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How was your Bank Holiday – Replacing the shed roof

Picture of a wooden she, the roof can be seen and a window, The sky is bright blue with white clouds

Did you do anything exciting on your bank holiday if your here in the UK.

We visited a family members house and reroofed and re-felted there old shed. Parts were rotten and water was getting in.

Not a quick job and one we had been putting off due the high heat in the UK recently, but this weekend was forecast to be cooler.

So tow bar on our electric estate car, trailer hooked up and a trip to the local builders merchant. Wood purchased and off to the shed. The rotten wood all pulled off, and replaced, a fresh sheet of wood on the roof and a re-felt.

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Dolly Parton a true saint

A screen print from Trio Album staring Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris

Dolly Parton could have been a Billionaire, but she chose to use the wealth she earned with her immense talent to help people, from funding vaccines to her book program for the under fives, even books in brail.

A true Christian who believed in love and charity, and who did not judge.

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Brackets

Red haired model in studio, holding a greycard for the photographer to get a white balance reading

Many photographers with smaller cameras use brackets on them to assist. I have an L bracket on my Nikon Z7 all the time, that pairs with an arca swiss head. Making it easy to use when shooting landscapes and working in the studio on a tripod.

Southwold Pier. A dark blue sky and white buildings gleaming in the bright sunlight

I also have a Small Rig on my Nikon Zf which as well as adding a Araca support improves handing.

Screen capture from Kickstarter of the Field Brackets by Peak Design.

I now see we have a kick starter event from Peak Designs. This is a adaptable design for several cameras.

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Virtual Machine Manager – Synology makes an Oops

Summary of Synology Virtual Machine Manager console showing it in a healthy state.

I updated my main NAS today and unfortunately found that none of my virtual machines running on it would start. Unfortunately my main DNS server and filtering software was running on that.

A quick internet search found this:

Users upgrading to DSM 7.4.1-90080 have reported that Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) fails to initialize correctly, specifically causing the virtual network switch and storage pool to remain inactive.  This issue was observed on models like the DS723+ running VMM version 2.7.0-12229, where virtual machines lost network connectivity and the system reported errors despite the underlying binaries being present. 

The root cause was identified as a version incompatibility, with Synology support suggesting that the stable package branch was insufficient for the new DSM release. The resolution involved manually installing the VMM 2.8.0-12322 beta package.  After installing this beta version and recreating the virtual machine configuration, network and storage functionality was restored. 

  • Symptom: Virtual network switch and storage pool fail to initialize; VMs lose connectivity. 
  • Affected Version: VMM 2.7.0-12229 on DSM 7.4.1-90080. 
  • Fix: Install VMM 2.8.0-12322 (Beta) and reconfigure the virtual machine.
  • Warning: Ensure you have backups, as DSM 7.4.1 does not allow downgrading to previous versions.

First issue the beta was not available just an error message, then I remembered my DNS would be in fall back mode and some things might not be available. So I quickly pointed the NAS at an alternative and then beta software was available. I updated my virtual machine manager fixed the issues that caused and could then bring back up my virtual servers.

Bad testing from Synology but I suppose as this was a security update they may have had to rush it out. But some notes on the documentation would have been nice.

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VPN’s can you trust them

https://franklinetech.com/vpn-industry-2026

Black haired model with glasses, white blouse and pink jacket. She is sat typing onto a laptop

With authorities clamping down on what you can do on line, authoritarianism rising across the world, black hat hackers, scammers etc, the big tech companies spying on us; being on the internet can be a dangerous thing.

You may say; “I have nothing to hide, I am not doing anything illegal.”

But laws can change what today may be legal may not in five or ten years and what gets logged about you on the internet stays on the internet.

Using a private DNS, a privacy focused browser and reputable VPN can make you safer on line. A quick search will bring up options for DNS and browsers, but VPN’s are tricky. many are owned by the same parent company and there motives are suspect. Many of the review sites are also owned by the parent companies so the results are often their own vpn brands.

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Weekly Visit to Lincoln

Guild Hall area of Lincoln, the Stonebow arch can be seen as people on the high street walk through it.

As the summer continues, I still try and get into Lincoln as least once a week. This is a view I have taken shots of many times. In the high contrast of the summer sun its not an easy shot but will join my collection as I document the area over the years.

A view of Lincoln high street towards steep hill. It will soon be lunch so the tables are now out at the bars and coffee shops.