Feline Dementia ?

All of a sudden my cat Betty seems to have developed Feline Dementia. She just sits on the kitchen counter. I know you're probably mortified at her being on the counter, but I can't get her to go anywhere else. I've given her a nice comfy bed up there. I have to carry her to the kitty litter and when I do she wants to eat the sand. After she does her business she runs like a maniac right back to her spot on the kitchen counter.

She eats every bit of food I put in front of her, so now I'll have to start measuring how much I give her so I don't give her too much or too little. She's seventeen years old so I guess she's earned her special treatment. Puts a cog in the wheel for any kind of traveling we might do. I couldn't leave her unattended for more than a day. Have you ever heard of a cat with dementia? Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Floral Platters

Winter has me craving flowers and color so I decided to make a couple of floral platters. You'd never know that this plate was wiped clean and made again. I'm using a combination of stains and underglazes.

Hope everyone is surviving the cold and snow. We got what amounted to nothing. One of these days I hope we get a winter wonderland. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Three Trout Platters

Yesterday I went to exchange my clay a shorter drive over the mountain. Luckily it was frosty in the valleys but not on the mountain top.

When ever we drive over the mountain on Richard Russel Parkway we always remember the river otters we saw and now call the curve in the road where we saw them, Otter Curve. Gary was wondering what otter eat and I said I am sure it's fish, probably trout in the streams. I also remember the baby bear cub I saw which was hopefully rescued from starvation by my calling Fish and Game about him.

When I got home I was thinking about what the river otters eat and I made three trout platters, a brook trout, a brown trout, and a rainbow trout. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Clay Supplies, Check Your Order

Yesterday I drove to Atlanta to get some much needed clay supplies. It's approximately two hours one way from my home. Even though there was a sushi bar right near the clay supply store, Davens, I couldn't talk Gary into going. Not only was there a sushi bar, but an Indian, Cuban and Mediterranean restaurant nearby too. Going out to lunch alone wouldn't have been as much fun, so I passed them by to get out of Atlanta quickly. As I was driving home I heard the road I just took was completely backed up so I lucked out with that decision.

I picked up cones, stilts, clay and glaze materials. When I got home I asked Gary to help me unload the clay and he read out loud 'Loafers 6 to 10'. I said "What!" While I was loading the other boxes into my car the guy in the warehouse was loading the clay into the back of my car. My receipt said Cone 6 Little Loafers but I didn't get that. I got Cone 10 clay instead of Cone 6. Woe is me. Luckily there is someone who works at Daven's who routinely comes up to the mountains and hopefully we can make an exchange. Note to myself, when getting clay supplies, check your order before you leave.

For those of you not familiar with clay and glaze. Each clay and glaze can be fired (heated) to a certain temperature to maturity or to vitrify. Vitrification is the process where the spaces between the refractory particles are completely filled with glass, fusing the particles together, and making the clay body impervious to water. If I use cone 10 clay and only fire it to Cone 6 the clay body won't mature.

I dd get some speckled stoneware and some brown stoneware (Standard clay) in Cone 6 so at least I have something to work with in the meantime.

But not getting the white stoneware has put a cog in my mental making plans. I need to switch gears. Images taken from the net since it's too darn early to go down and take some photos. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.