this month my "Invisible friend" and her husband were on a motorcycle road trip from their home in Spokane Washington and included a stop here for a couple of days. As I have mentioned in earlier posts I am a moderator on a Women's motorcycle forum. called TwoWheelFemales.com she and her husband own the site. I have talked to them for the past 6 years via Skype but have never met face to face.
We had a wonderful visit.
It was a great couple of day. We were their home base when they wander up to Maine for a lobster dinner. and visited another twf in New Hampshire.
Jim and I took a Mental health day Their last day with us and rode south as far as the Ashokan Reservoir with them. It was a wonderful day of country roads, and a few breathtaking views.
Our route for the day:
Bikes were checked
I had loaded the GPS up with some nice secondary roads
Our steeds
l -r Bobby's, Karen's, Mine and Jim's
of course Maggie snuck into view just I snapped the photo
Karen and me coming down the driveway
Jim snapped this at our quick stop at the overlook at Thatcher Park.
I snapped this one of him
We stopped at the huyck Preserve to see the waterfall
and to get then each a sticker for their panniers
Saying goodbye at Ashokan Reservoir
They split off heading south on 28A to meet up with another TWF in Middletown.
we continuing North to connect up with route 28W and then to route 30N and home.
our loop was 190 miles. and a perfect day spent with great people I am proud now to call my "real" friends..
Today is May 5th
2012 International Female Ride Day
Since in my world this is consider a legal holiday Jim and I shut down the shop and saddled up for a ride.
He said since it was "
"International female riding
day" he would take over some of the picture taking.
We enjoyed a 4 hour loop around the block!
For some reason we Didn't see one bike the entire time we were
out.
Looking NE from the Overlook. in Thatcher Park
Rock Outcrop
Forget-me-nots sowed many years ago in memory of my friend who tragically fell
from the ledge in early spring of 1973. She would always step over the wall
and sit under the tree.
THE TREE
Another section of the park called Painted Mine had this little footbridge.
That allowed us access a close up view of the waterfalls.
We had rain in the morning, followed by cloudy skies, which open up to those
big puffy clouds and blue skies and then returned to cloudy skies followed by
rain showers. We never got wet. The rain was ahead of us.
All in all a great day for a scoot around
the mountains.
January 4th
Big change in the weather Winter Has Arrived
January 1st
The sky went from coal black to shades of purple then the horizon started to show shades of orange reds and pinks.
. It was beautiful.
I had mapped out a secondary route
just in case we ran into cold weather and or crappy roads after all it is
January in New York.
SIDE NOTE: Neither Jim nor I have heated gear but I have heated grips which I
did use.
The bikes:
My bike can be titchy at times after sitting for a couple of weeks. Getting it started can take a bit of fiddling with the throttle and choke but not today it fired right up.
and well it's a single
cylinder so I can't say it purrs, but it is a sweet sound to my ears
nevertheless.
Off we go Jim snapped this as I was heading down the driveway to meet him. My
chin guard is still up which is why my helmet looks so weird and If I look tall
in the saddle it is because I am standing up.
The sky was beautiful.
With the pollution level low we could see a long distance from the cliffs at Thatcher Park . We noticed there wasn't much snow in the valley, so we headed higher into the mountains and just couldn't resist traveling on a few seasonal roads where we started to come across pockets of the "White Stuff" but the roads were fine and it was pretty to see.
On our way home I stopped to drop of apples for Toby and Angel
Angel was very interested in what I had for her.
Temperatures ranged from the high 30's to high 40's
mostly sunny and the roads were dry.