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May 2016

There was a time when I worked in the high tech industry that I had to write status reports every month.

I hated that.

I tried to get creative, but more often than not, I was asked to keep with the ‘standard’ format.

So, now that I’m retired, I often wonder: ‘Just what did I do last month?”

So maybe I should write a status report.

May, 2016

Accomplishments

Windblown Studio work:

  • Did two gas firings.  One was a regular glaze firing which came out fairly good considering the cones were made pointing the wrong direction.  Instead of them falling away from each other, cone 9 fell into cone 10, and 10 fell into 11.  The firsts time I noticed that was when cone 9 fell at the bottom and pushed the other two cones down with it.   This make it somewhat difficult to tell when to shut down the kiln. But experience paid off and the results looked good.  The second firing was to fire four saggers.  This was to go to 1650 degrees Fahrenheit.  It, also came out good.
  • Private Raku firing:  On May 30th, we did a private Raku firing.  The rain hold off until our third and last firing.  We finished it in light rain. The results were very good. The kiln held up for another firing, only needing some minor door Kaowool repair. Rita got the best piece out with a platter that was turned upside down in the can – giving the red bronze luster glaze good reduction and a copper that is just spectacular.

Medical:

  • An call to my skin doctor got me an appointment to have him check a lump on my temple.  He removed it (with a scapula)  and the lab tests showed it benign.
  • A call to eye doctor got me an appointment to check my left eye. It was having rings of light flashing when I moved my eye a certain eye. Being concern about a detached retina, he checked it and said it as note the retina but rather the vitreous pulling on the retina.  Had it been accompanied with lots of new floaters or other material floating in my vision, that would indicate a torn retina.  But is wasn’t, so now, I just get a light show when I’m out at night.
  • My normal annual visit with my GP was more of a discussion with her about my heart and blood test results. My cholesterol was up (over 200) as was my triglycerides. This was disappointing since I have lost about 13 pounds since April and have been eating much more healthy than ever.  The doc said a weight loss can actually increase triglycerides. However, keeping with the cardiologist’s desires to get my cholesterol down,  she put me on a statin called Atorvastatin ( a Lipitrol generic product).  Her quote was: “If cardiologist had their own way, they would have lipitrol in the drinking water.”   She also ordered a pulmonary respiratory test to make sure my shortness of breath is not due to some lung problem.
  • My stenosis  still haunts me. Cutting grass, walking up the hill, playing ball with the dog, cutting up wood, walling to the mailbox, and anything strenuous causes shortness of breath. frequently minor chess pain.  At night before I go to sleep, my heart and I have this conversation:  It says: “I’m not healthy” and I say: “keep on pumping.”

Other:

  • Zoe got sick. Some kind of allergic reaction. I suspect it is the flea collar.
  • On May 13th,  I went to MA  to visit Chris  and see his boys play little league games. The game was canceled but I did get to see them practice.   I stayed at Eric’s and we had a few drinks and conversation together. I caught Neil and Dianna going to the movie: Jungle Book, so I tagged along.  I also got to see Georgia’s piano recital, which was a great experience. (see blog post)
  • Technology consulting this month was just under 10 hours.
  • Replaced the kitchen faucet.  The difficult part was getting the old one out of the sink. I actually had to take the sink out in order to get the nuts removed from under the faucet.  The new one went in easy compared to that.
  • Finally finished the wiring from the drawing room project. I installed the two way light switch in the kiln room and wired up the outlet to finish all the circuits in the drawing room.
  • When I cut the upper field of grass, I had to rake and pick up the ‘hay’.  Hope to not have to do that again.