Amazing!! Pluto nearly fills the frame in this image from the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) aboard NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, taken on July 13, 2015 when the spacecraft was 476,000 miles (768,000 kilometers) from the surface. This is the last and most detailed image sent to Earth before the spacecraft’s closest approach to Pluto […]

Today was Pi Day for my 1991 300D. This morning the car’s mileage rolled over 314159 miles and the number pi is 3.14159.

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 […]

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 […]

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 … Cleo turns 14 in  June And […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Our driveway on a crisp, sunny evening in November. Unsere Einfahrt an einem sonnigen Novemberabend. Julia and Cleo getting ready to ride out. Julia und Cleo bereiten sich auf einen Ausritt vor.

(DEUTSCH) Last weekend was super busy and fun. Saturday, Laura and I went to a Bar Mitzvah – or rather a B’nai Mizvah (plural) for the twin boys of one of the professors I work for. We attended the service in the morning, and then returned for the party in the evening. Great fun! Sunday, […]

Today, we bought our third horse. we brought her to our place on Friday and introduced her to our two guys. Her name is R. U . Madison Saint and she is a registered Rocky Mountain Horse. This is not really a great photo of her – it’s windy and she had just had a […]

(DEUTSCH) And yet another ice storm in March! Yesterday morning everything was coated in ice, yet again, even the poor little daffodils. After it had rained all Monday, temperatures dipped just below freezing Tuesday morning, while it was still raining. It was not as bad as the ice storm on March 4th, but schools closed, […]

Today, on my way to take Julia to school, my 1991 Mercedes 300D completed 300,000 miles (482.803 KM). Funny – the odometer rolled over at Brightleaf Square, right before the 11foot8 bridge!

On Feb 12, winter storm Pax dumped a lot of snow on the East Coast of the US. we got 3 inches on Wednesday afternoon between 1:00 PM and 5:00 PM. I made the animation below from the footage recorded by our home security camera: Click on the image for a larger version (warning: 21MB) […]

Once again our annual quest for our favorite beer was successful (and chilly). After a late night drive to Winston Salem, Manfred and I had or first taste of this year’s incarnation of Foothills Brewing’s Sexual Chocolate Stout at the brewery. Then we camped out in sub-freezing temperatures on the sidewalk with a hundred or […]

Emus don’t like the snow. A few cold nights are no problem for them. They keep warm by huddling in a sheltered spot, tucking their feet under their plumage. But when snow is on the ground and it’s hard for them to find a dry spot where they can sit to stay warm, they just […]

I’d like you to meet Henry … Henry is from Arizona and he moved in with us on Dec. 29. So he has lived with us for three weeks now. He is starting to settle in very nicely and he and our Russian Blue Koklo are getting more and more comfortable with each other. Henry […]

Last week, Laura and I returned to Paris for the first time in 20 years. Laura flew out during the previous week for work and I followed her on Saturday for a few days of fun in the City of Light. After exploring the city over the weekend (see here), Monday’s primary focus was the […]