Snow!

No coffee, the hum of the heater as music. Last day of set-up before the show will begin with a run to the hardware store and Starbucks. Too much Greek food and wine last night at a lovely dinner with my in-laws at the Greek Islands Restaurant. It's a favorite. Dave and I celebrated our engagement there with Bill, Bridget, and a horde of other friends--Stuart and Andrea met at that dinner. Nostalgia wafts. After dinner, in the gently falling snow, my in-laws transferred a ton of wine and 100 of my books--both that I had had shipped to them--to my mini-van and Mom and I brought them back to the hotel. I had better sell a whole lotta stuff or I'm not going to have room in the car to get everything back to Atlanta!

Snow. I am so woefully unprepared. I have my wool overcoat, a remnant from the days when I lived here, and the thick leather and wool gloves that live in its pockets. And I brought two pairs, flat and heeled, of stylish leather boots. But I didn't bring *snow* boots and this morning we need to run to Ace Hardware (there's a huge one just down the street--takes up about a whole city block, all underground)... in the snow. And today, being set-up, I need to wear my lime green Crocs. Crocs in the snow. Oy.

Dan the carpenter took up the kiln room floor yesterday and reinforced it for the new kiln. The Olympic kiln that I am looking at (GF15E) is side and top firing with independent controls for all the elements. She is substantially heavier than Bertha, and needs 68"-74" clearance from the wall--tight for a room that already holds Big Bertha. She's also only 60" long, but she's 12" deep (Bertha is only 9" deep) and she's kiln brick with a solid lid so she can be fired to 1700 degrees F--helpful for doing melts. It's my recollection that Bertha is only supposed to be fired to 1600 degrees--and I know her front buckles in at really high temps (I love her anyway). Timing for the Olympic is good--I can have her next week on my return from Chicago--and she's a local girl so I can probably get Thomas the tow truck guy to pick her up and deliver her for me.

The Denver kiln I am looking at is Big Bertha's twin (just like this one but 72" long instead of 60"). She's lighter, and a known quantity--fiber blanket sides, ceramic board lid, top-firing only--but she can't be here for 4-6 weeks. Delivery will also be an issue as she's too big for a lift gate and I don't have a loading dock. Price and electrical requirements are the same for both... Oh the kiln room will be really crowded if I get the Olympic! On the other hand, it will be well-nigh impossible to do the big corporate gift order if I don't as I did get the "little", initial corporate gift order for 114 due by mid-January (Christmas is saved! Shoes for everyone!).

Now it's time to get my Bullseye order put together with numbers both including and not the big order. I find out at 5:40 PM today about the big order. Keep your fingers crossed for me. Then it's Off to the Show! The last time a pre-show was this fraught for me was the Buyer's Market in February 2006 when I was negotiating my book contract. Yee, yee, yee.