Ha, so the forge finally learned to hold temp and your billet learned to become a shooting star. That is the classic trap though, the heat gets perfect and suddenly your brain says "coffee run, nothing can go wrong." I get around it by putting my coffee on the bench before I even light the fire, so there is no reason to walk off. When the steel looks just right, that is your cue to stay put and stare at it like a hawk. Cheap lesson is right, that is like a $40 tuition payment to the school of hard knocks.

My buddy Ray up in Twin Falls started doing the same thing three summers ago, mostly as a joke to mess with his wife. He talks to his peppers now, tells them good morning and everything, and he swears the big thing is it makes him stop and actually look at the leaves instead of just hosing everything down and walking off. He found spider mites early that year and caught them before they spread to the whole row. Dale might not be lucky at all, he might just be paying attention. Slowing down and looking at one plant at a time sounds like the real trick there, not the talking part.