With the meteorological fall a mere two weeks away, I thought I would share a maple leaf from one of the ones growing in my yard as a reminder the cold winds and long dark nights are nearing for those of us in the northern hemisphere.

Here in the far northern reaches of Minnesota, the next month's forecast holds early September frosts for us. Though they are long range forecasting a warmer winter this year. A bit easier than the many days of -0F we had last year I hope. My old bones can feel the season's change coming.

My dogs can already smell the fall days afield in pursuit of a ruffed grouse or two. And maybe a sharptail or two also if my repaired knee is up to that.

We had a fun storm last night. An estimated 60mph/100kph straight line winds and heavy rain. It was amazing just how much you notice a wind storm like that even in the middle of the forest. The rain was nearly horizontal coming through the yard. Even though it rained like a cow pissin' on a flat rock, I have no idea of what the rainfall was. Because you don’t get much rain in the guage when it’s nearly horizontal.

Anyway, the power was also out from about 6:30ish pm to 4am this morning. But the boys from our electric co-op (all 6 of them) must have busted their balls all night to get things running again.

And now there is a heat advisory for today and tomorrow. Highs in the mid 80s and the wet bulb is at 80. The AC is going to get a real workout today.

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