Cymbidium Time

A bit disappointing that only one of my Cymbidium orchid plants has produced a spike of flowers this year.
At least I have half a dozen large blooms on that plant.

Frog Spawn

In February, when we had an unseasonable spell of warm weather, I had heard frogs croaking in the garden pond. I only heard them the once so it was with some surprise I saw they had been busy in the meantime spawning in spite of the drop in temperature and the icy winds we are now enjoying.

A bit fuzzy as the gusty wind was making hand help shots a tad difficult:

Blue is the Colour ....

.... I had chosen to use as a theme when I was ordering Spring bulbs last Autumn.

Hanging basket:



with Winter flowering Pansies still going strong along with Russian Snowdrops and Hyacinths.

Planter:



more Pansies, Hyacinths and Russian Snowdrops along with a few Muscari.

As it was about 1C with a bitter wind my hands were feeling more than a bit blue when I took those photographs this morning.

Panic Stations

The saga starts about a month ago. Phone call from doctor's surgery - time for my 3 monthly blood check for kidney function. Earliest appointment to get it done at the local surgery, three weeks away. I duly turn up at the appointed time. Blood pressure checks OK. Attempt to draw blood from right arm - fail, nothing. Attempt on left arm - fail,  just one drop. Apparently there is some rule or recommendation that only two attempts are allowed.

I'm given the choice of trying to make a new appointment with a different nurse or have it done at the local hospital. I chose the hospital. I turned up bright and early as the queue is always short at that time of day. Within 30 seconds of my turn being called all is done successfully and I am back on my way home.

Doctor receives the results next day and is not happy as they are 'borderline' so I have to go back to the hospital the next day to give more samples. Again all runs smoothly. This time the doctor receives the results by the afternoon and thinks they show abnormalities and insists I attend the hospital Urgent Care Centre straight away. (The UCC replaced the A&E unit)

More blood samples taken. Those had to be sent to another, fairly local, hospital for testing. I had to hang around until the results are sent through. Estimate about an hour and a half. Meanwhile I get a BP and ECG check. BP a bit high. Usually is when I go anywhere near a medical unit of any sort. ECG turned out to be normal. Doctor listens to heart. All OK.

After another two hours the blood test results came through. Most within normal levels. Just Potassium is slightly raised.  Referred back to my local doctor for continuous checking.  Given some advice on what to watch out for with my diet as raised Potassium in the blood increases the chance of a heart attack.

My doctor wanting an immediate hospital check didn't do a lot for my panic level but the thorough check up showing I'm still in decent shape for my age made it worth it in the long run. One thing I can say from my experiences of local NHS services over the past 20 - 25 years, in spite of all its staffing and money problems, if they perceive a need for swift action they don't hold back.

Lantern

I've been meaning for a while to photograph one of the seed cases from a Chinese Lantern plant.
They have been left outside in all weathers until tonight.



Photo taken with an iPod using its built in LED light.

Tinkering

Last week I was experimenting with printing 3D nuts and bolts / screws.
FreeCAD includes data for many standard sizes.
This is a 12mm screw + nut:

 

What I found was when printing a 12mm screw and then the corresponding 12mm nut, the nut was slightly too small and wouldn't fit. In the end I had to increase the size of the nut in the X and Y directions by about 10% in Cura to produce one which fits.

This week I have had a look at TinkerCAD. This is an on line 3D modelling site run by Autodesk.
Free to join up and experiment with. One can start with basic 3D solid shapes and 'tinker' with them to produce whatever your imagination can come up with. An ideal site for beginners to CAD (computer aided design), such as myself.

Once I had gone through all the basic tutorials what to build as a first project?
A small free standing sign with my amateur radio callsign came to mind.



The base is made from a basic cube, stretched and resized.
Fortunately a block letter alphabet is included in the choice of 3D shapes.
These were added singly, rotated and moved to fit on top of the base block.
There are very easy, once learned, facilities for aligning the various parts.

Once designing was finished the project was saved to the laptop as a .stl file.
Then loaded in Cura to produce the instructions for the 3D printer.
Temporary thin supports had to be included in the instructions for sections of the design which would be created overhanging the base level.

Resulting 3D print:

 

Once the temporary supports had been removed:

 

The base may look as though it is a solid lump but it is mainly hollow with a 20% infill of criss cross supports. Total print time 1hr 9min..

Resting

Seen resting under the sneck on my side gate:



It was there at 2p.m. yesterday and still there at 10a.m. this morning.