Sat, September 29, 2018

Walkin’ at Benson’s

Beautiful day out here today. Early fall and sunny with a little breeze. Grabbed coffee and breakfast at the Benson’s Bakery Cafe and then walked a short loop around the park. I didn’t bring my big camera so a very photogenic blue jay perched on the fence for us by the dog park. 

Early morning at Logan

Dropped Alyssa off at Logan earlier in the week to fly back to San Diego.

One last hug

Hoping to finish up the trench for the in-law apartment walkway today. Just a few more feet that needs to be taken down to 7 inches and then back-fill with sifted clay to establish an even bed.

I’ll probably do my photo shoot with the tie fighters and x-wing once the bed is clean and flat. Likely tomorrow. Recent events have made this a bit of a bitter-sweet thing and I don’t expect to go as elaborate as I would likely have otherwise…but the chance to do something is too good to pass up.

I’m likely to do some more work coding over the weekend to get ahead of the curve. Lots to get done and some interesting architectural improvements that can likely be made. 

Also likely to try to get some general purpose coding done and a bit more RepRap, Prusa i3 research done. Perhaps I can get Malcolm to fab me the plastics I’ll need soon…I should look at appropriate filament and buy a spool to support that effort.

The trench is fully dug out…now to refill it to seven inches deep with sifted soil.

Fri, September 28, 2018

I’m coming to the conclusion that I’m going to disconnect from the new and politics out there for a while. The current brand of chaos is making me crazy and there are better and more productive things to do with my time.

Hoping to get the walkway finished soon. Should be able to start putting aggregate into the trench this weekend…may be late in the weekend as I need to refill with packed, sifted clay to level the bed first.

Dropped another wheelbarrow full of small rocks on the drip line under the bay window last night. Should clean that area up a bit with the mulch coming up to the rocks and the rocks keeping erosion down.

Once the walkway is done, I’ll need to get the terracing in the middle bed area going. I’ve now got the dirt needed to bulk up the retaining rock rings and the sifter to clean up the fill before I add it. I do need the walkway in place in order to have a clear path for the wheelbarrow trips.

Spent last night doing some work coding. Looks like I’ll probably spend tonight doing more of the same. Some good code clean up along with added functionality so win-win.

Wed, September 26, 2018

Weird morning out there today. Yesterday was quite chilly with a distinct fall tang in the air and rain falling down. This morning was warm and humid enough for condensation to have accumulated on the pumpkin by the door.

Messy commute in to work as well as they were diverting all traffic off of the road that runs through Greely park in Nashua onto residential streets that wandered far and wide before eventually finding their way back to route 3 well into Merrimack.

This is Alyssa’s last full day here in New Hampshire before she heads back to San Diego. It was nice having her home for a stretch. Sad that we won’t be seeing her for the better part of a year now. Early tomorrow morning we’ll be driving her in to Logan and saying goodbye for a stretch.

This weekend I’ll be back to finishing up the trench that will host the walkway from the in-law apartment to the driveway. Only about four feet left to dig out to depth…then back fill with screened clay and tamp down. I was intending to play with some Star Wars shots before adding the aggregate, but with events over the last few weeks I’m losing my enthusiasm…may still do it, but without the sparkle I was feeling previously.

3D Print

A friend at work owns a Prusa RepRap and brought it in for some of the engineers to try out. I was having a hard time getting my STL file handed off so I routed it through my blog. Not the most exciting shape, but then I’m just learning how to drive Fusion 360…

Sample 3D print

Body1.stl