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On Sunday morning we invited friends with kids over to our house for a little egg-hunt. Throughout the back yard we hid some easter eggs and chocolate treats (after cleaning up all the “chocolate treats” that the dogs had placed there).
People started to show up around 10:00am and Pia was eagerly awaiting their arrival:

Within minutes of the kids arrival, the back patio was transformed into a big playground:

The choo-choo train seemed to be the attraction of the party and it was nice to see that there was no fighting going, but instead kids were very good at taking turns on the ride.

At 10:45am it was time to look for the eggs and the chocolates:

Sofia:

Conner:

Jerome:

No more eggs:

After the most important part was over we had a nice brunch with some mimosas. Things wrapped up at 1pm. Thanks everybody for coming!

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Scientists begin dig at Bosnian ‘pyramid’ - Science - MSNBC.com - gonna be interesting to see what they dig up there.

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Now this is interesting: we live in area where we have to share our living space with all sorts of critters. Spiders, bugs, mice, you name it , it’s there. Of course we also have ants and now that the weather is getting consistenly warmer, those little buggers also find their way into our home and munch on left-overs, crumbs on the counter. When there’s sugar on the counter, those guys go gaga and usually call a whole platoon of friends to clean up the stuff.

The other day there was some Splenda powder next to some sugar on the counter and I can’t believe that they were not interested at all to consume the artificial sugar. Splenda says it’s made right from the real thing, but still those ants can distinguish between the real-real-thing and the fake-real-thing.

Perhaps they know something we don’t know and we should take this as a hint?

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It’s easter time and the yearly ritual of coloring some eggs took place yesterday afternoon. Pia sat outside with her momma and tried to break as many of the dozen eggs as possible.

Of course not only the eggs got some color. If you look closely you’ll also see some gray color on her shirt. That’s from earlier on when we stained some of the dog-fence posts to give our neighbours another color choice.

In the evening we topped it off with some “Fleischpflanzerl” and “Kartoffelsalat”. Daddy followed the recipe in the “Bayrische Leibspeisen” cook book. According to Candice the result was pretty close to my Mom’s delicious salad. Next we try the big-hunk-of-pork-meat thing - guess I’ll be the only one eating it …

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Oh man, I totally forgot about that book that I made for Pia’s first birthday. Just the other day Candice and I were talking about it and I got to get my lazy bottoms into gear to make a new one (it’s been a while since her 2nd birthday ). Just in case you missed it first time around - here are some screenshots from the PDF-document:

The original PDF document can be access here: and_then_there_were_three.pdf (PDF:3.5 MB).

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I have no idea what is wrong with this bird. It started about a week ago. One morning I heard some banging from Candice’s office and when I went there, I saw a bird outside the window. Within a few secs the bird jumped on the window and then hopped on the branch right in front of the window. About 30 secs later the scene repeated. Another 30 secs passed and the bird did it again. Believe it or not, this animal does that for about 3 hours every morning now. We can see marks on the window where the bird hits the glass. This can’t be healthy. Maybe it’s the beer we put in the bird feeder, but I doubt it.

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The other day dangerousmeta pointed to the police report page of the Santa Fe New Mexican with an entry that was close to unbelievable. Had to preserve it, before it gets purged from the site. Here’s the quoted text from the page:

Marcos Romero, 20, of Santa Fe, was arrested early Friday on charges of drunken driving and resisting an officer. A deputy reported that Romero was covered with blood when he was pulled over on Airport Road. He reportedly said he’d been chasing cows with his vehicle, struck one and then butchered it.

Yes, it appeared on April 1st, but I believe this story is actually true.

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Major studios realize that there is money to be made in movie downloads: Coming Sooner to PCs: Movies - Los Angeles Times.

Yes, it is a “first step” as the article mentions, but given the prices and the conditions (can’t play the stuff on my DVD-player) I’d say they totally went off on the wrong foot.
Next episode we will hear how studios complain there is no money to be made with online downloads - you wait.

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Yesterday morning I went over to my office when I let out the dogs at 5:00am. I grabbed my camera and decided to take at least one picture every hour of the day to document a normal Sunday at home. Here’s the result:

5:40am: As usual, I let the dogs out first thing after I get up. They usually roam around for about 5-10mins, do their business and then come back to sleep for another hour. Not so this morning. They probably chased a rabbit and are missing for 30 mins already when this photo was taken. Normally you would see two dog faces peeking through the door and begging to be let in.

5:45am: Pia just got up and on our way to the front of the house we discover a fire down in Tesuque (looking westwards from our house). There are some blinking lights, which seems to indicate that the fire department has sent some vehicles already. Pia calls police cars and fire-trucks “Neenu” cars, because of the sound they make: Neee-Nu-Neee-Nu.

6:45am: A few weeks ago we bought a small trampoline for our daughter. She used to jump on the couches and beds before we got it. Every morning she spends at least a few minutes on it for her “morning exercise”.

7:27am: After having some breakfast, Pia dumps the contents of a little bag on the floor. It contains here photo-treasures: a small collection of old Polaroids.

8:22am: This girl is OBSESSED with band aids. At least once a day she finds the tiniest wounds and demands a band aid to fix the problem. She leaves it on for about 20 mins, then removes it and declares that she’s feeling better. Spiderman band aids are the latest hit.

8:45am: I remember when the dishwasher detergent was just a powder. Now you get the stuff in all sorts of containers. This one is a plastic bubble that contains liquid detergent. Water will dissolve the bubble and release the detergent.

9:15am: Our little housewife loves to help with the laundry. Here she dumps her dirty clothes into the washer.

11:45am: Every other week I call my parents back in Germany. It’s a quarter to 9pm in Aichach and I give it a try. Of course they are not at home and I leave a message (got them on my second try a while later).

1:55pm: Some home improvement projects under way. Pia is playing with her Spiderman figure, eats some frosted pretzels (plastic bag) and looks at her new Nemo-backpack, while mommy unpacks some stuff in the background.

2:35pm: Daddy needs to use the drill for some holes above one of the windows in the dining room.

2:45pm: We had way too much sunshine coming through that window in the afternoon. After fixing the guard rail above the window and sliding the drapes over it, Candice and Pia are giving the project the last final touches.

2:49pm: Time for a rest outside with some bubbly water, apple slices and Playdoh. Obviously it’s hot enough to go barefoot.

3:55pm: Pia’s laundry is clean and dry. Time to fold it and she helps again. Well, not really: for every five pieces Candice folds, Pia unfolds one.

4:49pm: Daddy gets a bit of distraction …

4:57pm: Earlier on Pia and I drove around in the neighbourhood and found the dogs at a house where they’ve been before. I wish those people would not feed them, then it would be much more likely that they come home by themselves.

5:55pm: Pia’s having a bath and one of the toys that is usually attached to the side of the bath tub is looking on from the wall next to the sink.

6:35pm: I just left Pia’s room and mommy is reading some books to her before she goes to bed. The sun sets behind Los Alamos and some trees and bushes on a nearby hill show their outline against the evening sky.

15 mins later the kid is sleeping. We try to finish Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but switch off half way through the movie …

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My brother Marcus and his wife Elke are building their new home in a town called Woerthsee close to Munich, Bavaria. Most houses in Germany are massive brick-constructions unlike the wooden frames mainly used here in the US (at least in the warmer states). Marcus and Elke decided to go for a more modern approach and use the company Baufritz to build a wooden home. There’s a still a cement foundation, but the actual home is assembled to spec elsewhere, gets dismantled, shipped to the home’s lot and rebuilt on top of the foundation. The advantage is that things happen quicker than with a traditional structure.

They seem to have the foundation (and basement) in place and just wait for the home to be dropped on top of it. You can find progress reports (in German) at http://madrenalin.blogspot.com. This is the last snapshot I can see on the site at the moment (that’s the foundation plus basement):

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