July 25, 2009

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Day 55. Saturday.
The forecast is 34 and sunny. It's 28 at 1100hrs. I turned on the AC in the trailer a couple times this morning while I was trying to catch a few more winks. My site has no shade other than what the awning provides me.
On the recommendation of my new found friend at the bar last night I went to the Clay district and had a look around their museum. It's in an old factory. There are still a few of the original outdoor kilns there too. Nearby there is a brick factory that is Alberta's oldest industry. There is clay nearby but it is'nt the best quality so the clay is and always had been imported from Saskatchewan. The reason the shops got set up here in the 1800's was apparently this was the first place Natural Gas was discovered. Jed's brother was drilling for water and hit a gas pocket. Who decides to see if the hole will burn? Remember, they add the smell to natural gas so we can detect it. Anyway, free abundant fire was the reason this was a popular area for pottery and brick production.
After the tour the guide was asking me what else I was doing in the area and suggested a few things including a gallery in the downtown core. I don't do galleries but I had nothing else in mind so I spent the $4.00 and went in. $4.00 is a fairly inexpensive reminder of why I don't do galleries. Some peoples idea of art is just ridiculous.
I rode around aimlessly for a bit a stumbled upon a pawn shop which I checked out just for the hell of it. Nothing reached out to me so I carried on with my aimless ride for a while then went back to the trailer for a nap.
I tried the Irish pub for dinner tonight hoping to find something Irish on the menu. Maybe Southern Albert is too redneck for curray 'cause again there was none. I had a beef dip and watched a little nascar. Around 2200hrs I went back to the Blue Turtle because it is close to the campground and the one waitress really knows how to display her asset's. There were three guys who worked on drilling rigs there. The leadhand of the others put $150 into the VLT (video slot machines) and his tab was over $200 for drinks. More money than brains comes to mind but that's just me.

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Photos

inside a kiln
The walls are about 6 feet high and the roof slopes up another 5 or 6 feet. It's solid brick and the walls are about 2.5 to 3 feet thick. Inside is about 20 feet in diameter and these fire boxes are all the way around. A natural gas fire in each one would get the internal temp as high as 1800 degrees celsius.

inside a kiln
the heat would build at the top and push down through the vented floor to escape out the chimney from below ground level. This ensured even heating.

inside a kiln
It took two days to stack, brick up the doors and plug the holes in the roof. Up to two more days to fire depending on what they were curing, two days to cool down and two days to empty out.

25 gallon crock
the biggest crocks produced here were 25 imperial gallons

the origin of the Teddy Bear
and now you know the rest of the story