Surviving the Heat

On hundred-degree days, garden radishes, library books, and the work waiting on the other side of summer,

The last few days the heat has been quite intense to say the least. With temperatures spiking to one hundred almost each day, it put a damper on doing almost anything outside. Inside, all that I am getting done is reading books and sitting in front of the air conditioner on my days off. Doing anything is a challenge, even feeling like writing. However, I am trying to power through. The trick is to keep scheduling things so you keep moving forward.

The heat has slowed down the wood kiln build. Stacking kiln brick in one-hundred-degree weather would be quite dangerous, so any stacking that is done needs to be in the morning or evening for a few hours when things are much cooler. The rest of the time is filled with sitting in the house with the air conditioner running and reading a few good books that I needed to get to. One is The Self-Reliant Potter by Andrew Holden, and the other is Wood-Fired Stoneware and Porcelain by Jack Troy. Both books have been amazing, and I am learning a lot about each author’s ideas around making pots and the firing process. Both books were out of print and very expensive to buy. The Self-Reliant Potter I was able to sign out of the library.

My wife Rachel and I were able to get a few things out of the garden. The radishes were ready to be picked, along with the kale and broccoli. The radishes were a little disappointing as they grew tall more than they produced. It might have been the type of radish, as other radish plants did quite well. We were able to make a nice salad with a few for dinner. Tomorrow we will be able to pick the cauliflower. When eating from the garden back home my dad would always laugh and say how lucky we were to eat a free meal. But we all knew that no meal is free, and a lot of work goes into growing a garden for sure.

My next big push will be to start creating work for the fall shows. I have at least three shows almost back to back on the way and will need quite a few pieces to fill the booth and shelves at the different events. In making the next batch of pots I would like to have all the pots be fired in a rocket kiln that is fired by wood rather than by propane. I think the challenge will be interesting and fun to try as I continue building Ana the wood kiln.

If I were living yesterday a second time: I would have sat down with the book and the air conditioner sooner and called it what it was, a good day for reading.

Things I am grateful for: A library that had The Self-Reliant Potter on the shelf when it costs a fortune to buy. Jack Troy’s book open on the table giving me ideas for Ana.

If I get to live to be 86, I might only have: 12,640 days left.

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Originally published at Creek Road Pottery

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