It's all part of the art...

That's what I keep telling myself. It's a little discouraging, but "it could'a been worse", "thank goodness it's not on the house", "I know someone in NOLA would gladly have something this small to worry about", and finally "I won't have to worry about firewood next winter..."

It is what it is:

One huge tree, and 3 others about 30" across and 75' long, down. Glancing blow to the kiln shed. One corner pretty much took the hit. The chimney damaged, and I'll have to rebuild it. The main part of the kiln seems intact. It could'a been worse, 3 ft more to the left and i'd be a 2d artist. So this is a little setback.

Tomorrow I'll get a friend up to help me get the section that's on the shed and chimney off. You can't tell from the pics, but its about 30' long and under a lot of tension, I'll have to go slow with it. I have ladders, chainsaws, winches; this is the type of thing I'd normally do alone (not playing well with others) but I looked at it and know it's too dangerous to go solo. The part running from the ground up to the top of the chimney is as big around as me, and that's saying something. So safety wins out over my fierce independence. I'm willing to suffer for my art, but not die for it.



There's a kiln in there somewhere












Next winters firewood on the hoof.....











The chimney is supposed to be STRAIGHT!




This is small potatoes in the big picture of life. A few hours to get the section off the roof and chimney, 3 days to pull down and rebuild the chimney and i'm back on track. The rest of the cleanup can be done whenever, sawing, cutting and splitting.

So I hope wherever you are you have calm and gentle breezes. Be warm and cozy, go slow (or fast if you're inclined) thru the day, and have fun.