Now that the Christmas break is over...

[hubcapsc]

I stayed at home while Joe and Wimp and Gordon were galavanting down
at the gulf coast with Punisher and Trout Dude and them...

On Christmas day I went to Rock Hill (SC) for a family gathering there. I went
on back-roads (surprise!   ) and needed to grab a burger or something on
the way, we were going to eat supper there later in the day, but i didn't want
to show up and be hungry for hours. All the quickie burger places that I
passed in the several little towns I traveled through were closed! When I
was almost there, I submitted to stopping at Huddle House in York (SC)...
That's my new favorite restaurant! I got country fried steak and mashed potatoes
and green beans, the place was packed, the waitresses were all nice and
somehow attentive to everyone, the food came fast... I could have
eaten more of the supper feast later that evening if I had just gotten a
quickie-burger, but I'm glad to have a new opinion of Huddle House type
places...

I had a several week break from work, I figured that would be enough time
to make a built-in cabinet we've been needing for a long time. I got the guts
of it done anyhow, I still need to "skin" it. I just make stuff up as I go, I'm a
wood butcher not a fine cabinet maker, but we built and plumbed and wired
our house and it hasn't fallen down or burned up yet, so...





It will be topped with a countertop. The front "skin" will be made from
yellow pine boards we salvaged from an old mill. The side will be those
yellow pine bead boards like on the walll - we salvaged them from a house
in Mountain City in Georgia - that's where Stanley Steamer grew up.

I was busy over the break, Christmas travel, working on the cabinet,
got a cold, stuff like that...

I somehow didn't ride the Red and White over the break, so it has sat
for three weeks or a month, a particular long time, I hope it starts OK
and the carbs haven't begun to gunk... I filled it at a no-ethanol place last
time I rode it... I'll know in a few days, we're thawing out from a (real) deep freeze
here, and it will be 65 or 70 in a few days  

I hope all of y'all got a break over Christmas and did some fun stuff!

-Mike

[Hooter]

Very nice work! As for the bike, I'm in the same boat. I haven't  started mine in about 3 weeks. All of my bikes have a bunch of Sea Foam in them and I've never had a problem  yet. Won't be able to ride here for another 3 months. I usually start my bikes once a week but had a freakin cold (kennel cough and distemper) so I haven't been to the garage for very long.

[Jess from VA]

Nice work Mike.  

I did the same in my small galley kitchen, but I just bought a preassembled Home Depot 7' tall 18" wide oak pantry shelves (with two hi/low doors), and a 24" wide countertop next to it (with storage underneath).  I had to buy some thin oak laminate to glue on the unfinished sides.  The oak matches most of the oak in my house, but none of the original (and pretty rough) cherry cabinetry in my kitchen.  Who cares.  (I had to throw away the brand new portable dishwasher to make room for it, but saved the nice butcher block top to use on my countertop.  Never used a dishwasher in my life, except for storage of pots and pans.)

Anyone who visits my cassa will see that no professionals have been around since it was built (and I'm not sure actual professionals built it to begin with, more like guys who could pound nails in).  

[cookiedough]

Very nice work! As for the bike, I'm in the same boat. I haven't  started mine in about 3 weeks. All of my bikes have a bunch of Sea Foam in them and I've never had a problem  yet. Won't be able to ride here for another 3 months. I usually start my bikes once a week but had a freakin cold (kennel cough and distemper) so I haven't been to the garage for very long.

NO need to start them up I do not feel in cold midwest winters, might do more harm than good maybe if not getting the bike out and running it vs. sitting in garage idling for 10-15 minutes?  I pull the battery out of all my ATV and cycles, etc. say Nov. 30th to near April 1st since cannot ride them much and is so easy to put battery, etc. back in feel the 0 and below temps in an unheated garage is overall bad for a battery even if on a trickle charging system.   For those 4 months,  I have for well over 10 years now and more never had an issue come spring starting my toys filling full of NON ethanol 91 octane gas with seafoam and fuel stabilzer both.  It sure does smoke and sputter some in the spring until warmed up though. 

[Hooter]

Jess, I heat my garage up to 60 in the winter. All bikes are on Jacks so I run them in gear to keep things lubed.  Run till warmed up that way at an idle. Full tanks, 1/3 of a bottle of Sea Foam in each bike. Never an issue either.

[Hook#3287]

That sure looks a lot better than the pressboard crap cabinets I installed today.  Just installed a kitchen that the customer did the buying on.  I never would have ordered them, but they look good installed.

Yours looks like you could park a truck on it.

[Jess from VA]

Jess, I heat my garage up to 60 in the winter. All bikes are on Jacks so I run them in gear to keep things lubed.  Run till warmed up that way at an idle. Full tanks, 1/3 of a bottle of Sea Foam in each bike. Never an issue either.

Hooter, I think you were responding to Mike, not Jess.  

However, I understand leaving the bike on a jack so the front wheel is off the ground (for months) is bad on our inverted forks.  If they are just centered up with the rear barely off, and the front wheel still touching, is probably OK.

Though I'd add Marine Stabil, and Startron or Lucas enzyme for corn gas, if that's what's in them. The doses for both of these is pretty small for 5.3 gal tanks.

I finally broke down and drove the 100 miles round trip with a bunch of gas cans so both my bikes are full of non corn gas for the winter.

[cookiedough]

That sure looks a lot better than the pressboard crap cabinets I installed today.  Just installed a kitchen that the customer did the buying on.  I never would have ordered them, but they look good installed.

Yours looks like you could park a truck on it.

No, probably not a truck, but for sure a Valkyrie.. 

I think well made indeed finish them off with a nice stain and good to go. 

and here I have trouble building a single wooden step in/out of my patio?   

[hubcapsc]

Yours looks like you could park a truck on it.

Maybe not a truck, but the hardware for the slide out is rated at 450 pounds.
We got it 15 or more years ago, and once planned for the slide out to be real
high, but in the end we wanted the counter space more than a tall slide out...



Thanks for the comments, I'm a hacker but it is fun...

-Mike

[The emperor has no clothes]

Yours looks like you could park a truck on it.

Maybe not a truck, but the hardware for the slide out is rated at 450 pounds.
We got it 15 or more years ago, and once planed for the slide out to be real
high, but in the end we wanted the counter space more than a tall slide out...



Thanks for the comments, I'm a hacker but it is fun...

-Mike

I'm a wood butcher and a meat butcher. You sir are no butcher. It looks very good. Just because you do it differently than a cabinet maker would doesn't make it wrong. Looking forward to the finished pics. 

[paulmull ( Wimp )]

Mike,if I had known about the cabinet project I would have cancelled my trip to the Gulf coast and     came down and helped. Sorry just bad communication I guess. Love Wimp

[hubcapsc]

Mike,if I had known about the cabinet project I would have cancelled my trip to the Gulf coast and     came down and helped. Sorry just bad communication I guess. Love Wimp

I sure wish you had been there Wimp, I learned everything I know about making it
up as I go along from Tennessee...



I rode the Red and White today. Both tires still had 40 lbs in them, and except for a
"test bump" for hydro-lock purposes, it fired right up in one button push, and ran
GREAT.

-Mike