Dog Update – Sad News

Please be advised this hasn’t got a happy ending!

You have been warned.

A bit of a hard one to write. Sadly we had to let Bella go today. She bled 5 times since yesterday evening. The vet went to do the op on the teeth and sadly her blood tests showed that she was failing fast. She basically was losing platelets so her blood wouldn’t be able to clot.

They therefore couldn’t do the operation as she was also so anemic that caused a problem, dehydration was setting in, so they put her on a drip which thinned the platelets more. They had a blood transfusion set for tomorrow but they couldn’t be sure that it wasn’t delaying the inevitable. They also couldn’t be sure that if she started bleeding then she wouldn’t stop.

They think that she may have had some form of tumour causing the bleeding.

We therefore had to make the extremely hard decision… I am a firm believer of it’s better to be a day too soon than a day too late.

Dog Update

First off, thank you to everyone who passed on positive waves and good vibes and also for asking after her health. Well the good news is she is still with us. The bad news is she still hasn’t had her op. This is primarily because of the weather. The boats have been somewhat erratic of late.

They wanted her on drugs prior to the op to basically thicken the blood. Unfortunately they didnt have any left…They were really good and sent Esther to the pharmacy (the human one) with a prescription for Tranexmatic Acid. From my understanding this is what you give haemophiliacs. So although she is still bleeding at times is it a bit of a dribble, rather than the sudden gush like normal.

If you want a graphic idea of what I mean, get some nice runny red paint and fill about half a cup of it then drop it from about a foot and a half. Oh yeah,… for the full effect get someone to chase you through the house while doing this to simulate trying to get hold of the dog while she is getting upset. Repeat once or twice a day.

Needless to say stress levels were a bit high during these episodes.

Honestly though she is a lot brighter than before the medication. We reckon blood loss would have made her very lethargic and feeling like crap.

Esther is phoning the vet tomorrow to see if they have any ideas on a timescale as the tablet’s run out in three days.

So here is the old lady in her usual pose…

A Close Call

I did a little job today in that I replaced the rope around the fire door and glass. The glass is held in by 4 bolts and a piece of metal that sits up against the glass. Top two took a bit of coaxing but with the help of the impact driver they loosened. Bottom two we’re an absolute sod. Suddenly I felt a sharp pain below my right eye.

Turns out this tiny bit of metal had sheared off and took off like a bullet…

Can you guess who wasn’t wearing eye protection. To be honest I generally don’t when I am screwing or unscrewing something. Maybe I should start.

Sadly no painting tonight as everything was aching.

Hopefully I will get on with it tomorrow!

A Bit of a Printer Issue

So yesterday I said that I had ordered new printers. This is one of the reasons why.

I printed twelve pumpkins for my mate…

Now the more mathematically aware of you may reason that either I am really crap at counting or that there may have been some issues with the print.

In fact I printed them twice, I actually turned the Vat around to see if it was the FEP. Funnily enough I got the same number second time around.

Both times I lost five of them. I used heavy supports and printed at an angle, but still had failures.

I also had some weird extrusions too…

So as these are the same two in the foreground it may be that particular model. I have two of the larger ones and the one not shown is fine.

If you look at the mounted one below, they have a failed sword, I have had to print numerous heads and shields for the knights too.

I will have a proper check of the machine to see what may be the cause. But I am getting about 25% of the build plate that fails about 75% of the time.

Spending Money

Well Black Friday arrived arrived and I decided to upgrade/replace/ double up both printers.

Because I am a bit of a stingy chap I went for the Mars3 pro and basically the Ender3 v3.

I decided to go for something I know and also because I wasn’t going mental with high spec gear the price was really good.

The Mars has a bigger build plate, and a 4K monochrome light/screen. This will give me better resolution, but to be honest the bigger screen is more the selling point. The Ender 3 upgrade has a self levelling bed as well as a pile more improvements then mine and the 3pro.

Both of mine are being a smidge temperamental. The resin keeps giving me partial failures and the filament one needs an overhaul as it keeps doing weird things.

Am I going to go mental printing tons of stuff… nope… the print ban is still holding. I did some stuff for my mate, but that’s it since I printed the cannon for Grimdark future…

Just Call Me Rip

Flippin Heck I put myself to bed at 16.00 yesterday and woke up at 12.40 today. That’s a twenty hour snooze. I think I may have needed it.

I moved one of the sockets up about 2cm today to allow the skirting board a bit of a lift too. That just about finished me off.

I didn’t even try to get anything painted this evening.

Hopefully normal service will return tomorrow.

The Coolest Thing I ever Found

What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever found (and kept)?

I suppose there are two that fit this criteria. The first was a piece of Roman amphora from 20 metres down in the Mediterranean. It was from a second century wreck. I may have been the next person to touch it in the 1800 years since it was lost.

The second thing was another piece of pottery this time Samian from the Roman period. This one is cooler than the first as I know the person who touched it before me was from the first to second century AD. How do I know this. Well a little rabbit had made a burrow and kindly kicked it out just before I came along.

Luckily for me both were outside of any protected area so they were both classed as waste.

If I knew where they were I would add a photograph of them.

500 Steps

So in the sort of Words of the Proclaimers

“I will walk 500 steps and I will walk 500 more just to be the man who falls down at your door.

I managed just under one thousand steps today. Most of it has been spent feeling crap in bed.

I reckon I will still be here tomorrow if my wife is anything to go by. In fact the whole family is under the weather.

I couldn’t even be bothered to watch YouTube. Well I started watching It and kind of woke up to various Christmas crafting videos.

Waiting, waiting, waiting

So today is my bone density scan day. Arrived early for the appointment… I would like to say that the waiting area is crap. Good job I am not getting a body temperature scan… every time I move, this happens….

The seats are uncomfortable so I keep shuffling. There is no heating in this bit and the outdoor temperature is really chilly.

They have a mobile scanner up and this doorway is the closest to the truck. I shouldn’t really complain as it is free.

I Broke Myself

Sadly I managed to agitate my poly myalgia today. Basically the track needed re levelling. Basically it was time for its biannual digger visit. Even though I was sat in said digger I still managed to set everything aching. I therefore managed no painting this evening.