Melon of a time loading the kiln

We are loading the kiln. We could not of asked for a better day. It is weird that we can be experiencing life as usual while people down at the coast are having to pack up, evacuate, put off deadlines and daily life, to sit and wait.
The last kiln load we fired, Bruce made larger then usual pieces, around 15" - 20 " pieces for the top of the kiln. We had an eureka moment. We have decided when possible we will do this from now on. It saves Bruce's back when loading the top levels of the kiln. We may not get as many individual pieces in the kiln, but it is worth saving his back. Ed is helping Bruce take the pieces down to the kiln.

We loaded the back of the kiln yesterday. When we can, we load the kiln over a two day period. It is another way we have found to help save Bruce's back.


We have spent some time on top of Mount Melon during the past couple of weeks. Looking around for which melon is ripe. We are at the end of harvest. Which is good and bad. We will miss the daily fruits, but how many cantaloupes, honey dews, and watermelons can one eat? We had an incredible experience yesterday eating an orange watermelon. I will search through Gloria's seeds to find the name. We highly recommend it. We never know if we are opening up one that will be tossed into the compost or an out of body experience. Melons are so finicky.

The melon below is a volunteer of unknown variety. A couple of years back we stopped planting full size melons because they would not fit into the refrigerator, and they were way too much for us to eat. We have found that planting ice box variety melons is more manageable. This one is a party melon.


Samantha and Ratatouille on top of Mount Melon which is top soil from making a new driveway.