Kiln

I'm feeling pretty great today. I am so excited I can hardly keep my breathing steady! Why? Because directed study presentations are over forever! ...And there is a salt firing that is in the process of cooling down that has a lot of my stuff in it! ...And the campus wide ping pong championship is tonight, and I have a shot at the trophy! ...And I might have myself an electric kiln, even though it is in need of some new coils! Whew, that was a lot, no wonder I'm so pumped! BWAAA!

Wind Power!

I'm really excited about energy efficiency, lately. I am especially pumped about wind energy because we have an overabundant supply of it in Iowa. Just the thought of powering my whole acreage with a wind mill the size of an old tv set fascinates me. Some models are pretty affordable and can be purchased in different power capacities: 1KW, 2Kw, 4, 6, etc. I am relatively sure that I will have one someday...

Sink

Today, after class, I went home and stepped over to the sink and happened to land on the rug in fron of the counter. It was wet... very wet. I looked under the sink and water was everywhere. I took everythig out, made sure it was fixed, and left again for Jazz band rehearsal.

2nd Round of Raku

This is the rest of the load. I couldn't upload all of the photos in one post. This is the load that I fired almost by myself :) Most all of these raku pieces are shown raw in a previous post to give you an idea of what you're looking at! Thanks again for your comments and suggestions.

Raku Firing!

This was done yesterday... I'm pretty pumped, but there are a few things I think I will do differently next time. It was pretty sweet, I watched Jake fire the first load and then I did the second load on my own. I feel more confident now about setting up my own kiln and doing this at home. I guess I'd need a wheel first, oh well. There is a show in Fort Dodge next week and I'm going to enter about three pieces. I have one at home that I plan on putting in, but I would like some of this stuff in it. I would love you to make suggestions, please :) Mr. Schlapkohl, I would love your input, especially.

More stuff

Here's the most recent stash of stuff. The smaller two jug like vessels with textured scrapes on the sides and the manipulated bladder are made with a special clay specifically for salt firing. I'm not sure how salt fired pieces look, but it will be neat to have some! Oh wait, the jar with handles is fresh today and is also made with the special clay. Enjoy and feel free to leave feedback!

God must like me...or I'm lucky ;)

I'm currently on spring break. Saturday I got to ride a dirt bike for the first time in four years...it felt great. Yesterday, my wife and I talked about getting a small toaster/convection oven to use less energy and cook faster for small items. Today I was at a NEW Cooperative seminar and got a free lunch. My dad, uncle, and I signed up for door prizes. I turned and told them both that I was feeling lucky today. We all got something and it turned out that Dad and I both picked up $50 Menards gift cards :) We promptly went to the store and began to look for the best way to spend our awesome prizes. Nothing really stuck out to me until I got to the appliances where I found a perfect convection oven for the precise amount that I could spend. I also signed up to win a new Camaro...we'll see what happens :)

More clay

Here's some new stuff done in raku :)

handled

These are some handled pieces that I've been working on...just to give and idea of what I was trying to explain in my last post about incorporating handles into the piece. Enjoy!

pottery

Today I am going on campus to make some pottery. I have been kind of inspired by Jake Van Wyk to incorporate handles into my pieces. Instead of just 'sticking' the handles on and leaving them be, I have started sticking handles on and continuing the lines through the rest of the piece... indenting/impressing, sort of. I don't have any pictures of it yet, though later I might. I have this fascination with plants and roots: people don't normally see roots and the role they play in a plant's existence (out of sight, out of mind). I am going to start a series of pieces that incorporates plants and roots into the clay body by building plants onto the surface and texturing the surface of the piece where the roots will go...I'll show you later.

Beyond Organic

This is written for myself as much as anyone else. In reading the Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, I find myself getting excited. Some know that I want to become a farmer. I am an outdoors person at heart, whether or not my current lifestyle shows it. I grew up following Dad around in his farming endeavors and the idea of seeing something, flora or fauna, grow, develop, and mature more than intrigued me and stills does. Since I've started at Dordt, I've been introduced to new possibilities and ideas, most of which I like. I feel as though I have a new-found appreciation for everything living: everything that begins, grows, and finally ends. I guess I feel like a different person.

The reason for my excitement in the book is it gives stories of men that farm ecologically and sustainably. If you're going to write me off as a hippie, humor me by reading on. Farming sustainably incorporates multiple rotations, animals, cover crops, waste recycling, and minimized inputs. So basically diverse farming within a closed system where animals and plants benefit from one another, further benefiting the farmer (or me). The best way for me to explain further is by giving a practical example of an agro-ecosystem. I'll give you personally ideas at a later date.

My first example is that of rice farming. Normally, rice is grown in paddies that are filled with water, fertilized, and sprayed to keep weeds from crowding the crop and reducing yields. Enter the duck. These ducks are added to the paddies as soon as they are are a few weeks old and the rice has had a chance to establish and begin growing. These ducks are fenced in and allowed to swim freely until the rice is ready for harvest and the webbed ones are full grown. The reasons for this relationship are quite awesome. Weeds are utterly eliminated: as soon as they germinate, the billed divers do the bottums up and eat the fresh, green, tasty weeds. Insect pests are taken care of. Fertilization... check. Did I mention that the ducks are eating weeds and bugs? Okay, so we have a system where weeds are controlled, pests are controlled, plants are fertilized and invigorated, and ducks are raised...for the price of the ducklings, rice seedlings, and the price of fence. Hippie that; Steve out.

Omaha

On Friday, Nicole and I visited her sister in Omaha. Saturday, we went sledding. I hadn't gone sledding in ages! What young adult in their right mind would go sailing down such a short, steep hill only to walk what seemed like miles up the hill to the top to do it all over again? Well, I found out that I would... It was awesome. Sunday, we packed up and headed back to Siouxer Center. It was about 5 p.m. when we left and the wind picked up speed. After about thirty miles, we found the interstate to be closed. Back roads weren't too bad, but it was getting dark and the blowing snow made visibility poor, so we turned around and went back :) This morning, we left early and made it back alive... All said, it was a good weekend.

Freebies

I have friends that always comment on my ability to get free stuff... I'm not sure if it really is an ability or if it is simply talking to the right people about the right stuff at the right time. A couple of months ago, someone gave me a pop-up camper. Yesterday, I got a dog. How cool is that? I'd say pretty darn awesome. I believe I am a 'free stuff' magnet, that's all.

Life is Good

Today is good. I haven't had class yet, but am kind of looking forward to it. This is in contrast to my last post. I AM a happy person with plenty of happy things to say. Steve out.

Escaping the Unavoidable

I definitely do not want to post a blog every day, simply because it might cheapen my words - assuming they aren't already viewed as such. I am a procrastinator, always have been, and, to my unnerve, will probably always be. In fact ,the reason why I'm writing at this moment is because I have plenty of other things to do... I could spend the rest of the month reading for classes and not be where I should, plus the daily accumulation of more (slight exaggeration)...so I'm putting it off?! Can I accept the fact that I am who I am, without feeling guilty? Or do I strive to build character and just plain do what I have to do when I'm asked to do it? I guess I don't put everything off, or all the time. I consider myself good at long-suffering; I do things that I don't necessarily like because I know these things are responsibilities of mine. I have duties as a husband that I appreciate, not because I like to do them, but simply because I love my wife and don't want her to have to do them. So why do I struggle with schoolwork so? Perhaps it's because...

Oh, I don't know. I guess I'll go start a 40 page article for senior seminar.

Car Issues

I've been really frustrated with my car, or shall I say my wife's car, as of late. For the last few months, several of the tires have been losing pressure...slowly, but surely. It has become a habit to check the pressure every other week, only to find that they are severely low. Last week Wednesday I had activities on campus until about 10:30 p.m. When I got to the car, the front left tire was quite low; it looked awful. I decided to try and drive (slowly) to Casey's General Store and fill 'er up. As I slowly drove away, the car started pulling hard to the left and soon I felt the rim slicing into the snow. I went inside, as it was zero degrees outside, and luckily found a student with a portable air compressor! To my dismay, it was a a glorified bicycle pump that did nothing but freeze my fingers. In my desperation, I dialed a friend that might allow me to borrow his car to get home, only to find him "away from his phone". After the fourth try, I finally reached someone who would let me use her car.

The next day, I scheduled time between classes to put the spare tire on. I pulled the jack and the spare out to find it flat as well. I proceeded to carry the spare across campus to maintenance to be inflated. When I returned to the car, I put the jack under it loosened the lug nuts. To add to my frustration, the wheel would not dislodge. After kicking it, punching it, and pulling it for several minutes, I decided to seek professional help. The Co-op gas, oil, and tire center was quite eager to help me out of my predicament with a tank of air and instructions to pull my car into their shop. I had the man fix both tires on the left side, as they were both doing the leaky thing. "No problem," he said. "We'll be done in a jiffy," he said. As I paid the bill, he mentioned that the other two tires were probably going to need repair soon. That sounded fantastic to me and I was needlessly thrilled to walk into a class of one hundred thirty students embarrassingly late.

Five days later, I arrived on campus to find another tire low on pressure. Did I mention that the interior of my car had started to smell, or rather, wreak of gas? I pulled the hood release lever and found the safety latch under the hood to be frozen in place. I then tried to re-shut the hood and found that the stinking latch was too frozen to close. I called the Co-op and immediately had the tired repaired. Meanwhile, my car thawed enough in the shop for me to properly shut the hood.

Today (three days later), the smell of the gas inside drove me up the flipping wall and I called Ver Hoef automotive and they agreed to have a quick look at my stinking car. A service man looked under my hood and diagnosed a leaking fuel pressure regulator. To my good fortune, they were able to fix it right away!

$200 later, I have three sound tires, a new fuel pressure regulator, and two years taken off the end of my life.