Firing the kiln

We loaded the kiln on Tuesday and had some big storms around us after we had the door bricked up.
Yesterday we kept our fingers and toes crossed that what ever storms came through would go around us.
Please, please go around us I thought.
And they did.
You never know when you are firing how the wind and or rain can effect the firing.
Too much wind at the wrong time can really play heck with reduction.
We got lucky.
I could see a storm brewing out the kitchen window. Black clouds building up and a slight breeze.
But- it went around us.
I had to drive in to Seagrove and it had rain there, but not at our place. Just 2 miles up the road- north.
Mark did have a weird experience.
A new one on us.
He was looking out a window which faces the side of the kiln and noticed lots of smoke coming from the peeps.
More than should be there.
He checked the burners and then pulled the top peep brick from the door.
Out came a burnt mass about the size of a fist being forced out by the heat and pulled out by the peep brick.
" What the........?"
All we could figure was a mouse had gotten in the kiln the night before. Probably looking for a safe place from the storm.
He or she had decided this was a good place to stay. And, being a mouse, had quickly gone and brought back nesting material.
It looked like burnt insulation.
We just hope he/she did not bring in a party of friends and other stuff to put around the pots.
Mark did say he had left the damper open.
Otherwise, everything else was bricked up tight and there was no way for anything else to get in.
The mice can be busy while we sleep!
Living out here is like living in a science project.
We have had mice build and store nest and food in the burners and the kiln.
We can not leave anything out when the mud dabbers are nesting. They will fill up anything we leave out and open with mud.

I have become, somewhat, immune to bugs, spiders, snakes, rats and mice.
Well- I say that right now in the safety of the moment.
They can all still startle me at times.
But you learn to roll with it. I mean we moved here and most of them were already here. We just have to define space. I live in and you live out.
But the kiln seems like such a good space to the creatures.

Walk softly and carry a big stick......

Back to the wheel for me.
Time to make some pots!