no kiln (yet), no rain (still), no pecans (again)

Another look see at the newer kiln and turns out there wasn't a wire loose after all. The controller on the newer kiln will function but the kiln doesn't start up. There are two knobs/switches that regulate...something...that aren't coming on and unless they come on the kiln doesn't come on. So today he took the knobs/switches that lit up on the old kiln and replaced the ones in the newer kiln aaaaaand, they didn't come on. And then a little wire did come loose but he got it put back in place and those switches still didn't come on. So now he's working on taking the relays out of the old kiln to replace the ones in the newer kiln.

I've had to start watering my two gingko trees. They started dropping leaves a couple of weeks ago and the squirrels are peeling the bark off some of the limbs and I think they've killed at least one or two limbs as they have no leaves on them and long stretches of no bark. I don't know why they are doing that, stripping the bark from the branches but the ground is littered with pieces of bark about two inches by a half inch. Further investigation says squirrels do it to thin barked trees to get to the sweet sap layer or to line their nests and happens most frequently in winter or spring but I've only ever had it happen in the middle of summer. Perhaps they're desperate for food though I put out cracked corn for them and they have access to water. They've done it before but this is the worst. They've attacked quite a few branches on both trees.

And because of the heat and the drought there are no pecans on my trees for the third year in a row and the few on my neighbor's tree are being got by the squirrels. My trees bloomed and set nuts but they only got about a half inch long before they started drying up and falling off.

We got the truck emptied and the burn pile piled higher and here's what the shop yard looks like. 

And the frustrating thing is that twice this week I looked across the cotton field and I could see it raining in the distance so I get the nervous freaky dog from the rumbling of thunder but no rain to at least make up for that. There's some kind of dome over this town that causes storms to bypass us, sometimes splitting in two with one half passing us in the north and the other half passing us in the south. Well, at least someone is getting rain. We all need it.

My turn to make dinner tonight...cheese enchiladas with meat sauce.

no kiln, no rain, no worms, and other miscellania of my life

We've determined that getting the newer kiln fixed is really our only option. The old kiln is old, rusting out old, door falling off old, really no point in trying to replace the controller, a $600+ part, even if that part is still available. The problem with the newer kiln is a wire became disconnected from the harness that is attached to the motherboard. I've got the names and numbers of two people in Houston that do kiln repair and it turns out we knew one of them from way back. So now not sure what happens next. Marc may go over and take another try at getting the wire in the notch to hook it back up but it's so hot in that part of the shop especially with the high temps we're having. I'm for just calling those guys and hauling it in to Houston. I have to empty the truck bed of downed limbs and branches first though which I guess I'll do tomorrow if the truck starts. We don't use it much so the battery tends to go dead. Marc had it hooked up to a battery charger the other day. We've sort of been putting off unloading the tree debris until we burn what's already there but it doesn't look like the burn ban will be lifted anytime soon. Still dry dry dry.

So dry the cotton is shriveling in the fields. It perked up after that inch of rain we got weeks ago but looks even worse now.

I took Lily, for want of a better name, to the vet Monday for a general check-up. She was not happy being shoved into the cat carrier and yowled and tried to claw her way out practically the whole time in the car and while we were waiting. I thought this is not good, she's not going to be at all cooperative with the vet but when he opened the door to the cat carrier she came out and was fine, let him examine her. She's less than a year old, not pregnant yay, she has ear mites which they will flush out when they spay her. I thought she was going into heat because Monday, she was a demon to get out, yowling now and then, so I scheduled the spay for the 17^th but yesterday and today she's just been her laid back self, not a peep out of her, no fighting her back from the door every time someone went in or out so I'm going to call and see if I can get her in sooner.

The other thing I accomplished so far this week was finally getting my email accounts on the desktop squared away. You might remember that I updated some things weeks ago and one of the results was that to make my mail accounts active I had to enter the password which I ignored hoping it would just fix itself. Well, it didn't and fuck all if I could remember what it was and of course it was one of the few I don't have written down so I tried the current, nope, I tried the one before, nope, and the one before that, nope. Well, fuck. So then I googled how to find passwords stored on your computer which ultimately led me to a window that listed the account and a box that said 'show password' and when I clicked on it the box it opened another window that wanted the password to show me the password. Really? Went through that rigamarole over and over, went through system preferences over and over. After about three hours of frustration I had managed to somehow at least download the mail from the business account but it wouldn't let me send. One last try, I opened the internet accounts window in system preferences one more time and typed in the current password we're using and...it worked! Unfuckingbelievable. I bet I typed that password in over a dozen times for each account to no avail. Well, whatever, the computer gods got tired of fucking with me I guess and let me have access to both my email accounts though it wasn't like I didn't have access at all as I could get it through the mail function on my phone. Anyway, glad that's been dealt with.

Sunday, I cleaned the filter to the turtle pond. I admit it had been way too long but when I cleaned the muck off the charcoal fiber layer and the foam layer both were just filled with little red worms about 1/2” long. Ick, never seen that before not in all the years we've had that filter so I set them out in the sun to roast their little hides. 

Went out later to see if they were shriveling up and ants were crawling all over both pieces. Monday morning I went out and those ants had cleaned out every single speck of those little red worms. Good job!

So, I had to go to Walmart to get dog food since the grocery store hasn't had it in weeks, supply chain problems I guess, and I walked through the women's clothing section to get to the dog food and saw this.

What decade is this? In the women's section no less.

A few garden shots...

Spider lily

Gulf fritillary on the Mexican bird of paradise aka pride of Barbados

things were going so well and then FUBAR

Mornings are in the 80s, the coolest it's gonna be all day so I started the sprinkler rounds and Sunday morning I weeded three small sections (in three different forays) and cut back the gone by elephant garlic blooms and the 3 clumps of tired done blooming spiderwort, cut back more of the purple coneflowers and in about 30 or 40 minutes sweat was just dripping off me.

As noted I only got the mold for the top filled on Friday and Saturday I got the mold for the inlay filled. It took me pretty much all day because I spent a lot of time sifting out the finest particles of the size 'fine' frit of the colors I didn't have in powder form as I wanted to use a combination of frit and powder. Here's the colors in place before I added the white back layer. The pink and purple will turn their true colors during the firing and the green should darken.

So that leaves the mold for the body of the box. I've left it for last because I still hadn't decided what shade and intensity of blue I wanted though I had been leaning to a medium aqua. But Saturday night it occurred to me that maybe a pale blue would be better to set off the colors of the inlay. Anyway, I was determined to decide yesterday as I am ready to finish step 3 of 6 (model making, mold making, filling molds, firing in the kiln, grinding and polishing, fabrication) but when I got over to the studio using my color samples to find a good color I just gave up. I think I need to see the inlay after it's cast and then decide so to that end I brought the inlay mold and the top mold over to go in the kiln.

Aaaaand...the controller on our 22 year old corroded hinge and door falling off kiln won't let Marc change the firing schedule. He thinks it will turn on but there is no way of knowing if it will run through the current program without error. And anyway, the current program is not a good one for these pieces. The program/firing schedule in the controller is what determines how fast or slow the kiln heats and cools and how long it stays at particular temperatures. We have a newer kiln that went haywire 6 years ago and shot up to 2300˚ and quit working. Marc made two attempts to fix it replacing certain parts but no luck so we just have been using the older kiln. The manufacturer is in a town outside Dallas, 5+ hours away and they can do the repair if we drive the newer kiln up there. Before we do that we are trying to see if we can get a used controller to replace the bad one on the old kiln or see if there is someone in Houston that can repair the newer one. So maybe not beyond all repair. All this takes time of course so I doubt I'll be finishing the coral box in time for the anniversary show In October. 

On top of that, my jaw was being wacky and I nipped the inside of my lower lip three times yesterday!

What a fucked up day.

rangoon creeper

 

personal stuff and political malfeasance

The white orchid tree has been blooming but it's done now.

I have poison ivy, fairly mild as these things go, on my face, on my right cheek and jaw line, the space between my eyebrows and under my right eyebrow which has my right eyelid a little swollen and droopy, and on my left temple. I'm pretty sure I got it from Minnie who goes poking around in the wild space at the back of the property that is full of poison ivy and then comes and rubs her face against mine showing her affection. Thanks dog.

Wednesday I vacuumed the whole house except for the work room which I swept. Yesterday I used Murphy's Oil Soap to clean the top of my oak table and then used lemon oil. So far that's the extent of my housekeeping efforts.

Lily has shown zero interest in going outside since she came in Tuesday and spent the night in. She's gone out in the little backyard a couple of times for about 10 minutes before coming back in. She goes to the vet next Monday and I hope they can tell me she's not pregnant. She was pretty slim, though not bony, when I started feeding her about two weeks ago and her stomach is filling in and I hope to all the gods that it's the food and not babies. I set up a litter box for her since Tuesday night she used the door mat.

My jar of frit came yesterday so I'll be busy today getting the last three molds filled. Edit: Only got the mold for the top filled and selected two of the three colors for the inlay when a friend I have been trying to connect with for two months called. So, tomorrow, I'll get the last two molds filled and then it will be time for the part over which I have no control...casting in the kiln.

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We watched the J6 hearing last night like we have every single one previous, this time focusing on Trump's dereliction of duty and the violation of his oath of office. Once again the general information before the hearings was that Trump did nothing while the riot at the Capitol was ongoing until several hours later and once again the Committee brought the details and receipts from hardcore Trump supporters and witnesses. Not only did he sit in the private president's dining room watching it unfold for 187 minutes ignoring all pleas from his advisers and family for him to issue a statement deploring what was going on in no uncertain terms, there are no official records and no photos of that time. The call logs and the daily diary are blank and the official White House photographer was told 'no photos' even though we know through previous testimony that he was making and receiving calls. And now we know that 24 Secret Service agents wiped the call logs from their phones for the 6^th and the 7^th and are now under criminal investigation.

Not only did Trump fail to act, he refused to act until law enforcement was mobilized by Pence (when he found out Trump had his press secretary tweet that it was Trump himself who had called them in) and it was clear that his attempted coup had failed and still he did not condemn what had occurred instead telling his supporters that they were good people and he loved them and the recorded out takes from that speech show just how much he loathed having to make it. At this point I'm curious why the committee hasn't brought up the executive order of martial law that had already been prepared for Trump to use if the coup had succeeded.

If you didn't watch the hearing last night, Heather Cox Richardson's newsletter yesterday gives a complete and succinct report of who the witnesses were and what all they said. You can read it here. 

I have to admire Liz Cheney, and Adam Kinzinger as well, for their determination to discover and hold responsible those who tried through force and violence to overturn a free and fair election and destroy our democracy, installing Trump as president when all their previous efforts had failed. I don't care for her hard core republican politics, she voted for Trump twice and with his agenda 97% of the time in the House, but she is steadfast in her defense of our democracy and constitution and laws. She tweeted the other day that she thought the J6 committee was probably the most important thing she has done in her life so far and perhaps even her entire life. 

And while I don't know how she or Kinzinger personally voted on the following bills passed by the House this week, this is how the republicans voted:

209 voted against protecting abortion rights

205 voted against protecting interstate travel for healthcare

190 voted against protecting access to contraception

157 voted against protecting marriage equality

The news pundits would have you believe that republicans are poised to take back the House in the mid-terms and if they do they will vote to make all the above illegal and then they are going to come after Social Security and Medicare. It is essential to keep the House and increase the democrat majority in the Senate so that we can get these protections codified into law now that they are subject to the chopping block since the Supreme Court took the ax to our rights to privacy.

You know what needs to be done. Don't forget, don't let anyone else forget either.

the cat, the heat, the despicable

My visiting blogs has been sort of hit and miss depending on what time I drag myself out of bed and how busy I am but I try to catch up when I can. I had to do the week's grocery shop Monday as we were out of bread and stuff for lunch. Not sure how the timing got off as we can usually make it through Monday.

Sunday I filled five more molds, the crab and the four coral feet, so that leaves the top, the inlay, and the body of the box. I ran out of one color that I need for the top which I ordered yesterday. I could go ahead and fill the mold for the box or the inlay but I think I'll try and do some much needed housework until the frit comes.

So, Sunday morning when I went out to feed Lily I put her food on the deck instead of by the house where she had been hanging out. Later in the afternoon she was laying in the barn and after I gave her some good petting I walked away heading to the garage and into the house and she followed me and when I held the door open, she sauntered right in. She explored the whole house, I put some food down for her and she ate, and about an hour or so later I held the door open for her and she sauntered out.

Monday morning I decided I would only feed her in the house and when I went out she was waiting for me on the deck, followed me around to the garage and into the house where she stayed for about an hour and then went out. When I got back from yoga I called her and she came running, back in the house to eat and then showed no interest in going back out until we went to bed. This morning she came running when she heard me open the garage door and she came in to eat and found a spot under my work table about 3' away from where I sit where she curled up and went to sleep, showing no interest in going back out as I went in and out moving the sprinkler around.

She finally went out about 2 PM and came back in about an hour later making herself comfortable in Minnie's dog bed. So now I have to see about getting her spayed. I don't think think the name Lily suits her but I haven't come up with anything else yet.

Well, it looks like just about the whole world is experiencing our horrible heat. The cotton in the field at the end of my street looks terrible with swathes starting to turn brown. But of course all the climate change naysayer politicians are still unmoved to do the hard things that must be done for any hope of mitigating the warming planet. They just don't get that it's not just hotter temps but extreme weather and fires and stronger storms and rising tides and failing crops. Failing crops! No, these idiots are blocking laws that rein in emissions and help move us away from fossil fuels.

Speaking of which, gas here has dropped more than a dollar in the last month. After blaming Biden for months for the high price of gas, republicans are, of course, silent. Instead they have switched to their other bogeyman, the non-existent democrat 'open border' policy while they continue to block any and all popular legislation so as not to give Biden a win like the one that would bring manufacturing jobs back from China and lower our costs by strengthening supply chains. One politician, I can't remember who, actually tweeted that border patrol had confiscated X large amount of drugs as proof that Biden didn't care about illegals and drugs crossing over. Cited a drug seizure as proof the border policy wasn't working. Meanwhile Biden brokered a deal with Mexico to provide $1.5B to help maintain the integrity of the border through 'smart' border technology.

And then there's this...the Uvalde video footage from inside the school has been released and shows many police officers just hanging around in the hallways doing nothing with an editor's note...the sound of children screaming has been removed. Let that sink in. We can't hear it but they could.

To put a better finish on it, the night blooming cereus has put on a third flush of buds. I counted 17 this time.

what I do with my days, the stray, and pink things

Well, it's been 6 days since I last posted but nothing is happening, nothing changes. I spend the time between breakfast and lunch over at the studio filling molds except for Tuesdays and Thursdays when I'm either doing the week's grocery shop or I'm at SHARE. After lunch we spend the hot afternoons binge watching streaming shows. Then it's walk the dog, though we skipped three days in a row because even at 6:30 it was just too hot still to go out, and fix dinner.

Currently we're watching The Boys. We're enjoying it but I don't recommend it if you are sensitive to gore. Almost the very first scene in the very first episode a body explodes into meat grinder mush raining down. They really like this CGI effect and use it a lot. I guess it helps that our TV is small, only 32”. Anyway, it's about a group of people who were 'born' super, 'supes', though it turns out they were made as babies. All their powers are different and/or similar, some dangerous, some just dumb and not really useful, backed by a giant wealthy sinister corporation that manages them, their PR, sends them on missions only there's a lot of collateral damage. They're not all bad but really there's no way to control the most powerful ones and Homelander (think Superman) is the most powerful, mentally unstable, and dangerous of them all. And then there's an underground group of regular humans, if you consider criminals regular, that has pledged to take them out, to undo them with or without government help. Anyway, the plot lines and characters are really good if you can get past the gore. We started season 3 yesterday.

So far I've filled the 6 coral molds, the five I'll use and the extra. The last one I did though I may empty out and redo the volume measure because I'm not sure it's correct for boring reasons I won't go into here.

What else. We've gotten three little rain showers the past week, probably less than an inch all told or just over so not nearly enough. I thought I had found the owner of the little calico or 'tortie' as they are calling her. I posted her picture on a lost and found pet page on FB for the area and a woman responded that it was her cat, they had moved to Houston, had been back a couple of times to find her. I asked where she had lived and she replied with a street that is at least three miles away and here is a woman you can check with to verify. So I had a mutual friend check with the woman who says it's not the same cat. There's more to the story that I'm not going to post here that convinces me beside the fact that I don't think this little cat traveled three miles to my house. I had another lead on a possible owner from the woman who claimed the kitty as hers, saying that the only other cat like this was at a house at an intersection of two streets much nearer to me. So today I stopped there, picked one of the four houses at random and knocked on the door. Are you missing a cat, this cat, and showed them a picture. And yes they were missing this cat but it had run off twice (got it back the first time) and so if I wanted her that was OK because the woman felt like the cat didn't want to stay with them. We talked at length, yes it had on a collar but she couldn't remember what color it was and yes, no tag, yes it is young, less than a year. I'm convinced this is the owner. I gave her my phone number and address if she wanted to come by and have a look. The kitty's name is Lily. So I guess she's mine if I want.

Lots of pink things are blooming...the begonia, the plumerias, the rock rose, the phlox...

 

short stories, part whatever

The neighborhood roaming peacock was somewhere behind us or the Wicked Bitch of the West's property. I thought I heard it screaming when I was closing up the other night but didn't see it. Marc had gone out the next morning and saw it strutting through the WBotW's lot but by the time I got outside it was almost to the street, too far away to get a good picture as it crossed the street and into a neighbor's yard so forgive the terrible picture on max magnification. It lives four streets over I think but is not contained. Mostly it shows up at the other end of the street. Another neighbor halfway down the street has a peacock caged and the roamer often comes to visit.

The little calico cat that has been hanging around here for weeks finally let me pet her Friday morning. I'd been putting water out for her not knowing if she lived nearby but she's been here every day for several weeks, pretty much stays under the house. She's unafraid of the dog. I finally put some food out Friday evening and she ate it right up so now I'm feeding her.

Barn swallows built a nest on the light fixture a couple of doors down from SHARE. It's full of babies and the parents did not like me taking their picture.

Last night I absentmindedly brushed my right foot over my left big toe and brushed the remaining excruciatingly slowly diminishing scab off. Hooray! I was sick of looking at it, didn't think it was ever going to come off. Seventy eight days, 2 1/2 months, from the day the toenail was removed to the day the remaining scab came off. New nail growing in, redness is slowly diminishing. And ignore my dirty foot.

My neighbors, third property to the left, keep bees. They brought me two half pints of honey on Saturday, said it was the least they could do since it's my flowers the bees are visiting. How cool is that! I get to eat honey made from my flowers!

another step completed and our new national pastime

Woke up in a funky mood Tuesday. I got an OK night's sleep but I was sleepy just about all day and just dispirited. Marc steamed out the mold for the body of the box while I was doing the weekly grocery shop and we went over after lunch to make the last four molds, the ones for the feet. My grand plan was for him to seal around the bottom of the tube with clay and then I would use little clay balls to attach the ends of the wax wires I had cut to what I thought was the right length to the inside of the tube. First problem encountered was that I couldn't get my fingers down in the tubes to manipulate the clay and wires. Second problem encountered is that the clay wouldn't stick to the inside of the cardboard tubes and in the process of trying several of the wires came off and several turned out to be too short. So then I had to remove the clay and the tube and replace the wires.

Well, fuck, this wasn't getting done that day. I did finally figure out how to attach the wires to the tube on the inside using my batik tool,

reaching in with it while I leaned the set up on its side and dripping melted wax onto the inside where the wax wire touched the tube so the molds did get poured today. 

They'll get steamed out today and I'll do the last volume measures but now, all the molds are made, thirteen of them. Next is filling the molds with frit and/or powder or a mix of the two which is what I'm leaning toward. I'll use the rest of this week to choose colors and then start to fill molds next week.

I was in a little bit better mood yesterday. Staying off FB and Twitter and keeping busy helps.

So I guess this country has a new way of celebrating the 4^th, fireworks weren't enough so now people are engaging in mass murder and shootings at parades and fireworks displays. Can't think of a more appropriate way to celebrate our declaration of freedom, mass murder being the new national pastime and all. Forget baseball. Nobody dies in baseball.

The 22 year old mass murderer at the Highland Park parade, 7 dead, 20 +/- wounded, a 2 year old orphaned, was arrested. Of course he was. A white boy who had just killed and wounded 27 people, was asked politely by police, no brutality on display, “do me a favor, get on your knees, get on your knees lay down flat on your stomach”. Do me a favor??? Where's the screaming, where's the profanity, where's the knee on the neck? Where's the fucking chokehold?

Well, it's SHARE day so that will definitely keep me busy and my mind on positive things, participating in helping people in need.

celebrate what?, post R v W anecdotes

Today is July 4^th, Independence Day, the day we celebrate the British colonies Declaration Of Independence from England. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

I'm not celebrating today because in my opinion this country is failing the promise made for far over half of its population. Racist white nationalist groups like the Patriot Front openly march in the street carrying flags, wearing their modern day hoods...ball cap, sunglasses, and white cowl covering the lower halves of their faces so that their identities are hidden; one of our two political parties attempted a coup to take over the government from the will of the people; and the far right Supreme Court is taking rights away from women and the LGBTQIA+ community and chiseling away one of the basic concepts of the constitution, the separation of church and state, opening the door to a theocracy. Voter suppression is rampant from the same political party that tried a violent takeover, Congress is corrupted to allow minority rule, and the American obsession with guns and gun violence has made this country a place where we do nothing when our children are massacred in their schools. Police still kill unarmed black men in the streets with impunity most recently executing a man running away by filling him with 60 bullets, white criminals get off with a slap on the hand while POC get incarcerated for the same crime. The Pledge of Allegiance claims liberty and justice for all but in actual practice it's only for white cisgendered christian men. Our republic is in the most danger it's ever been in and there is no guarantee it will survive the next two national elections.

I'm starting to see anecdotes on social media about the effects of the Supreme Court ruling that turned the status of abortion over to the states. These anti-abortion laws don't just affect pregnant women...

1931 law in Michigan outlawing abortion now back in effect and Michigan and Texas pharmacists are now refusing to dispense to women the chemo drugs they need for maintenance of their cancer or illness because it could cause miscarriage and if they miscarry then the pharmacist is facing a felony and if the woman dies, manslaughter. They are making these women file paperwork that says they are not trying to miscarry or get pregnant and then the doctor has to call the pharmacy and convince them the medication is necessary and many are unwilling to do that because if a patient miscarries from the drug then the physician can also be charged with a felony and manslaughter and lose his license.

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Ten year old girl raped and impregnated in Ohio. Ohio would not make an exception and let her get an abortion. Her parents had to take her to Indiana. How cruel are republicans who would force a 10 year old child to carry a pregnancy to term in a body that is far from fully developed, her body too small to accommodate an average size baby, the developing fetus putting pressure on still growing bones. This is how much republicans hate women that they would do this to a 10 year old girl.

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Tweet from an RN...Young mom came into the ER with abdominal pain. Ultrasound showed fetus n large tumor in uterus. Baby likely won’t make it… no one will do surgery to save her life. Even though likely cancer. I’m disgusted.

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Another tweet...I got an automated call from the pharmacy that my refill of methotrexate was denied. It treats my autoimmune disease. It can also be used as an abortifacient drug. I don’t have a uterus but #AbortionBan affect me too.

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A post on FB...I was diagnosed w heart failure @ 32. Doctor told me pregnancy would damage my heart & I would not live long after giving birth, so no children. I never had to face the decision, but thank goodness I had a choice. Forced birth? Can be forced death.

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A tweet...We went to Hayward to get some groceries and a stop at Walgreens because we had left Jess birth control at home. As Jess was checking out, cashier John told her he couldn't sell her the condoms. “Oh, I got them from over there.” “We can but I won't because of my faith.”

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From FB...I am currently 25 weeks pregnant with a baby girl. She is incompatible with life. I found out at 23 weeks that she wasn't going to make it. I knew then what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to terminate. My baby is suffering inside of me, having seizures multiple times a day. I feel every single one. I knew I didn't want her to suffer any longer. I let my doctor know of my choice and he said he would schedule an induction for me. Well.. Friday came along and the overturn of Roe v Wade happened. I thought I would be OK. I thought the law wouldn't go into effect for a while. Sadly, that's not the case. I now have no choice. My doctor called me today and told me I have to remain pregnant until this baby dies inside of me or dies when she's born. What kind of sick country do we live in where we force a mom to feel her baby suffer every single day until her baby dies? It's not fair. I never thought this would happen. Now I'm completely lost and torn and confused.

What kind of sick country indeed. There is no celebrating this.

more molds and little lives

We got more rain Thursday night, or rather early in the morning, which is good. Friday mid-morning in the 80s which was a much appreciated break from the mid to high 90s we've been suffering through except for one thing, the humidity. With the high temps and no chance of rain the humidity had been staying fairly low, mid 40s%. Friday it shot up to 91% before it dropped to the 60s%. This Saturday morning it's 83˚ and 89% humidity which basically makes it feel like high 90˚s. Can't win for losing. Even when the temperature is tolerable it still feels oppressively hot.

Yesterday 7 of the molds got steamed out. By that I mean the investment aka mold material, which is a plaster/silica flour mix, with the wax model encased is placed open end down over a pot of boiling water, the steam rises up and melts the wax out of the mold.

Once that's done I inspect the molds, clean them up, rinse them out and then do the volume measure so that I know how much weight of glass it takes to fill the form. I do that by weighing a container of water, pour some into the mold filling the form of the model and then weighing the container of water again. Subtract one from the other, multiply by the specific gravity of the glass, 2.5 in my case, and it gives you the weight of glass needed in grams.

I'm going to set these aside for a week or so to let the molds cure while I select the colors as well as decide to use transparent or opaque glass, frit or powder (I won't bore you about why these choices matter). Two more molds got made today, next week the last four.

Here's half the frivolous post, the little creatures who live here with us.

This honey bee seemed a little confused about which part of the flower she was supposed to go to as she explored the ends of several petals on the white orchid tree flowers.

This tiny gecko which couldn't have been longer than 1 1/4” head to tip of it's tail and looked to be just hatched was on the wall in the bathroom and we have no idea how it got there.

This little golden orb weaver is young, her body is only about 3/4”. She'll get much bigger.

Big Mama, our 32 year old red ear slider, felt it necessary to remind me she hadn't been fed today.

And last a little tree frog hanging out on the molding of the back door. I took this picture through the glass. First one I've seen this gray color.