Time for an update from the Zephyr Valley Ceramics Studio! It's summer and that time is fleeting.
Originally Published: 2022/08/14
Summers are fleeting in Montana. Winter can begin early October and last until May. Some years we get a ton of rain in June, and that was certainly the case this year. July 4th came and went without the usual Red Flag Warnings, and in some ways that was nice. It did mean an extended time of people shooting off fireworks before and after the holiday.
I got super lucky with my house projects, most of them coming early. My solar panel system is installed-almost two months early, my new insulated garage door- three months early on that. Sprinklers are in and this week I'm getting two new doors and three new windows installed. All of this to make my home more efficient, insulated and self-sufficient.
A little bit of a hiccup with the solar thing though. I have enough panels to generate what I need to run the house and the studio, but my metered service panel and my internal panel were not up for the task. Had to call the evil corporation to have them come look at the wire from their box to mine, and as the engineer put it, it's everything I need it to NOT be. So now I'm in a holding pattern, until they can come run a new line. In November. The electrician is looking for a new meter base to hang on the house, apparently 400 amp services are "impossible" to find right now.
I'm hoping my good luck holds and the meter base will be available and the evil corporation will show up early!
On another note, I've been getting little projects done in the studio, and I decided to go ahead and run my kiln to get through one complete making cycle (in spite of my desire to have done it fully solar powered...). In fact, Puppy is currently just finishing off her cooling cycle, so I'll have pots to look at soon!
This is Puppy. FIRE ON!!
Be sure to get over to my Instagram and like and follow, I'm updating that multiple times a week. Also, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter, as I will be hosting a shop update that newsletter subscribers will have first access to.
