Day 886

Day 886...

Before we headed out on our early morning walk Simon spent a little time setting up the 3D printer. He had the print from overnight to remove, which is always a bit of a tricky job, and then the next print to set going as this was going to take most of the day. 

We had a bit of a longer walk this morning managing 3.3 miles in 1 hour and 11 minutes which was a bit of a slower pace due to the picking of blackberries. I think this is the third week we have been able to pick berries when out on our walk and we filled a tub that resulted in 600g of blackberries for the freezer.

Next on the agenda was a trip out to Ikea which we did with a short stop by our local recycling centre as we had a few items that we needed to get rid of. At Ikea we purchased some new everyday cups, three new saucepans and a couple of drawer organiser inserts.

Whilst at the retail park we decided to pop into the sports store Decathlon for no other reason than to just have a look around. As it was we found a couple of 5kg bar weights that will not only work for the bar but will also work as an alternate to my dumbbells. I already use a couple of 5kg dumbbells but find them awkward to hold for a couple of exercises but these new weights are shaped like a steering wheel and will be much easier for me to move about.

New weights, working out this evening

We arrived home and it was time for our first meal of the day...our lunch/brunch or whatever we want to call it and we were both more than ready for it today. Some days the hunger just gets to you!

Then for some reason my mood was just 'off' this afternoon, I didn't know what to do with myself and so we put on some random daft TV programme. I even attempted my jigsaw but couldn't lose myself in it like I would normally. So we decided that we would head down the gym and for me it was an arm and shoulders work out tonight.

Over the course of the day Simon has had great success with not only successful 3D prints but also completing his latest piece of digital art. The only downside he discovered was that he'd painted the details on the wrong piece of his recent R2D2 prints. He'd diligently and carefully added painted detail over the course of the weekend and then this evening realised that out of the two very similar looking pieces he had printed he'd painted the wrong one. Hopefully he will be able to sand back the paint and recover both pieces; just a tad annoying as it was a very slow and precise painting process that he will now have to repeat.

And with that I will see you all tomorrow.
xx

Day 884

Day 884...

We had a gentle start to the day and with a coffee inside us we headed out on our early(ish) morning walk but today we had a destination ahead of us. We walked the 2.2 miles over to 'The Cowshed', a local cafe, in 43 minutes to meet up with my brother and his wife for breakfast.

We had a lovely cooked breakfast, a couple of coffees and a couple of hours of catching up and a good old chat. Amazingly the return walk (the exact same route as we'd taken to get there) was also completed in 43 minutes and according to my activity tracker I achieved 70 minutes of 'fat burning' exercise - get in!

On our return home it was time for another coffee and an afternoon of getting a few odd jobs done. While I jumped online and did a little shopping Simon spent the time getting productive with his 3D printer.

I've ordered a soda stream because we are fed up of not being able to buy sparkling water and figured a small investment now would save us in the long run plus we'll be using less plastic. We also ordered a couple of wooden shelves for our study/craft room so that I can display my recently bought Disney Funko Pop figures. And I updated our grocery shopping order for collection tomorrow, although I am getting more and more unhappy with the service as more and more items seem to be unavailable. I just don't understand why staples like eggs and mushrooms are not available; shopping is an annoyingly necessary activity and this just makes it even more so.

We have also signed ourselves up to one of our Star Wars troops for a few weeks time. It has been awhile since our last troop as we couldn't get back out there until Simon's broken wrist was out of its cast; no way his stormtrooper armour would have fitted over that! So it's great to know that we have a date on the calendar and can look forward to getting back out there with our fellow cosplayers.

Simon's afternoon has been spent recalibrating his 3D printer after he'd had a failed print earlier in the week. He'd been attempting to print a large model in one very long print (about 3 days long) but had suffered a blockage in the extruder! Sounds painful I know, but basically the filament that feeds through to create the print had just jammed. So once it had been cleared Simon decided to recalibrate the printer and with the help of a YouTube video was able to get everything dialled in and working as best as it could. He has also decided to not risk a long print and so instead has 'sliced' the model into much smaller pieces, although once all the pieces have been printed they will require some assembly!

While Simon got all technical with the printer I kept things a lot simpler and moved some jigsaw pieces around.

And that was Saturday. See you all tomorrow.
xx

Day 863 & 864 - Another Weekend

Day 863...

Simon was up and out early this morning for a 7.30am barbers appointment! After he arrived home we had a coffee before popping on our walking shoes and venturing out for a longer walk than normal. As it had been a bit wet overnight we kept to the pavements and headed in the direction of a local garden centre that has a lovely cafe called Piptree Cafe.

It was a 2.2 mile walk which we managed in 40 minutes and then we had the same journey home again. The day was rather grey and looked like it could rain at any minute so we went out armed with an umbrella and rain coats and needed none of them! Typical!

After a bit of brunch we had a decidedly lazy afternoon. It was raining off and on and Simon had his latest piece of digital art that he was desperate to get completed. I had a few online bits to do but then spent the remainder of my time just chilling and watching some TV and some YouTube.

After a very lovely keto dinner of black pepper chicken stir fry we settled down for the evening to watch a couple of Drag Race shows. We had the final of All Stars Season 7 which has been phenomenal to watch and in our opinion the right queen won. And then we started watching the second series of Drag Race Down Under.

Day 864...

The day started a little later than usual and after a coffee we decided that a walk was very much needed. Not sure what was up with me this morning (and the majority of the weekend if I'm honest) but I was struggling to feel motivated and actually felt quite grumpy. I'd hoped that getting out for a walk might have lifted my mood but I'm not sure it made any significant difference. 

It was another grey day following rain over night and again looked like it could rain at any moment, although it was surprisingly warm. We kept to a flatter route and tried to avoid too many wet fields but we still clocked up 3.5 miles in 1 hour and 6 minutes.

While I had the exciting task of updating our online grocery shopping ahead of collection tomorrow Simon was focused on cleaning up his recent set of 3D prints. This involves sanding the pieces to remove any lumps and bumps that shouldn't be there along with smoothing out the lines that appear with a 3D print, followed by the application of a resin filler to fill in the gaps and help create a smoother surface.

I made a start on my newest jigsaw which by the power of Amazon was ordered yesterday and had arrived by late morning. I have still not found the missing piece of my last jigsaw so have packed it away in the hope that it may show up at some point in the future. But today I was able to get the edge completed of my new Winnie the Pooh themed one...

Simon has been able to hook up a special camera to his 3D printer which means that he will be able to keep an eye on the printer from wherever he may be, which as the printer is at the opposite end of the house to where Simon normally works is going to be pretty useful. He can even control the printer from the app that runs along with the camera! It's a nice safety feature to have in case a print gets too hot (although it should shut down automatically) or if it starts to misprint. This way Simon will be able to avoid unnecessary errors and the waste of printer filament.

And then for the first time in like forever we had our Disney Dream Girls Sunday meet-up/quiz. We started doing a weekly quiz on a Sunday sometime in 2020 when the world was going mad and we'd been pretty good at making it a regular weekly occurrence but as life became more 'normal' and our lives resumed it had become harder to find time when everyone was free to 'meet up'. Since out last meet-up it would appear Zoom have reduced the amount of free time you have to chat and so our little chit chat was cut short and we didn't even get around to having the quiz element! But we have put next Sunday in our diaries and so hopefully then we will be able to chat and quiz!

OK, I think I will sign off and see you all tomorrow.
xx

Day 849

Day 849...

Our Saturday started with a walk over the fields of 2.4 miles in 47 minutes; it started off refreshingly cool but by time we arrived home the temperature had already warmed up significantly.

Before it got too warm we headed down to Lidl to buy some salad and bits that we'd run out of. And once back home we were home for the rest of the day.

And the main focus of our day was building and setting up Simon's new 3D printer. We started with a big brown box and an empty space where the old printer had lived...

The printer was beautifully packaged and came in essentially three main parts and a set of tools for assembly...

It was then time to get out the instructions and get assembling.

The printer bed

Printer head and support beams in place

Glass print plate in place, along with touch pad controls

Next we took a break for lunch, we needed refuelling as the next job was getting all the wiring connected and threaded in the right places.

With everything connected we then had to ensure that the filament extruded correctly and that the bed was level...it was then time to do a test print.

Start of the print

In progress...can you tell what it is yet?

And then we have the finished result...

The printer is much quieter than Simon's previous printer and a darn sight quicker. And as I type Simon has just started a print of a small addition for his R2D2!

And while the new printer was busy printing Simon was dismantling the old one and scavenging it for spare parts, useful nuts and bolts and probably some greeblies along the way (the odds and sods that get added to Star Wars props...if you know, you know!).

By the end of the evening the printer was working hard at its second R2D2 part and was performing pretty good. The old printer, being a basic early entry into the world of 3D printing, had worked well for us but had not always been the most reliable being prone to various issues so hopefully this model will prove to be a tad more reliable.

And with that I will see you all tomorrow.
xx