We bought old windows at a yard sale for next to nothing. I wouldn't advise using plastic up north in the winter time. You will get alot more light into it having glass windows. Maybe a store going out of business that has a bunch of windows or glass for sale? We had a glass store go out of business in town awhile back. One man used glass table tops in his greenhouse. You have to think outside of the box if you need to save money. We used greenhouse plastic in Florida on the big greenhouses and we had to punch holes in the top to let the water drain. We ran propane and kerosene heaters down there. I can't imagine how high your fuel bill would be. I know how anxious you are to grow stuff all year round. I feel the same way down here. Sometimes you just have to take the winter off. I don't mean to discourage you, it just sounds like it will cost alot to run the heater all winter long.

I found this recipe. I would have no problem with this one. If you wanted them more crisp, then you can add Pickle Crisp. CINNAMON PICKLES Ingredients 10 large pickling cucumbers, 2" diameter boiling water 7 cups (1650 ml) sugar 2 tbsp (30 ml) pickling salt 3 cups (700 ml) distilled white vinegar 4 cinnamon sticks 1/2 cup (125 ml) red hots cinnamon candy Preparation Wash cucumbers and scrub gently to remove spines. Wash a 3 gallons (11.4 ltr) crock/plastic/glass container in hot soapy water and rinse. Fill container with boiling water and let stand for 10 minutes. Empty hot water and pack cucumbers in container. Pour boiling water over cucumbers to cover. Cover container and let stand overnight at room temperature. Drain water from container. Repeat the above 3 steps three more times (3 more nights). On the 4th day, peel cucumbers, cut in 1/2 inch slices and remove center of slices (seed area) with corer or knife. Return slices to container. In saucepan, combine 3 cups (700 ml) sugar, pickling salt, vinegar, cinnamon sticks and candy. Boil over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Pour over rings, cover and let stand overnight. Drain syrup into a sauce pan, add 1 cup (225 ml) of remaining sugar. Bring to a boil and pour over rings. Repeat the last 3 steps for 3 more nights. On the last day, wash and sterilize 3 pint jars, lids and canning rings. Leave in hot water bath until needed. Drain syrup into saucepan, remove cinnamon sticks and bring to a boil. Fill hot jars with cucumber rings and cover with boiling syrup (leave 1/4 inch space). Wipe rim of jar with clean damp cloth--they must be clean or lid will not seal. Put on lid and ring and place in boiling water bath in canner. Process 10 min. Remove from canner with canning tongs and listen for each jar lid to pop. Once sealed, cool at room temperature and store in pantry until needed. If jar does not seal, store in refrigerator and use right away. Chill to serve.

Thank You so much.....it looks like I might get my bath done some time this year. It was demo'd in July...so many problems and changes have had to be made. I am so very grateful for this forum. I would never have known about the caulk issue without it.....and would have let them snow me for sure. I am still a little concerned about how the wall will look with the big grout hidden by the new extra thick wall. There is no grout line visable but there is a crack. Will this look ok with a bead of the sand colored caulk put into the crack? .....or will it need something else. I plan to paint the walls a sand color with a faux texture effect to add an aging look. How often will this little bead of caulk have to be redone?

Ok, it's a couple of hours later and I'm calmer :p I finally spoke to my KD and he faxed over a nice diagram of what has to be done, for my contractor. He balked at first, saying he was "too busy" to do anything elaborate, but really gave me a nice sketch (I've used him twice in the last 12 years, let alone the gobs of money I spent there, so you'd think he would stop for a few moments to draw something like this out for me). He explained it to me better as well, much like you both did. For some reason, I had this impression that the sink would be touching the dishwasher. I don't know why. Maybe it's from what the counter installer said to me, how he said it that I got that impression. Duh. Ok, I need a drink I think. We're almost at the end of this and it really has been too much to deal with lately. Hopefully I'll just have some nice pix to post soon and I can stop complaining already :p