Author Archive

Running a half-marathon

Tuesday, September 24th, 2013

A month ago, I signed up for a half marathon run at the Durham Race Fest. I started training, mostly by going on long runs Sunday mornings, to see if I can actually cover that distance (21.1 KM). Sunday morning, I ran 21.5 KM (13m) along Guess Road and I really feel like I am […]

The Ciompi Quartett at Baldwin Auditorium

Sunday, September 22nd, 2013

Yesterday, the entire family plus my dad went out to a nice, classical concert with Duke’s Ciompi Quartett at the newly renovated Baldwin Auditorium. The featured guests of the evening were the Krüger Brothers, a folk trio from Switzerland, based in North Carolina, that plays bluegrass and roots music. So the concert started out with […]

Marcel Reich-Ranicki, 1920 – 2013

Wednesday, September 18th, 2013

Germany has lost a feisty, thoughtful voice today. Marcel Reich Ranicki was the most respected literature critic in Germany and a fearless and honest voice for the survivors of the Holocaust. His love for literature and poetry inspired generations of readers and he relentlessly challenged German authors to advance their craft and create great works […]

My new PC

Tuesday, September 17th, 2013

(Nerd Alert!) Over the last couple of weeks I finally built my new machine. I ripped out all the Intel crap from my nice Antec Fusion case (DP39DP and a Core2Duo) and rebuilt it with an AMD A10 6800 APU on an ASUS F2A85M MB with 2 sticks of 4GB G.Skill Ares DDR3 1866 SDRAM. […]

Happy Friday

Friday, September 13th, 2013

Is mayonnaise an instrument?? Oh barnacles …

R.I.P Sodabe

Saturday, August 31st, 2013

It has been over a week since we last saw our 18-year-old old Maine Coon Sodabe. He was on his last leg last time we saw him. His kidney s were failing and he could hardly eat any more. Sadly, we think he wandered off to die somewhere in the woods. He was a good […]

What a weekend …

Monday, August 26th, 2013

Phew … brutal weekend – I am hurting all over! Saturday morning Jacob and I did our usual 2 hours of Karate with Sensei Kevin. That’s usually pretty intense, but Saturday evening we also went bowling for 3 hours with 6 of Julia’s friends, to celebrate Julia’s 16th Birthday last week. Thank god they had […]

Emus taking a bath

Sunday, August 11th, 2013

Yesterday, I set up a baby pool in the pasture and, after some coaxing and a little – uh – push, one of the emus got in and sat down and took a bath. She really seemed to enjoy her bath, flopping on one side or the other several times to get the water everywhere. […]

Vacation Photos

Sunday, July 28th, 2013

Photos from our week in the Virginia Mountains. Open the post and click on a photo to start the gallery. Urlaubsphotos! Hier öffnen und dann auf ein Photo klicken um die Gallerie zu starten.

Urlaub in den Bergen

Friday, July 26th, 2013

(English) Letzten Samstag packten wir unser Gepäck, Futter für die Pferde und Jacob’s Kayak in den Pferdeanhänger, luden die Fahrräder auf das Fahrradgestell und die Pferde auf den Anhänger und dampften ab in die Berge für eine Woche. Wir fuhren cirka 150 Meilen/240 KM nach Virginia in die Nördlichen Blue Ridge Mountains am New River. […]

Vacation!

Monday, July 22nd, 2013

A week at Peggy’s Cabin is just what the doctor ordered. A week of horseback riding, kayaking, mountain biking and hiking … and a nice, tasty beer when we get back. Saturday, we packed the trailer with the gear: the kayak, hay for the horses, tack, some tools, and our baggage. The bikes got strapped […]

Friday Jazz

Friday, June 21st, 2013

Here is another fun Jazz tune to enjoy on this Friday (or whenever you like) Dave Holland Quintet – Vicissitudes – recorded in 2007

The Doughman 2013

Tuesday, May 28th, 2013

In this year’s edition of the Doughman Quadrathlon race, team Overheight When Flashing finished in 5th place! So for the third time in a row, we finished in the top ten of the Doughman. As far as I know, only two other teams have accomplished this: team Dain’s Place (hell, they OWN the Doughman) and […]

Friday Jazz

Friday, May 17th, 2013

McCoy Tyner Trio with guests (Frisell, Bartz) – Stuttgart, Germany, 2009-07-24 Enjoy!

Emu chasing a goose

Sunday, May 5th, 2013

Last weekend, we moved the emus out to the horse pasture and one of the two started chasing the geese out of the pasture. Silly thing. Of course he did not stand a chance keeping them out – those geese ae much too stubborn. He has since given up trying to keep the geese out. […]

Homemade bread

Wednesday, May 1st, 2013

Monday, Laura made this loaf of sourdough bread, which was tasty as it was pretty: Montag hat Laura diesen leckeren Laib Weizensauerbrot gebacken. Weiter unten ist noch ein Bild …

R.I.P. Meme

Monday, April 29th, 2013

Sadly, on April 17, our beloved little black poodle Meme passed away due to a terrible accident. We had inherited Meme in Oct. 2011 from Laura’s mom Dolores. Meme had been a faithful and cheerful companions to Dolores for several years, and so when Dolores passed away, Meme came with us to North Carolina. It […]

Biodiesel batch #100

Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013

Tonight, I pulled batch #100 from my biodiesel reactor and started washing the fresh fuel. Back in Aug. 2006 I brewed my first batch and I’ve been cooking fuel ever since. I collected almost 5,000 gallons (20.000 liters) of used fryer oil from local restaurants and processed it with 1,000 Gallons of Methanol and about […]

Karsten Hupfer, 1965 – 2013

Friday, April 12th, 2013

Today, our family bid a very sad farewell to my sister’s husband of 18 years, Karsten Hupfer. He died completely surprisingly on March 23 at a hospital in Waiblingen, Germany. He leaves a huge void in his and our family, and in my sister’s life in particular. Heute haben wir uns in tiefer Trauer von […]

The Tastiest Town in the South

Tuesday, April 9th, 2013

… is Durham, North Carolina, according to the magazine Southern Living: Part of what makes Bull City compelling is the confluence of old and new: Its foodie future is gradually wiping out its tobacco past, yet remnants of the town’s first industry provide a backdrop for its current scene. Both the American Tobacco Historic District […]