Yesterday afternoon, we took the kids to the airport and sent them on a 3-week vacation in New Hampshire. They are staying with Laura’s brother and they are helping him to fix up the house on Squam Lake where he intends to retire soon. So for the first time in 17 yeas, Laura and I are alone at home. No kids. Just the two of us … well, and all the critters, of course.
So this is sort of our trial-membership in the empty-nest club. So far – so good. We only called the kids once today. Yesterday we ate out and watched the fireworks at the ball park. Today, I cooked biodiesel batch # 133 and Laura cleaned the bathroom and worked on Cleo’s hoofs. We had a nice grilled veggies and shrimp dinner at home. It’s nice, in a way, but we do think about the kids a lot.
Of course, they are the ones who are on an adventure and they get to see a new part of the country: Vermont and New Hampshire. They get to hang out on the lake and hike in the mountains and enjoy the nice, cooler weather up North. So I am also a bit jealous, but that’s OK. It’s a much bigger deal for them to strike out on their own. It’ will be a good brother-sister bonding experience before Julia goes to college this fall. And they do get to hang out with different part of the family up there and maybe make new friends. If all goes well, it’ll be a big confidence boost for them. And these three weeks will allow Laura and me to see what it’s like when the little ones have flown the nest.
Monday morning, two trucks from Enterprise Rental crashed into the canopener. The first one at 7AM and the second one around 10:30 AM. In the second incident, the passenger was injured when his head hit the windshield, presumably because he did not wear his seat belt. So the fire department and EMS showed up and he had to be taken away by ambulance. Around lunch time I got calls from two TV reporters (TWCN and Channel 11) who wanted to interview me at the “expert ” for the 11foot8 bridge! Must have been a very slow newsday …
On Thursday, yet another truck hit the bridge – a moving truck from “Two Men and a Truck.” This one did not get stuck, though – he made it all the way, albeit a bit torn up. Well, here are the videos. Enjoy!
Yesterday morning, we had to take Henry to the vet to have him euthanized. His health had seriously deteriorated over the last few days. So when he could no longer get up or drink, it was time. He was 15 years old. Earlier this year, his health had started to decline after he had had what we think was a stroke. But despite getting weaker and having trouble eating, he did spend quite a bit of time in the back yard, hunting mice and shrews or spend hours just sitting in the sun at the little pond, watching the goldfish. He was great cat, very affectionate and tenacious. We will miss him.
Posted in cats, Our gang|Comments Off on Henry the cat, R.I.P.
Today was Julia’s High School graduation. She was valedictorian of her class of 70 graduates from Middle College High School, so she got to do a speech at graduation. Her class got almost 1.5 million in scholarship money for college! We’re super proud of her!! In August, she will start studying at American University in Washington, DC.
[UPDATE: video below]
[UPDATE 2: added text of her speech]
Last Saturday, we had dinner with our neighbors and then we lit a bonfire and had some more drinks. For dinner Laura had made a nice, Togo-inspired stew out of two of their roosters. The roosters had become a bit of problem in their chicken coop; the Rhode Island Red was very tasty while the Bantam was good, too, but no as tender of flavorful. These are some of the photos I took that night. F-stop is 3.5 and exposure is between 2 sec and 30 sec.
Letzen Samstag hatten wir ein gemeinsames Abendessen mit unseren Nachbarn und danach ein Feuer und noch ein paar Bier mehr. Am Nachittag hatten ich zwei Hähne des Nachbarn geschlachtet und Laura kochte ein leckeres, afrikanisches Stew – eine Art Eintopf – mit dem frischen Fleisch. Die Hähne waren etwa ein Jahr alt und waren ein Problem im Hühnerstall geworden. Hier sind ein paar Fotos die ich in der Nacht mit Langzeitbelichtung gemacht habe. Blende ist 3.5 und Belichtung zwischen 2 und 30 Sekunden.
Happy Birthday, Madison Saint! A couple of days ago was Madison’s 7th birthday.
Hard to believe Wally and Cleo have lived with us for 5 years this summer! Laura clipped all three horses a couple of weeks ago, so right now they look really slick. Check it out …
Yeah. That’s funny. That’s BMW’s idea of an April Fools joke (in 2011). An M3 pickup “Ute” style with a 420Hp V8. In 2013, Top Gear sent their Aussie correspondent to Bavaria to test drive this joke. He had a good laugh! And a bit of a scare, too.
This is Blackjack, our black miniature Holland Lop. He’s not really the Easter Bunny, but over Easter weekend, he did enjoy his first outdoor run of the year. I built a small fence around his rabbit hutch and when we’re on the deck or in the back yard, the little guy gets to stretch his legs a little bit. Not that his hutch isn’t plenty big, but running around on the ground is more fun. Someone does have to keep an eye on him, though, or the neighborhood hawk will get him.
DEUTSCH: Das ist unser Zwergwidder Kaninchen Blackjack. Er ist zwar nicht der Osterhase, aber über das Osterwochenende durfte er zum ersten Mal in seinem neuen Bodengehege herumrennen. Ich installierte einen kleinen Zaun um seinen Stall herum und da darf er jetzt hin und wieder sich etwas autoben. Wegen der Raubvögel muß aber immmer jemand dabei sein. Ein Habicht hat dem Nachbarn schon mehrere Hühner geklaut!
This Sunday morning was chilly at 25F (-4C). We really hope this was the last frost for the season! With temperatures now regularly reaching the 60s and 70s, it does feel like spring around here. But last night, we put the blankets on the horses one more time and filled the bucket with warm water. Once again, the emu stood at the frozen water bucket, pecking at the ice, trying to drink. It’s still very confusing to them!
DEUTSCH
Heute hatten wir noch einmal eien richtig kalten Sonntagmorgen, mit minus 4 Grad. Letzte Woche hatten wir schon Temperaturen bis 25C und der Frühling hat richtig begonnen. Aber gestern Abend mußten wir noch mal die Pferdedecken rausholen und dann den Wassertrog nch Mal mit warmen Wasser auffüllen. Am Morgen stand dann der Emu wieder am Wassertrog und konnten nicht verstehen warum das Wasser schon wieder “kaputt” ist und er nichts in den Schnabel kriegt!
Fascinating video footage of our sun. On July 19, 2012, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory’s AIA instrument captured these images of an eruption on the sun’s surface over the course of 22 hours.
Faszinierende Aufnahmen einer Sonneneruption vom 19. July 2012. Über 22 Stunden hat NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory’s AIA instrument diese Aufnahmen im Ultravioletbereich des Lichtspektrums gemacht.
What a pretty spring day! The daffodils are blooming and it’s 82°F/28°C and sunny. Only 10 days after we had a 20°F/-7°C morning and less than 3 weeks after the 2015 Snowpocalypse, it’s finally springtime! I’ll take it!
Und auf einmal war Frühling! die Narzissen blühen und es ist 28°C warm und sonnig. Noch vor 10 Tagen war es am Morgen minus 7°C kalt, und weniger als 3 Wochen sind seit der Schneepokalypse 2015 verstrichen. Ich beklag mich bestimmt nicht!
Thursday morning we woke up to 6 inches (15cm) of snow. Around here, that pretty much shuts down everything. Power went out at around 4AM and water stopped shortly after. No school or work, of course. We were stuck at home all day, keeping the house warm with a fire in the fire place and melting snow on the gas grill so we had some water. In the evening our neighbors came over for dinner and we sat around the fireplace all evening. We kept the fireplace so hot that the iron grate melted, but we kept the living room at over 60°F. Friday morning at 5:00 the power came back on, and Friday at noon I went in to work for a few hours.
The wet snow stuck to the trees and broke many branches and even knocked down some trees.
The horses were not real happy about the snow. Neither were the emus.
With all the crazy weather last week, I almost forgot that Wednesday night, the Mercedes passed 310,686 miles, which is equal to 500,000 KM. Nice milestone for this 24-yar-old car.
Posted in Biodiesel|Comments Off on 500 000 Kilometers
Whoah! This weather is crazy! Look at the graph below (from Wunderground) and you can see how temperatures here went from a low of 5°F on Friday morning at 7AM to a high of 57°F on Sunday 1PM. That’s a 52 degree temperature change in 54 hours!
DEUTSCH: So ein verrücktes Wetter! And dem Diagramm oben kann man sehen wie the Temperaturen hier vom Tiefststand von minus 15°C am Freitag Morgen um 7Uhr auf plus 15°C am Sonntag Mittag um 13Uhr angestiegen sind. Das sin 30 Grad Unterschied in 54 Stunden!
Snow, snow, snow … we have had several snow/ice storms over the last couple of days. School has been out for 2 days and the weather forecast is predicting an arctic chill down to 0F for the next couple of days. That does not seem to bother Sassy and Snoopy, though. This is their first snow and they seem to think it’s cool!
DEUTSCH: So viel Schnee! In den letzten Tagen hatten wir mehrmals Schnee und Eis. Die Kinder haben schon seit zwei Tagen Schnee-frei von der Schule. Und für die nächsten zwei Tage is richtig arktische Kälte in der Vorhersage – bis zu minus 18°C! Unsere Ziegen Sassy und Snoopy scheint das Wetter nicht zu beeindrucken. Das ist das erste Mal daß sie Schnee erleben und das schein ihnen Spaß zu machen!
Over the last few months, my 1991 300D ran pretty badly. At first, I was able to get the engine’s power back to acceptable levels by fixing various leaks in the vacuum system, especially in the lines that control the turbo waste-gate. Without the turbo, I could start at the bottom of a small hill going 60 and I’d be down to 45 at the top of the hill.
Then, one morning mid January, the car would not start at all. I had it towed to A Better Wrench in Chapel Hill (US Rider is a great road-side assistance service). They replaced the glow plugs and the car started great, again. However, right after that repair, the engine power was really bad, again. I tinkered with the car for a few days, but I could not find any more obvious vacuum leaks. So I took her back to the shop. Max, the owner, fixed all the vacuum leaks and now you can really feel a turbo kick in again! AND he figured out why the transmission shifts so early into higher gears, which was also not helping the performance of the car. He also showed me how to check whether the wast gate actuator works, and how to adjust the transmission linkage to change the how early the transmission shifts up.
So, after two trips to the shop, and $560 in repairs, the old Mercedes starts and runs very nicely again. Thanks Max! Great job.
Posted in Biodiesel, geeks|Comments Off on New life for my old Mercedes
