Between Soda Applications

...a little piece of kiln wisdom I've been meaning to share. Every so once-in-a-while, I make up a slurry of fire clay, and pour it into the burner channel. This helps prevent to molten soda that accumulates in the channel from eating into the hard brick that serves as the floor. I did this a few days ago, in preparation for the firing which is happening now. I expected to fire yesterday, but when I made that plan, I had forgotten that the 18th is Doug's birthday. Having no work schedule also means having no scheduled days off - there's no such thing as a weekend in this house. But I made the decision to push back the firing by a day, because it's easy to let life become a never-ending series of work-related tasks. Though there's no doubt I love my work, we need some R&R, to. SO we took the day off to go panning for gold. Or rather, Doug panned for gold - I have no interest in microscopic flakes of mineral - and I took photos, splashed in the Swift River and sunbathed under the blue-blue sky. Here's Doug, panning away:

He didn't find any gold - that's why they call it "fishing," not "catching" - but we had a great day anyway. Here's to spontaneous adventure!