Kiln, python, spring.

G'Day,
Today Pete & I went to Henty which is about 3/4 of an hour drive from here and 4 towns away, on the other side of Wagga. I bought a second hand kiln from a man there who was selling his deceased wives pottery things. Anyway, the kiln is a gas port-a-kiln (metal casing, fibre lined) and a bit bigger and better than the one I have now. It has a bit of rust in it and needs some minor repairs after transport but it should come up o.k. and make my potting an easier process as I shouldn't need to cart things into Wagga to S.W. glaze them any more if all goes well with this one. I have made a space in my shed which fits it nicely, I just need to find another place to put my compost bins on the other side of the wall so the gas bottle can go there. I also need to get some tubing for the chimney and pay someone to connect it all up for me. I The kiln cost me $300 but it had quite a bit of kiln furniture and a computemp that came with it and if I had to buy those alone they would have cost more than $300 easily, so I reckon I got a good deal.
We dropped Annie off to visit with her new interest, Michael who lives in Wagga, on our way to Henty. When we went back to pick her up we went inside to meet his new pet. He has a large carpet snake in a case in his lounge room that Annie was eager to show us. Probably to see if we would freak out. Lol. Anyway he is quite nice, his name is George and he is about 8 ft long and probably has a diameter of 5 inches so he is pretty big. I, not to be beaten, got brave and patted him. I have never touched a snake in my life! It felt just like firm skin not too cold like I expected, and nice to touch. He checked me out too and was watching me, but I wasn't that game that I let him get on me when he reached out towards me. They feed him Guinea Pigs, fortnightly.
While we were away there was a hail storm here. There was not a drop where we were. When we drove home the road was wet from near Harefield back to here. It said in the rural newspaper this morning that the crops the local farmers have planted will fail if they don't get medium to heavy rain in the next few weeks. Here's hoping that this is the first of more rain. It also said in the paper this week that this winter we have had less rain than last year for the same period. Pretty stupid when there has been so much flooding along the coastal areas of this state in the last few months.
Spring is showing her promise of coming soon. The pretty wild almond trees across the road are beginning to flower, my old purple Irises have their first flowers, the apricot has some nice fat buds forming, the daffodils are out, the Daphne is in flower and smells wonderful and the perennial wall flower buds are just starting to open. My chookies are laying me one or two eggs a day. Just a few short weeks ago it was dark by the time I left work @ 6, now it is becoming lighter and is twilight. It won't be long till longer days are here again and I have time to enjoy a few hours of daylight after work.
All is shaping up well for the Museum Pottery day on 1st September, just a short time away and the first day of spring. I bought 6 bags of clay today for the demonstration and come & try table. I hope it's enough. When we went into the shop we couldn't get a park nearby as the trailer was on the car so Pete parked illegally out the front, I reckon he was sneaky and trying to make Annie and I hurry out of the shop, as visits with Annie & I to such places are a bit risky expense wise. Lol.