Believe it or not, there is a mile long island a half mile away, and it cannot be seen due to forest fire smoke. The Air Quality index is currently at 1650. It is considered unsafe for anyone to be outdoors now. And I can even smell the smoke inside the house now. There are no birbs flying around the yard and not even insects are in the air.

Usually, we can blame forest fire smoke on Canada, I do live quite close to the border. But this year, it's our own forests that are on fire. I'm about 150 miles west of the fires and the smoke caught up with us yesterday and has just gotten worse and will remain so until the fires are put out I think.

Kind of makes me glad I'm waiting on knee surgery next week and can't walk well enough to be out and about wandering the forest.

The yellow and white clover, along with the odd wild daisy, are blooming in my yard! So no mowing for another week or two.

I can sit in Grandma's Hootch and drink tea while looking at pretty flowers and the lake. It reminds me of a little mountain valley.

All the while knowing that in 10 or twelve weeks it will all be covered in snow again.

The beet crop is growing nicely. But we remain vigilant against the deer. Despite their best efforts, the string beans are holding their front. And have been reported as growing back. I have 7 nice peppers and some tiny tomatoes are appearing.

There has been ongoing discussions about investing in a paintball gun to repel the bandits. Scouting, has reported that 2 fawns have been sighted and added to the gang. But no firm consensus been reached or decision made by upper management. We may need to wait for the inevitable assault on the flowers. By then I fear it will be too late.

Report from the Northern front July 1 2026

I have spent parts of the last 2 days trying to finish calibrating a hardened stainless steel .60mm nozzle with Sunlu PLA+ 2.0 filament.

I have been trying to print a test cube and I couldn't get the first layer to stick period. I washed plates, I swapped plates, I removed the nozzle and reinstalled it.

I swapped different filament brands, and they all printed flawlessly. Try that Sunlu white PLA and instant failure again. I was about ready to admit defeat and dry my first spool of PLA ever because I could think of nothing else to do.

But I took one last look at my settings for this filament. And I finally noticed my flow ratio was set at .096 rather than .96. I didn't even know the slicer would allow a number that small.

Once again the error was found to be located between the chair and the screen.........

I had to water my planters due to the mere sprinkle of rain last night. So I took the time to much between the rows of my string beans and beets.

I used to be a Medic and Firefighter-- in short I was an adrenaline junkie. And now I'm old and retired. And my body is bent and currently a bit broken. I seek to learn how to be dull.

Despite the enjoyment of watching the hummingbirds at my feeders and the light gardening I do. I still think I could become even more satisfied with my dullness.

Guide me to complete dullness!

Get it while it's hot! New goodies to use and an improved UI for users.

The Nap Train rollin' on a Saturday afternoon

Discuss: How big of a disruption of the printer market is the H2 series printers going to be?

An Electric Amish original-- Gimmie Three Pigs