Britt and I used birch plywood to refinish a few of the floors in the house. The wood was so pretty that we could not bring ourselves to throw away the larger scraps. Britt kept them neatly stacked in a corner for about 1.5 years until we finally came up with the idea to make […]
Kayaking on Big Pond
As a gear geek, I was super intrigued a few years ago when I first learned of Oru’s foldable kayaks. As a New Yorker, I was also very skeptical about how great it could actually be. The fact that Oru did not fold/go under (pick your pun) after its first year of existence, but instead […]
Some Birds Redux
The lens doubler that I mentioned over here arrived at some time in April (I believe). These are some additional photos from when the feeder was in the tree (while it was still too cold for bears to be out). Even though I only get a f/5.7 max aperture, I’m still pretty happy with the […]
Catskills Fire Tower Challenge
During the warmer months, we try to get in at least one hike per weekend. Britt has spent a fair amount of time researching trails for us to explore (she is an official forest steward of the Delaware Wild Forest, haha). One thing that Britt discovered is that there are various “challenges” involving the completion […]
April (snow) Showers!
Our local ski mountain closed their lifts for the season about two weeks ago. Between then and now, we experienced few days where the temps peaked in the 70s. It was definitely feeling like spring. Then last Monday night it started flurrying and we woke up the next morning to about a foot of snow. […]
Some Birds
Though, I have never considered myself a “birder,” I have always enjoyed watching and photographing birds. My office in the Highmount House offers a second story western view, as well as a northern. I got really lucky almost right off the bat with a handful a owl sightings. The longest lens that I own is […]
Not Catskills
We recently took a trip out west to some mountains that are slightly (~5x) taller than the Catskills to hang with our peoples that we have not seen since pre-pandemic times. Here are some snaps.
Kitchen!
We tore the entire kitchen out. It was easy compared to the bathroom reno. Watch the cabinets disintegrate here: Kitchen Demo Final.mp4 from Jacob Breinholt on Vimeo. Compared to the big bathroom, the kitchen felt like a breeze. However, it was not a small price tag job. Custom cabinets are expensive, as are new appliances. […]
Big Bathroom Update
Now that we have gutted the entire upstairs bathroom, it feels appropriate to post a little update on the downstairs bathroom, the big bathroom. It’s 100% in use now, and it’s glorious! The shower is big as hell, and we’ve even gone as far as adding a little bit of color here and there. We […]
Pre-tile Work on the Downstairs Shower
Getting the shower box to the point that it was actually ready for tile was quite a process. After installing all of the plumbing, we had to create the cement pad for the floor, hang cement board, and waterproof the whole thing. Here is a timelapse video of that process with some corny narration- downstairs […]