Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Gentle Reader...

Hi everyone I just wanted to stop by the blog and let you know that I hadn't forgotten you. It has been so long since we have visited but there hasn't been much going on in the studio.I do have a cone 6 firing cooling so maybe some pictures in a couple of days but for now, I need to share my irritation with STOOPID PEOPLE! A quick disclaimer.  Most of you know that I am a retired special ed. teacher. I'm not talking about my former students whom I love and respect for trying to do their best. I am a little peeved with people of otherwise normal intelligence who believe every piece of crap they read on the internet to be true.

This morning, I paid a visit to facebook where I saw that a friend had shared an article that claimed" These 11 states have more than half their population on WELFARE!!! " If you read the article, their definition of WELFARE included every person who received any kind of government money for any reason.I used to work in the Welfare System. We counted AFDC and General Relief as welfare recipients. People who had earned retirements, government employees, Social Security recipients, people who had student loans,members of the military, etc were not included. A recent article on the Yahoo news screamed "4 of 5  Americans Face Poverty, Joblessness". The basis for this included the question "Have you ever been unemployed ?" Come on now, who hasn't? Doesn't mean the handle has been pushed and we are all circling the drain. One of my favorite professors used to say "Figures don't lie, but liars always figure". Remember that. People are so mad and have had so many of their fears stirred up that they forget how to read critically and examine the statistics that they are bombarded with. STOOPID PEOPLE who are allowing themselves to be manipulated. !

 As low as they are,even Faux news has some standards. This interweb thingie has none. No filters, no standards for truth, decency, and the American way. Generally, there are no real consequences for making up news from whole cloth. Birthers run loose in the streets. People are using the name of God to spread a message of hatred for anyone who does not agree with them. People are waving the constitution and the flag but ignoring the rights that the constitution gives to others.They think the second amendment entitles them to own hand grenades, machine guns, and cruise missiles. STOOPID PEOPLE ! These same people would be shocked to learn that fully half of America's children are below average. The more I hear from them the more I wonder if maybe Darwin was wrong.

While I'm pissed off I might as well include another peeve or two.I was recently invited to join a facebook group of potters. I did and it has some very accomplished potters as members and can be interesting but oh I do wish folks would think through their questions a little more. People will ask " why isn't my kiln getting to temp" then after 16 well reasoned responses they will add " well I am firing outside in the rain with the lid open". Please include all relevant info.Know that unless you ask a complete question you won't get a complete answer.

Well, I'm glad to have gotten that off my chest. Now to get back to work on the house. I have all the old heating system out and most of the new system is in. The patching and painting may just go on for ever. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for stopping by.

Friday, July 12, 2013

The Demise of Bertha

Hi everyone. Again this week has been full of construction and deconstruction more than pottery . I got to the studio to make a few cereal bowls and mugs but that is about it. Mostly I have been tearing out the old heating system ahead of my furnace woman and her Dad who are putting in a gas furnace and central air. I am pleased to report that the air is up and running in most of the main floor of the house and it works great. Cold, quiet and it stays locked on temp without any swings up or down. The engineer from Duke came out and marked where the meter will go so I'm hoping for gas service in a month or so. The engineer was easy enough to work with but believe it or not dealing with their phone tree and the people in the office is a little stressful. It is like everything pivots through me. are numerous phone calls I need to make to tell their right hand what their left hand did before they can proceed to the next step. It would be nice to have a check list to keep track of it all but such a thing doesn't exist so one step at a time. I know some of you ( well not YOU but other people) are slow readers so I'll tell the rest in pictures








Friday, July 5, 2013

Demolition

Yesterday I drained the boiler and started cutting the piping for the heating system out of the basement. This morning, my brother stopped by and took the circulator motors and pumps to use for spares at his house. All is progressing well and about 80% of the pipe is out of the basement. I'll finish that this afternoon and start on getting the baseboard heaters out of the living areas tomorrow. Fun, Fun, Fun.

On another note, here are a few notes strung together.