October 9, 2014: Day 9

Fate is capable of many things. Good timing is not among them, apparently.

Today was devoted entirely to packing pottery for transport. Of course, I didn't get started on that until after my day job, but I worked at it until about 7:00 this evening. I got all of the mugs done and then moved on to small teapots, petal cups and small sugar bowls. In all, I packed seven boxes that, added to the ones already packed, brings the total so far to fourteen boxes. I bought fifty of them so I think I'm in good shape. Of course, the larger, bulkier items have yet to weigh in. Bean pots don't like to share space so it will be interesting.

Here's a fun detail about this picture. The big red box in the background is the old Rowantrees kiln. It was designed and built in 1976 and was used for 32 years. It had a 100 cubic foot capacity (compared to the 6.6 cubic feet in my kiln). They named it Theodore and the total cost of construction was $13,000. Today you can't touch a kiln of that magnitude for less than $50,000. The yellow target on the front was painted by me. The kiln was originally yellow in color, but one day Sheila Varnum decided she wanted something a bit more striking. Besides, none of us really liked yellow and let's face it, this thing took up a large amount of space. Once we finished painting it, I added the kiln's name across the top (not pictured) and the target. See, the glazer and I had this little suction cup dart gun...

So, the timing thing. Well, family issues have arisen that will require my attention soon. I'll need to travel some distance to do my part in helping out my dad who will be undergoing heart surgery soon. The surgery has already been postponed twice, so my siblings and I are rearranging schedules to try and get things figured out. It's difficult when nobody knows exactly what is happening and when, and all we can do is wait and react when we find out.

So my deadline for being out of the pottery building has moved from the end of this month to As Soon As Possible. Like in less than two weeks. And one would be most preferable.

I see some long days and late nights in my immediate future.

Day 9 down, not sure how many left to go, but let's still say 22.