first look and when it rains it pours

Finally! I had a night where I didn't wake up with a long weird dream in my head. The one the night before was equally as weird as all the ones I've been having for the last several weeks. I had about decided that if this is what remembering my dreams is like I'd rather go back to not remembering them.

Short synopsis...I was late going to pick up Robin and was entering the 610 Loop in the city driving in reverse, couldn't remember the exit, then someone else driving us (me, Robin, and my sister's granddaughter (?)) going over an insanely high bridge, didn't have my phone, Robin had deleted the map app from her phone, Abby had so many apps we couldn't find the map app, realized I had my phone after all which turned into some sort of directory and no matter how many times I pressed the button it would not give me the dashboard. Woke up. Looked at the time, it was 5:30. WTF, I still had an hour of sleep, I wasn't in the city, and I know how to get to my daughter's house!

Finally got the trumpet flower piece out of the kiln (which is falling apart, the kiln, not the casting). Here it is with the plaster removed

and here after it's vinegar bath.

The small open flower came out much pinker than the color sample led me to believe but it's OK I guess. And the background came out grayer than I thought so I'm really glad I didn't go with the gray blue. And the green tone in the unopened bud is very subtle but may show up more after I do the finish work. I just never really know how these things are going to turn out.

This weekend would be a good time to do the finish work as a cold front (predicted low of 48˚ gasp! that's a winter temp though now they're saying 50˚s) is supposed to come in and not a minute too soon as the air conditioner crapped out yesterday. We had to have an expensive part replaced this spring to prevent this very thing.

So back to the kiln which is very old (at least 25 years maybe older as I don't remember when we bought it) and rusty and the two bolts that hold in the top hinge of the door no longer do that. We have another newer kiln that is not working. Early February 2016 a firing went haywire and the kiln temp shot up hotter than we thought it could even go (if you've been reading for a while you might remember this post) and it hasn't worked since. Marc made a couple of efforts to fix it, replacing various parts but apparently there's a wire that he can't get to that is crucial. We need to haul it up to the Dallas area to the manufacturer for repair if they can and are willing to repair it which I'm trying to find out. It's that or buy a new kiln and they are pricey. I could get away with a smaller one than what we have now which would save about $1,000.

And if all that's not headache enough the kitchen sink is stopped up again, draining very slow, and this time I'm calling the plumber on Monday.

Edit: the AC proved to be a simple fix, clogged drain line which disconnected the compressor so that the pan wouldn't overfill. All good now.