Archive for the 'North Carolina' Category

Biting dogs, bucking horses and Julia’s Ghana trip

Sunday, April 9th, 2023

Winter came early and vigorously in December 2022, and then Spring popped in and out in January and February this year. Here is Patou enjoying spring weather in February. In fact, on Jan 2nd it was so nice I took my shoes off and went for a jog in the neighborhood, only to get attacked […]

Bees – Bienen

Saturday, March 26th, 2022

Für DEUSCH hier klickenIn Early March, we bought a beehive from a local bee-keeper and set it up on our little farm. Laura had been taking beekeeping classes with the local beekeeper’s club, and one of the members put up his three hives for sale because he was planning to move to a different state. […]

Snow days

Saturday, January 29th, 2022

After a fairly mild December, this January has brought some actual winter weather to central North Carolina. This is a video I shot after this morning’s snowfall/ This is the third time we had snow this month, but this was definitely the prettiest morning, with a fresh blanket of snow and the sun rising over […]

Spring?

Friday, January 31st, 2020

A couple of weeks ago we had several days of warm weather, with high temps around 70F (21C) and the pear trees started budding! So when the inevitable cold-snap came I fully expected them to loose all those buds, but several night of lows in the 20s did bot keep them from flowering. Nice splash […]

Morning on the Farm

Tuesday, December 31st, 2019

This is some drone footage from this morning and a previous December morning of our house, me feeding the horses and emus, and a fly-over of our property. Enjoy! Dieses Video habe ich heute Morgen und an einem früheren Dezembermorgen mit einer Drohne gefilmt. Es zeigt unser Haus, das Füttern der Pferde und Emus und […]

Brrrrr – crazy arctic cold

Sunday, January 7th, 2018

Auf DEUTSCH hier … Last week was crazy cold here … this morning RDU recorded 3 deg F and it was 6 Deg F at the house at 7 AM. Almost the entire week, temperatures stayed well below freezing, and the on the only slightly warmer day we got snow! Taking care of all the […]

Summer mushroom hunting

Monday, July 31st, 2017

Here is a nice photo album of some of the mushrooms we have found over the last few weeks. Click on the picture to open the album or click through it below. Dies ist ein Photoalbum einiger der Pilze die wir über die letzten Wochen gesammelt haben. Bitte auf das Bild klicken um das Album […]

A weekend in Uwharrie

Thursday, March 30th, 2017

Last weekend, Laura and I rented a cabin in Uwharrie National Forest. A weekend away from the farm (and  the kids) was just the ticket for us. The cabin was a couple of miles from a trailhead for the Uwharrie trail and a 5-minute drive from the Badin Lake Recreation Area. We drove the truck […]

March snowfall

Sunday, March 12th, 2017

After temperatures in the 70s last week, a cold front moved in yesterday and we got some snow this morning! Letzte Woche waren die Temperaturen schon deutlich über 20 Grad, aber Gestern kam eine Kaltfront und heute Morgen schneite es!

Historic protests against Trump

Sunday, January 22nd, 2017

A day after the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th U.S. President, women (and men) around the country took to the streets in historic numbers. Yesterday, Julia and I joined more than 4 Million protesters nationwide, and almost 20,000 here in Raleigh to help counter the divisiveness and misogyny that propelled this administration into […]

N.C. State Fair 2016

Sunday, October 30th, 2016

Last weekend, we took the whole crew to the State Fair in Raleigh. It had been a few years since we last went and it was a gorgeous fall Saturday, so we had no excuses. It did turn out to be one of the busiest days at the State Fair ever, but we spent most […]

Copperhead migration season

Wednesday, May 4th, 2016

Every spring, I find a copperhead snake near the house or the hay storage and have to kill the animal. This one was under our deck, and I had a shovel handy, so its demise was quick. I hate to do this, but a bite from a copperhead is not trivial and I am not […]

Chilly spring morning

Sunday, March 29th, 2015

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. […]

And then it was Spring!

Tuesday, March 17th, 2015

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 […]

Weather rollercoaster

Sunday, February 22nd, 2015

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 […]

Brrrrrr

Friday, February 20th, 2015

Our weather station showed an outside temperature of 5.6°F /14.7°C this morning right before I went outside to feed the animals.

The Great Beer Quest of 2015

Saturday, January 31st, 2015

I am happy to report that for the fifth year running, I successfully completed the Great Beer Quest and acquired my allotment of the Special Release bottles of Sexual Chocolate Stout. Once again, we froze our butts off in 20-degree temperatures camping out on the sidewalk in front of Foothills brewery in Winston Salem, NC. […]

2014 Bull City Race Fest

Monday, October 20th, 2014

(Auf Deutsch) Sunday, I ran a half marathon (21.0975 KM/ 13.1094 mi) at the second annual Bull City Race Fest here in Durham. It was a beautiful fall weekend and when I arrived at the venue at 6:30 AM, temperatures were just below 50F/10C and temps had gone up to around 60F/16C by the time I left […]

Gay marriage now legal in NC

Friday, October 10th, 2014

The state of North Carolina can no longer prohibit two consenting adults from getting married. Not because they are of different race or ethnicity, nor because they are the same sex. U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn ruled today that the state laws prohibiting same-sex marriage are unconstitutional. “The issue before this court is neither a […]

Labor Day 2014

Monday, September 1st, 2014

So … it’s Labor Day and the gas grill is busted. What to do? Fire up the hobo grill, of course! My half-barrel burn barrel came in really handy today. We lit a fire in the barrel and chucked some charcoal on top and grilled our chicken kebabs and sweet corn – old school. This […]