What a fun weekend! Saturday afternoon we had some friends over, cooked hot dogs and potatoes in a campfire and tapped a keg of Foothills Brewery’s Sexual Chocolate Stout. Sunday, Jacob and I went to check out a friend’s new 10-acre slice-of-heaven in Northern Orange County. A couple of the guys had brought their arsenal […]

Today marks the sixth consecutive day (July 3rd – 8th) of 100 degrees or higher here in the Triangle and that sets a new record. The previous record was five consecutive days set last Summer from July 20 to July 24, 2011. Today’s 105 degree temperature also sets a new record for this day (previous […]

  Thanks to Suzanne Unger Young for the photos in this post The 2012 Doughman race was another great success for team @Overheight When Flashing@ – sponsored by 11foot8.com. We finished in 8th place, again, out of 82 teams this year – so again, like last year,  a top-ten-percent performance for our team at this […]

Auf Deutsch hier … During spring break we took Wally and Cleo on their first over night trip with us. We loaded  them on their trailer and hauled them 100 miles South, to a horse farm near Southern Pines. The weather was great – dry and sunny and in the 60s – so not too […]

März ist Ausnahmezustand hier in NCAA Country – March Madness steckt alle hier an. Besonders hier in North Carolina, wo wir dieses Jahr 4 Basketball teams in der nationalen Hochschulmeisterschaft hatten. Vor ein paar Minuten hat es UNC  in das regionale Endspiel geschafft. Das heisst das Team ist eins von 8 Teams die noch von […]

The Great Beer Quest of 2012 was a smashing success! Just look at these four beauties! Last night at 11PM, I met Oz, Derek and Dan in Hillsborough, they piled into the Beast and we roared over to W/S to Foothills Brewery. We hung out at the release party for the Sexual Chocolate Stout and […]

This morning, Irene made landfall near Cape Lookout on the North Carolina coast as a Cat 1 hurricane. We’re about 180 miles (290 KM) inland from Cape Lookout and so Irene was not a big threat to us. Still, we stocked up on food, gas for the grill and gasoline for the chainsaw. Just in […]

Today, at 1:51 PM I was in the bathroom getting ready to take a shower after a long run this morning and an hour of horseback riding, when the damn house started shaking. “Wow – that’s an earthquake” I thought. I was right – it was a 5.9 earthquake in Virginia that was felt all […]

July was a scorcher. Today we hit another record high temperature of 104 Deg. F (40° C). Last week was even worse, due to the high humidity we had the heat index reach 115 Deg. F (gefühlte 46° C) . On those days you just could just go outside and stand there …  and sweat. […]

Yesterday, two NC DOT workers carefully measured the clearance of the crash beam of the 11foot8 bridge. The question as to whether the signage is actually accurate – especially after the recent re-paving of Gregson St – has now been settled. The actual clearance is 11 feet and 10.8 inches (or 11.90 feet or 3.63 […]

Nothing says “summer is here” more than a couple of muggy mid-90 days over Memorial Day weekend, building a tree house and catching fish in the pond. Last weekend, I completed our treehouse. Well, it’s not so much a “house” as a platform in the tree – about 15 feet (5m) above the ground. It […]

We are proud to present the 11foot8 Team @Overheight When Flashing@! This intrepid team of athletes will take on the Doughman Race on May 28 – a challenging eating/athletic competition right here in Durham. This race is also a fundraiser for SEEDS – a local nonprofit that builds community gardens and teaches kids to grow […]

The pair of wild Canada Geese in our back yard had 4 goslings last week. Today, on Easter Sunday, I got close enough for some pictures and some video.

Last week, a producer from MSNBC’s “Caught on Camera” contacted me about using my truck crash footage and about doing an interview.I was not so sure about doing a TV interview, but I couldn’t really think of any good reason not to do it, except that I probably would look like a dork. So I […]

This weekend was supermoon weekend and the weather was beautifully warm and clear here in NC. We stayed up late with the kids and the horses playing in the moonlight. Click on the photo above – it links to a gallery of some of my recent moon-lit night photos (including the shots from this weekend).

Ah … the Irish. What can I say – they know how to party. Dain Phelan and Zack Wheeler yesterday at Dain’s Place in Durham: I don’t much care for catholic saints, but David Plotz’ story about Ireland’s patron saint is pretty interesting: According to Thomas Cahill, author of How the Irish Saved Civilization, Paddy’s […]

Time for a new truck crash video compilation. This is the Sergio Leone remix of the 2010 truck crashes at the Gregson St. railroad trestle. Enjoy! Es ist mal wieder Zeit fuer einen Kompilationsfilm der LKW-Enthauptungen an unserer beruechtigten Eisenbahnbruecke hier in Durham in North Carolina. Diesmal ist der Film Sergio Leone gewidmet undf seinem […]

Today I went to the Durham Police Department to file an identity theft report because someone took out a payday loan using my name. When you research ID theft, most advice emphasizes the importance of filing a  police report. However, the officer I spoke with said he cannot do a report because the crime did […]

It’s fall and the snakes are on the move. A while ago, Laura and I saw a (we think) Northern Watersnake by the pond and recently, I had to kill a big Copperhead near the horses shelter (and hay storage). A few days ago, I caught a juvenile Ratsnake inside the hay storage, and today […]

Today was the hottest day this year, so far: 96 Deg. F / 35 Deg. C and max humidity at 90%. Summer has begun in Durham!