Woke up at quarter to five this morning--old guy bladder is a thing--and of course couldn't get back to sleep. Brain was in overdrive, all the thoughts going in circles, no way I was going to get back to sleep. I've long since learned not to try, the best answer is to get up and do something productive, at least get one thing done off of the list of worries.

This is me, being productive.

I fired my first kiln of 2026 on Saturday, about five days later than planned. Jon was glazing in the main kiln room for a small gas kiln firing, which limited the amount of space I had to stage for my pots, and I had so many pots. 120 mugs alone, forty small bowls, thirty three stew mugs. Dinner plates, dessert plates, pie plates, bakers and casseroles and big serving bowls. Cookie jars, pitchers, teapots, all the things I'd sold out of at Christmas, plus a long page of special orders. Since I needed the extra glazing time, and we don't have enough shelves to fire both kilns at once, we decided to let him go first with a four-shelf firing in the big kiln, I'd go in afterwards.

I finished glazing all the things Thursday just after lunch, Jon didn't get unloaded til midday Friday, so we started loading about three hours later than usual. Finished a little after six, so we treated ourselves to supper at the Asian buffet, came back to button up the kiln and start it firing at about quarter to eight. I usually wait until 8:30, but didn't want to make the extra trip down from River Road, and frankly, was tired.

So I had cone 08 down top and bottom when I arrived at 5:15 the next morning, started body reduction immediately. The thermocouple was acting wonky, looked like the lead wires might be stripped and crossing near the plug, so I pulled it out hot and replaced with the one from the small kiln. Replaced the cord once cool, subbed back in, still wasn't working, meanwhile the leads had pulled out of the other one. I was fiddling with them most of the morning when I could have been cleaning the back room or mixing my glazes, so wasted a good bit of the day. I did finally manage all the tasks, and threw 25 lbs. of Empty Bowls as well, but didn't get any of my computer work done. (Hi there!)

But the kiln was surprisingly well-behaved, firing evenly top and bottom from about cone 4 on, and when cone 10 dropped on the top, it was only millimeters from being down on the bottom. Finished off at 5:30 pm, with time to go home, stash the greens I'd bought at Farmers Market, and fry up some bratwurst for supper.

Sunday was catching up on housekeeping--do the laundry, vacuum the floors, trim the bowls. I was finishing off a glass of beet juice from one of Chere's mugs when the handle abruptly gave way, dropping the nearly full cup on the kitchen floor. Red everywhere, looked like a crime scene, splashed on my pants leg and foot, so of course I tracked it through the house. Add mopping the kitchen to the list.

So I didn't get the ducting on the kiln vent installed, my web updated, or photos uploaded here. So I guess the 5 am wake-up is a gift after all.