Kiln bottom free fall

I am the proud owner of a spankin' new L&L e23T-3 Easy Fire electric kiln. All 310 pounds of this baby plus 150 pounds of accompanying parts were unloaded on a wooden pallet into the street in front of our house this evening.

I expect, thirty years from now, after we have hundreds of firings behind us and the kiln is running better than I am, I will look back on this evening and laugh--ha ha--about how it wasn't until after someone started opening the lid that we noticed, for shipping, the kiln bottom was packed atop the kiln top, and the bottom began its free fall toward the pavement.

We might have had an easier time avoiding calamity had the UPS guy come between 4-6pm, as scheduled, rather than at 6:45, well after sunset (and, as I predicted to the friends who came over for dinner, exactly when the oven timer dinged to let us know the popovers were done).

Fortunately, kiln triage conducted on the front porch suggests the damage is nothing that a spankin' new L&L Brick Repair Kit can't fix (assuming the injured patient survives the critical first night).

Thirty years from now, we'll also have learned whether launching vital kiln parts onto the street brings good luck, like christening an airplane; and whether, having survived its harrowing maiden flight, the kiln will choose a quiet life (bisquing greenware, cone 6 glazing) over an exciting one (igniting the front porch and burning down the house).