12.31.2019

Happy New Year's Eve!  Hard to believe this is the last blog entry of the year and of the decade!  Looking forward to a new year full of good health, happiness and love for all of us!

We woke up to some fresh snow on top of our icy trees - sure was beautiful!

The painted face frame turned out really nice - Jim set it in the shop bathroom so it could dry and be out of the dusty environment.

He started priming all of the door moldings...

While he was priming, he got a call from the guy who bought the box truck.  He was wondering if Jim would let him borrow the old license plates from the truck.  Uh, no.  Jim was able to tell him truthfully that he turned that back in, but he certainly wouldn't have let that happen.  This guy is extremely nice - he started telling Jim all the issues they were having trying to get the truck down to the Caribbean.  It was going to cost $5,000 to ship it and they first needed to get the truck to Baltimore, hence the need for plates.  They have insurance on the truck but didn't want to license it in New York since they are not going to use it here.  So it was a long conversation with Jim basically listening and trying to offer advice.  I told Jim that they certainly didn't think things through or plan this adventure very well - quite the opposite of Jim!

He did get all of the moldings painted and they are drying...

 Glueing up more pieces...

 Jim also worked on adjusting the molder and it works much better now.

We had an early close to the work day - it was a Holy Day so we headed into Saratoga for Mass.  Saratoga was very busy with lots of people downtown for the annual Saratoga First Night celebrations.

Have a safe and fun New Year's Eve!

High 33/Low 26 - light snow

12.30.2019

We had our ice storm overnight and freezing rain continued on and off during the day.  It would have been a great day to just stay warm and safe inside the house, but Jim had a dentist appointment mid-morning to get a loose filling replaced.  Thankfully, our new tires did well and Jim didn't have any problems.

You can see the ice coating the trees and the little pines trees in the triangle all bent over...

In the afternoon, Jim hand sanded all 85 feet of door molding...

Then in the afternoon, we ventured out again.  I had to go to the post office and to my printer, so Jim was a wonderful husband and took me.  Another beautiful scene on the property, although the roads were coated with slippery, slushy ice.

Once we got home, Jim hand sanded the face frame of the corner cabinet and then started painting...

Beautiful!

High 33/Low 30

12.29.2019

Jim had a picture from his parents' house; it had a little surface damage and had just been stored since we moved here.  We decided to take it in and have it framed - it turned out beautifully!  It came in on Christmas Eve so it was time to hang it up this morning...

It looks beautiful - it not only reminds us of Jim's parents, but the pine trees and the colors of the picture look perfect in the living room.  We're thrilled with how it turned out and the memories it brings back.

In the wood shop today, Jim started doing some assembling of the corner cabinet...

Jim had planned to do some painting at the end of the day, so he wanted to first work on making the door frame pieces in the afternoon.  However, he ran into some problems with the molding machine.  He was all ready, turned it on, and then it immediately shut off and wouldn't come back on.  Time to do troubleshooting.  He ended up having to take the machine apart and start checking connections with his voltage meter.  He eventually found a circuit breaker inside the machine that had tripped for some reason.  He got that reset and started to make the cuts...

The machine just didn't work as smoothly this time as it has previously.  A part broke and he thinks he needs to do some adjustments to the rollers.  But he ended up getting all the pieces formed - beautiful!

By the time he got these done and the shop vacuumed, it was too late for painting and all the clean up he would have to do.  Tomorrow is another day!

We are under a winter storm warning for tonight into Tuesday afternoon.  They are predicting we could get up to 4" of snow but the worst is the potential for ice and strong winds.  They are warning everyone that there could be tree damage and power outages, in addition to treacherous road conditions.  We are again grateful that we have the backup generator just in case!

High 33/Low 29

12.28.2019

Jim started prepping wood for the remainder of the door molding in the house.  He had to plane the rough cut pieces to the correct thickness...

He's prepping 85' of wood for moldings!

Putting it through the jointer - that straightens one of the edges.  Once he has a straight edge, he uses the table saw to cut the other edge to the right width...

These pieces are all cut to size and width now...

Time to get the molder ready for making the relief cut in the back of all the pieces.  That requires taking the head off and changing knives inside...

Making the relief cuts on the backs of the pieces...

All of the relief cuts are made!

Once he was finished with wood prep for the day, he put another coat of polyurethane on the corner cabinet pieces...

Then he primed the back of the cabinet face frame...

 Then primed the front...

Jim trimmed the Formica on the half shelf and is glueing the maple front on...

Lots of accomplishments on a short day - we're off to church!

High 40/Low 22

12.27.2019

It was a very foggy day - a wonderful day to just stay inside!

In the shop, Jim worked on sanding the face frame of the corner cabinet...

He also got the Formica glued onto the half shelf...

Then he started working on installing the next 2 drawers in the kitchen cabinet.  He had to figure out placement first and scored a line and punched holes for screws on the side of the cabinet...

Drilling the holes...

Jim had put tape over the existing slides so that no sawdust would fall into them.  They have grease inside and that's not a good combination with sawdust.  Cleaning up...

Attaching the first glide.  These are the new ones that he ordered online; he likes the quality of these over the ones from Home Depot, although those work well too.

Once the glides were in place on one side, time to repeat those steps on the other side...

Putting the glide in place...

He already had put the glides on the first drawer so it was time to test it out!

Then he put the glides on the next drawer and brought it up!

However, in order to get every drawer fit so that they fit perfectly in the cabinet and worked together took some tweaking.  You can see that they are designed to fit with no wiggle room!  The cabinet is gorgeous - time to fill it up!

 At the end of the day, time to put another coat of polyurethane on...

High 37/Low 30 - foggy!

12.26.2019

We had a relaxing breakfast and then Kyle took off for the big city - we sure enjoyed his visit!

After Kyle left, Jim reacquainted himself with the wood shop!  He first assembled and glued all the remaining drawers...

Then he did the rest of the millwork and assembled the corner cabinet!

Now that it was together and I could better visualize the space, we decided on how we wanted the shelf for the back space.  This will only be accessible through the front of the adjoining cabinet so we wanted to make sure it was usable space but could still be reached through the front.  We decided on a half shelf...

Jim made and is sanding a bulkhead that will be used to attach the half shelf...

How it will fit together...

And fit into the cabinet (although at a different final location!)

Half shelf is made - front is again out of solid maple with pretty beveled edges...

 Jim glued and stapled one side of the bulkhead blocking to the back...

And to the other side as well as the blocking for the shelf...

 Putting a coat of polyurethane on the pieces...

 

High 36/Low 30