Dragon breathing

  We fired the salt kiln yesterday- 3 hours to load,9 to fire, our fourth firing,12kg salt,cone 10 well down in front.In a couple of hours I'm driving down to Yesod HaMaala to open the kiln with Sydney...as usual,neither of us has a clue what to expect [that's why we're doing it].Three [count them] pyrometers malfunctioned simultaneously at a critical point in the firing,I broke cone 7 loading the kiln,and a spare cone 9 perched on a [visible] shelf,our last means of temperature measurement,started to bend,then toppled over.The draw-rings were made of some unsympathetic white clay,and were unslipped,making them less than informative.Under such conditions,you just have to use your experience [between Sydney and myself,some 70 years], concentrate hard,and hope.