getting the wood ready

In the spirit of getting everything ready before the snow starts coming, I've stopped working on the house and started to get all of our wood prepared for the coming year.


I'm attempting to get enough wood together that we won't have to cut wood at all until next time this year. I have to admit that I enjoy preparing the cord wood so it's not too much of a chore.
The edging for the kiln is a different story though. Mainly due to the fact that it comes delivered looking like this:


None of the pieces even seem to be the same length much less stacked with any kind of organization. On top of that we've often found small patches of dirt and gravel in amongst the wood which makes short work out of a well sharpened chainsaw. So I'm working on devising a better method to dealing with this mess. Which is a little slower but more satisfying and seems to get more consistent lengths of wood. So here is what I've got so far:

Re stacking does take an extra step, but it seems worth the effort. Eventually we would like to figure out a way to add some makeshift forks to the tractor bucket so we can simply move the pallets of stacked wood instead of having to re stack them another time. All in due time.
Joe

Corporate America, Red Clay, and Baptism

Hi Everyone!

I have been a little absent from the blog lately. My (simultaneously boring and stressful) day job in the Business Outfitters division of a local clothing megacompany has been taking up lots of my time as we move into our peak season. I would say the company's name, but earlier this year we were all forced to sign a strange "social media contract" which prohibited me from, among other things, using obsenities in my personal blog and Facebook page. When I asked about that stipulation, I was told that, although the contract I was required to sign made a blanket statement for content in ALL forms of social media, it only meant I could not use obsenities on company-related sites. But just in case I need to bust out with a string of profanities, we'll keep it anonymous.

I have been working for The Aforementioned Clothing Company for over a year. This is the first time I have ever worked for a corporation, and hopefully the last. While I have met lots of great people, I hate feeling like a cog in a machine. I am a hard worker, and it feels draining to be sharing my time and energy with an entity that will never appreciate my skills, and sends reprimands if one goes 30 seconds over one's 30 minute lunch break. So little room for creative thinking, at least where I am in the company. I miss pouring all of my energy into something I am excited about... Windy Ridge, pots, farming. I love getting to know our Windy Ridge customers, and meeting people who have made handmade objects a priority in their lives. I just can't get into polo shirts.

So I took today off from ably assisting businesses with their apparel needs and spent the day working on the we-really-should-finish-that-before-it-really-starts-snowing list. First up was...

Mixing Clay!

I have been wanting to experiment with earthenware since we moved to WI. Leaving NC meant leaving behind lovely local high-fire clay. I want to work with what we have here, and here we have lovely limestoney red clay.

Isn't it a pretty color?

I'm planning to work on a clay recipe this winter and commandeer the third chamber when we fire next summer. Our red clay is a...bear (see?? no profanities here!) to push through our glaze sieves, so Joe made me a sieve out of hardware cloth that made the limestone-removal much easier.

I will keep you updated on this adventure as it unfolds.

In other news, we went to the Quad Cities last weekend for our niece's baptism. Alyssa is 5 months old, and a strong contender for the Cutest and Sweetest Baby Ever. And she thinks I am hilarious when I tickle her tummy, which makes me a strong contender for Best Aunt Ever.

Gogzie, Mom, Alyssa, and Carrie

Cheers, and thanks for all of your kind wishes as we get settled into the house!

**Christy

We've moved in!!

That's right folks we are officially out of the camper/trailer. Yeaaaahhh!!!!!

Our house is barely over a thousand square feet, however coming out of a camper it feels quite cavernous and luxurious. We've also started unpacking all of our belongings that have been stored for the past eighteen months. Unpacking some of our pots from North Carolina feels like being reunited with old friends. There were a couple of pots that we unpacked where both Christy and I felt a little disappointment. Maybe our tastes have changed? Maybe it will just take some time with these pots... maybe they will grow on us and we'll start to love them as we did before... time will tell.
In celebration of unpacking our pots we've decided to have a our first ever 'guess the potter' competition. Look at the pictures and try and guess the potter who made them.... or just enjoy the pretty pots.... your choice. If you choose to take a guess post your answers in the comments section....

I hope you enjoyed the pictures... we may have more soon as we continue to unpack boxes of pots.
Joe