BERTHA

Herein we will discuss pottery happenings brief as they are and the impending demise of our faithful friend Bertha of the Basement. Wednesday was a day for fun. At the Augusta show a few weeks ago some friends mentioned they had problems with their plate making. By insisting that I had no such problems I set myself up to visit them for a mini workshop at the Ohio River Valley Art Guild in Washington Ky. above Maysville. I showed up about 9:30 and showed my procedures and some custom tools that I developed to help with consistency. I had a very nice time and even got a free Barbecue lunch out of it. My friend Pam put some pictures up on facebook that I can't seem to copy but they are on my timeline there if you want to see them. I have been making bowls for the last few days and waiting waiting waiting for them to dry. Gotta get the AC in the shop window and dry that place out.

Part two. Our house is as old as I am and we are both falling apart. The house started with a coal fired furnace that worked on gravity. No blower hot air rises, cold air falls, you stoke it several times a day after which the house gets hot then progressively cools off until you stoke it again.Sometime ( we guess about 1965) the coal system was taken out and a new, clean, economical hydronic ( hot water) oil fired system was installed.We bought the house in 91 and at that time the boiler looked like she was on her last legs. We asked a heating guy if we should put her out of her misery then. He insisted NO ! It may last forever. Well over 20 years later she is still ticking but getting a little cranky and oil is nearly $4.00 a gallon. It's time. A couple of years ago, Duke ran natural gas out our road. Given how much cheaper gas is compared to oil it's a no brainer. Every year, the odds of old Bertha having a major breakdown in the middle of a January night looms closer and closer. Better to change her out in the summer. The other consideration is that the old baseboard heaters are not getting any prettier and central air would be soooo nice. The solution is that July 8 we will start getting a new forced air gas furnace with a heat pump and central air conditioning. This will be very welcome but will also be a lot of work. My heating guy and his daughters (yup daughters, they're good) will do the install, but getting the old baseboard units out, repainting, installing baseboards, etc is my job. There may be some plumbing and electric to reroute as well.  There won't be much pottery making in July.Here are a couple of "before" pictures. I'll keep you posted.