kiln plumbing

After reading my problem of not being able to get some of those plumbing parts off the Olympic kiln, John Britt, called and volunteered to come over to help. This knight in shining armor came in a car armed with some big wrenches and the strength to get them to work. We couldn't get one bell shaped piece to move, and decided to leave it, which meant that the extra length of the pipe holding the water column gauge, made it necessary to make another trip to the plumbing supply store in Spruce Pine to get a longer piece of the copper tubing and new fittings to connect the pilot burner.

Yesterday was another, super busy day - spending all morning on planting seeds in peat pots, planting the rest of the pansies and some kale, doing more weeding, dealing with the kiln plumbing, then having to move all tender veggie starts indoors and cover some already planted lettuce because of the expected freeze. At around 6 am this we were at about a bare 32F degrees; but looks like we got very lucky this time.

The new backup fridge is being delivered early, so I need to empty part of the old one and clear space in the studio for it. Once it warms up in the afternoon I need to get the tines back on the rototiller and till the last 2 terraces and the knoll next to my gallery.

A month ago I felt a bit more than overwhelmed with all the garden work ahead; but I'm now feeling on top of it all and think, weather permitting, I'll be able to get the planting and cleanup finished before or soon after the spring TRAC tour.

Pizza margarita night

Yesterday morning was spent driving to Banner Elk to get some plants at Lowes, then back home to do some weeding and get the bean A frames and tomato cages out of the shed.

Then it was time for lunch, followed by early dinner prep - made the pizza dough and got the toppings prepped. I don't know why, but after that, I was extremely tired, and wound up napping for over an hour; and I'm not a daily napper. During that long nap, the pizza dough tripled on its first rise; butit had no trouble rising again and turned out fine. Good thing to learn.

After breakfast I'm going to see if I can remove the old regulator and solenoid valve on the small Olympic kiln and install the new parts. There was no time for the studio yesterday, nor enough time to get the weeding and mulching done on the already planted terraces, so I'll continue that job right after lunch, then make the bolognese sauce for tonight's pasta dinner.