Cabinet Shop
Custom Classic Construction, Inc.
Since 1985
cabinets4u@built-incabinets.com
A personal view of us & our business
Click on a year below for older posts
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.
December 20th
November 25th:
Happy Thanksgiving!
November 10th:
The coop is set up for winter .
We have precut plastic inserts for the south and west side to help keep the run and coop area less drafty
October 31st :
Happy Halloween
Starting with an idea:
I hand the drawing over to Jim to work his magic
Then I start to decorate
I am on my way!
I bought boxes of Animal crackers for the treats this year.
Every adult had a fond memory to share about their childhood and eating those tasty little cookies.
A few Night time photos:
Day #10
Ready for winter
End of Day #7
End of day #4
End of day #2
Pick up the first load of lumber and the build begins.
Sept 27th
The crusher run spread out and leveled
Sept 5th
September:+
Time to start the Kubota Run-in shed .
We will need to take down the Maple tree and order a load of crusher run for the base layer
Red Haven are starting to ripen
August:
Garden is doing great
Our new 2021 Ford Ranger
July 4th
Toby Keith - Happy Birthday America
June 17th
It is hard to believe it has been 14 years since we were blessed with the birth of my nephew's boy Matthew
Happy Birthday Matthew!
Update on the Greenhouse:
Yellow Beets
Pickling Cucumbers
Mini Melons:
Cantaloupe and Watermelon I will train them to the trellis
Eggplant:
Peas:
Carrots
Tomatoes and Onions
Kohlrabi:
Cabbage:
Close up of the beautiful Empress of India Nasturtium:
Black Oil Sunflower:
June 14th
June 6th
A walk around the pond
Minnows are thriving but still no sign of the 75 Yellow Perch we stock in November of 2019
Green Heron is a daily vistor to our pond
Bull frogs are getting very big! Their evening songs are loud
May 28th
Everyone always asks "What are your plans for memorial weekend?" Most answers include family picnics, heading to the lake, opening the pool or some sort of fun in the sun with family and friends.
Instead of looking at the up coming weekend as simply the start of summer and date that says you can start wearing white please include in those reasons why it is a National holiday
Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country.
May 30th (Decoration Day) was the day set aside to honor over 620,000 men that died in the Civil War. That is more than any other war in American history.
Now of course in stead of it being a single day of remembrance it is a 3 day party weekend and the date was changed to the last Monday in the month I encourage you to recite the Pledge of Allegiance ,put a flower or flag on a grave, say a prayer and to stop at 3:00 PM and take part in a moment of quiet remembrance.
God Bless the UNITED STATES of America and those that gave the ultimate to keep us safe!
May 23rd
Finally an organized Tool shed for the greenhouse:
The Potatoes have already started to bud:
An insightful Youtube Video
Click on link below.
Where have all the carpenters gone? (Why The Trade Labor Shortages is Only Beginning....)
May 22nd
We have running water !
Yesterday we painted what should be the final coat on the cabinetry in the shop. We pray no runs or defects so we can stay on schedule.
I even watered the greenhouse Everything was really thirsty!
We both took a LONG shower and called it a day.
May 19th
Should I title this:
Things continue to challenge us
or
Just another day on the homestead.
Our latest news: It is now Day 5 with no water!
The spring well stopped working on Saturday morning.
When we opened the door we found the control box had fallen into the well after the board it was mounted to gave way from rot.
100% our fault that was a maintenance issue we failed to keep up with.
Monday morning I called Provost Brothers, Inc. Dick's grandfather dug our spring well in in the mid to late 60's.
Fortunately he had the control box in stock unfortunately he was booked and was not going to be able to come out so we ran to pick it up and our neighbor who is an electrician offered to installed it.
Unfortunately that did not solve
the problem and since working on a well is beyond our scope of knowledge I
called Dick again. He is trying to locate the 115 volt pump we will need to
replace the existing one.
Also another bit of news we have a bear that in lives in the area and has decided to make us part of his (or her) weekly walk-about rather than the normal twice a year visit Spring for wild black caps and autumn for apples and grapes.
It has attacked two of our empty bird feeders over a the last month so we put them up for the summer. We pray he doesn't find out how easy it would be to enter the greenhouse
On the positive side... It is kind of cool to catch him on the trail cam!
Here is a couple of videos I caught on our service road
https://lunatique.smugmug.com/Other/Critters/n-zQWJw2/i-QGBFcp2/A
https://lunatique.smugmug.com/Other/Critters/n-zQWJw2/i-5xcMHFM/A
May 10th
With the repair completed on our system we have been "re-learning" how to use it .
ALL of our "GO TO" settings are not working
We continue to work on obtaining our signature hand rubbed finish that we have come to expect on our cabinetry. After several days of frustrating attempts we are finally getting close.
The Greenhouse is doing well considering the cool cloudy days we have been experiencing lately.
Spinach : I can harvest enough to add to our salads everyday now
The Broccoli is starting to form heads.
The cooler weather along with a slight breeze has kept the nasty Black Flies away giving Jim time to work on the Tool shed.
The roof and windows are installed and the batten boards started
May 5th
Gardening Update:
Today marks our first harvest out of the greenhouse
Iceberg Lettuce:
This head will be the base for our salad tonight
Beets
I will add a few of the tender leaves off the beets in our salad
Spinach
Our main course for dinner tonight I am making a batch of Greens and Beans
North wall first planting of Cauliflower, Cabbage, Broccoli and Kohlrabi
Kohlrabi is starting to bulb
2nd planting of head lettuce
Close up a baby head that is already forming
Potatoes are growing quickly
Carrots are up and Jim is starting to thin them.
2nd planting of 4 -Cauliflower 6 -Cabbage and 3- Kohlrabi
6- San Marzano 6- Rutgers 6- Mortgage Lifter and 2 Beef Steak Tomato plants and the onions are starting to take off.
May 1st
April 18th
Greenhouse update:
April 7th
My nephew's Daughter turns 11 today
Happy Birthday Leah!
March 27th
Greenhouse update:
Transplanted the young beets
Kohlrabi , Cauliflower and Cabbage
Kohlrabi ,Broccoli and Cabbage:
Peas are up:
Started to Transplanted a few of the onion seedlings
March 23rd
After a session of "catch and fetch" Ruby and Jasper enjoy a short rest in the shade.
While Aggie, Lucy, Ceeyou and Gimpy enjoy a walk about in the sunshine.
March 17th
"May your Troubles be less.
And your Blessings be more.
And nothing but Happiness come through your door"
This is the first Gator run on St Patrick's day in six years. Over the past few years the weather was not conducive for me to make the 1- 1/2 mile loop.
This year we were blessed with nice weather, a little sunshine and thankfully no big March winds. My inflatable leprechaun can be a real problem with wind.
Everyone was ready to spend a " socially safe" driveway visit over an Irish Cream. a cupcake and a Harp's Beer.
We toasted to spring being around the corner and looking forward to the day we no longer are mandated to wear a mask.
March 14th
I spent a few hours in the greenhouse cleaning the tool room and I decide to keep a section of each perennial in the greenhouse.
I trimmed each one and replanted them into 22 qt 1/2 barrels
Lavender
Thyme
Oregano
We can see the floor once again in most of the tool room
This is my organized mess.
It is the best I can do until we build the shelves and potting bench.
March !2th
Planted carrots
March 8th
Planted peas
March 7th
We are done and ready to start planting
March 5th
We are both exhausted.
It has been 2 weeks and we still have another box to build, 2 to fill and one more area to dig out. Then we can retire the shovels and move on to re-plumbing the drip irrigation system.
Jim dry fit the new asparagus bed. I like it very much. Clipping that corner opens up the walk way.
March 4th
More of the same building charring and filling boxes.
We calculated that when all is said and done we will have moved 24 yards of soil one shovel full at a time.
March 3rd
Removed the rest of the soil and then using the little electric tiller we leveled off the north wall .
By the end of the day we installed 3 of the boxes and filled them with sifted soil.
March 2nd
Time to work on the north wall First thing to do is move everything over to the south side.
Cut the blackberry canes and moved the plants into a barrel until we can plant them outside
Also dug out the asparagus bed.
The roots were very well developed and it turned into a major project. The crowns will be returned to the bed once it is redone.
Lots of frozen soil to deal with so it was a slow go
March 1st
Added another tractor This time we bought an enclosed cab Kubota L4330 It has both heat and air conditioning
Garlic bed is done
February 27th
North East section of the center bed is done
February 26th
Ran for more lumber and bought a Kubota (more on that later)
I did not work in the greenhouse but Jim did.
He charred 3 sections of 12 ft X 12" and a 5 ft X 12" for the southeast side of the center bed.
Northeast section removed and ready for install of new boards.
He also dumped the manure out of the buckets It is still frozen but hopefully will thaw faster in the beds.
February 25th
Except for the removal of a small bed on the end of the run ( it is still frozen solid) the south run of beds are done and ready for a layer of composted manure which is still frozen solid in the barrels..
The south and east side of the center bed is ready for new boards. There is no need to remove the soil. The weeds are manageable The beds just need to be amended with peat moss and manure.
February 24th
Started the day with a trip to Altamont Agway to pick up 12 - 3.8 cu. bales of peat moss
Raked the pea stone out to level the walkway.
Then worked the rest of the day shoveling the soil into the screen cleaning out the weed roots and stones. We also amended each of the beds with 1/2 a bag of peat moss. 4 1/2 down and 2 1/2 to go on the south side.
We still have to top each one with some well decomposed manure, The manure was moved into the greenhouse a few days ago but as of now it is still frozen solid.
The north center bed is almost back to level.
Tomorrow we will tackle this mess which coming from the south west corner of the greenhouse has lots of frozen chunks to deal with.
February 23rd
All of the boxes are charred and ready to install.
Laid out out the weed barrier and Jim started installing the new beds.
I followed by screening the soil back into the beds.
February 21st -22nd
The last 2 out of the last 4 beds were frozen making for a long process. I chipped away and got it done
The lavender plant ( 1ft by 2 ft block )was frozen solid. It was so heavy it took the two of us to carry it to the center bed.
The Lavender along with the Thyme and Oregano plants will be moved to the edge of orchard in the spring.
In the meantime Jim kept building boxes
February 20th
Ran for enough lumber to do the south wall. The bed boxes are going to built using a double stack of 2" X 6 ft pine
All the materials are inside and ready to go"
Jim assembled the first box
Then burnt the inside edge, the first few inches of the outside at ground level and bottom of the box,
The process is called Yakisugi also known as Shou Sugi Ban which translates to "Heat with fire" The purpose is to keep the wood from rotting and is a deterrent to insects.
Over all it is to help prolong the life or the wood. We do not want to have to ever replace the beds again.
February 19th
Time to replace the frames on the raised beds in the greenhouse, They are going on 11 years and showing major signs of rot
First thing to do is dig out all topsoil and the pea stone between the beds
We mounded the soil into the center bed. It will get sifted and amended as we shovel it back into the beds
In just a couple of hours we were able to get half of the south side ready for the rebuid
February 8th
It is days like today that remind me of how much my Mom and Dad enjoyed winter. No wind with crunchy snow under my feet a beautiful sunny blue sky and no where I had to be. A day to work on outside chores, play with the dogs and listen to the birds.
February 6th
Started the day by baking some rolls:
I used my favorite recipe FRENCH BREAD or CRUSTY ROLLS on our RECIPE page:
Spend a few hours in the shop working on projects I have put off for too many years.
Finished grinding off years of surface rust off of our little wrought iron porch lamp.
Then moved on to grinding off the surface rust a plant stand Jim made for me when he first purchased his oxy acetylene torch set up in 1978.
Both projects are ready for paint.
And lastly spend an hour gently chipping off peeling paint on my "Nana's" very comfortable rattan porch chair ( dating back to the the early 1900's).
My sister has the end table that went with it.
February 2nd:
When the storm wrung itself out we ended up with 13 inches of snow.
January 30th
Looks like I have a great germination rate on the onion seeds"
January 28th:
Onion seeds are already starting to germinate
I do hope that this means we are going to have a productive growing season.
More pepper seeds have popped:
Happy little seedings :
Cauliflower, Cabbage, Broccoli, Kohlrabi and Iceberg Lettuce
While outside winter is still very much here:
I apologize for the "not so great" picture.
I only ventured as far as the deck to snap it this morning.
January 23rd
Back to work on the Tool shed.
We finally got our lumber for the siding
We recycled the old garage door window section that has been stored in the attic over the shop for 30 years.
The window swings up to a eye hook on the ceiling.
Still have lots to do but we are making forward progress once again.
Back in the house The seedlings are starting to germinate:
Once the lettuce gets it first true leaves I will plant another 6 pack to keep a constant supply this spring.
I also always plant my pepper seeds Very early since it takes them forever to start to germinate. To my surprise I have a few starting to come up:
Yesterday I planted Wala Wala , Ruby Red and (new to me) Cebolla Granex onion seeds:
January 15th
During the waxing moon (aka New Moon ) it is time for me to plant some above ground cool weather vegetables seeds.
January 1st
Happy New Year!
