I now have an apprentice, a young woman of remarkable intelligence and determination.  Fearless, too.

Hey kids, I need some help here!

I have a probable commission coming up where I'm going to need some custom glass enclosures made for exterior lighting. At present it looks like I'll need twenty or thirty glass cylinders about 4" diameter by 16" tall, with one closed end. They'll probably be clear glass, or cloudy/streaky - I don't think we're looking at colors at this point, anyway.

I just received the new infrared pyrometer I ordered last week. What a dandy little item!

The thing reads from about 50 below zero to just a frog hair over 3000 degrees Fahrenheit by infrared emissivity scanning and also has an optional (included) Type K thermocouple rated from 60 below to 2500 F. It has an output port to a PC for temp logging and other functions too, though I don't yet know how useful that all is - haven't tried it. All that for under $200 with shipping. Amazing, really.

I'm in the process of thinking about a trip to England with my brother, possibly in March or April. I'm looking for recommendations on people and places to see, shops to visit, etc. We'll probably be there for two weeks or so, if the trip actually comes together, with no fixed itinerary and lots of freedom to wander. Suggestions, anyone?

I finally finished up a fabricated railing project that has been languishing for a couple of months. This is for the house that my brother used to own down here and the railing needed to match the style of the existing ironwork - stuff he'd made when we did all the remodeling on the place eight or ten years ago. So I pretty much had to try to match his design style, which was a bit of a challenge for me.  The final railing is pretty much all straightforward fabricated work with one tiny little piece of forging for an accent.  :-) .