The Wedemeyer Family

This is the espalier we did a few weeks ago. Today, the plants got a treat of some nice manuer tea. The things we’ll do for landscaping.

Over the past month I’ve been spending little bits of time creating a fake fireplace in the upstairs library. Since it’s in the attic the ceilings are very low and we have these big storage doors in the middle of the room. Although it’s hardly something to roast marshmallows next to, I think it gives the room a flashy, warm feeling. Last week I planted the houseplants and tonight I made the pelts out of discount faux fur from the nearby fabric store. It’s weird what paint, the right contact paper, spray mount, plants and faux fur can do. Next, I think I’ll get a black metal dog figurine put next to it.

Sarah and I have taken on some small landscaping projects. Our front yard was pretty bland, especially near the house, and we wanted to spice it up a bit.

Our first endeavor was to plant some Anise bushes near the fence on the north side of the house. We recently cleaned out a whole mess of weeds here and just put down mulch. Since it seemed so bare, we wanted to add a little greenery.

The main problem was the width of the area. Most shrubs grow out in somewhat of a radial pattern. They expand equally in all directions. Since our space was about 20′ long by 2′ wide, we had a problem. Anything that expands to cover the 20′ of length will push out way past the 2′ of width.

The solution (hopefully) to our problem was to use a technique called espalier. (pronounced es-pal-ee-AY – I think). By tying the branches of the shrub to the fence, while also pruning off forward sprouting shoots, we could direct the growth of the shrub into the pattern we wanted. Ultimately, if things work out, we will have a fairly 2-dimensional shrub. It will expand to cover the fence, but not grow out into the driveway.

Following the Anise shrubs, we also planted some Skyrocket Junipers…but that story is for another day!

After a 2004 sad year (because of the lost of my mother) we managed to have a great 2005. We started the year with a huge 5th birthday party for Jacobo with 70 people attending which included our new North Liberty neighbors, old hawkeye court neighbors, Jake’s new law school classmates, Jake’s old linguistics classmates, my co-workers from Pearson, my dad’s Iowa Legal Aid co-workers and some of Jacobo’s HACAP’s classmates. We fed them chicken mole with rice, of course we had the choice of halal chicken mole for our muslims friends. Belive it or not we had chicken mole left since I invited 100 people.

For February the 14th I give a trip surprise to Jake. I rented a cabin at Backbone State Park, we spent friday and saturday night there, it was beautiful since was all snowed and we had a view to the frozen lake. My dad stayed with Jacobo at home.

After so many trips as a family of 4 in my dad’s pick up truck we decided we need it to buy a car since nobody in Iowa could fix our toyota wagon. So on March 12th we got a Red Lancer Mitsubishi 2003, ic 4 doors automatic, from our Indonesian friend. Jake finally sold our toyota wagon for 150.00 (Sorry Jerry).

Jacobo and Jake had a very sporty year Jacobo had gymnastics, swimming, horse riding and soccer, Jake did soccer as well with the “Gunners” a law student team, they finished 3rd place in the Iowa City League.

On May Jacobo had a surgery to take his tonsils out. All the grandparents were able to be with Jacobo in such a painful situation. Jacobo eat so many popsicles that by the third day he wanted solid foods but was not ready for it yet, so he had to keep eating ice cream and popsicles against his will( surprising isnt?). The most surprising thing was that Jerry recognize the name of Jacobo’s doctor, Dr. Viner, since it was the same doctor that many years ago took out the safety pins from Jake’s throat, another proof that Iowa City is such a small town.

On May 22nd, next day from Jacobo’s preschool graduation, I felt like instead of taking I-35 to Mexico we could take a shorth cut to the South East, so we phone uncle Micah and aunt Sarah to ask for directions and give them a short notice of our visit. We had a beatiful scenic route from North Liberty to Atlanta. Over there we visit Martin Luther King museum, birth home and Ebenezer Baptist Church; went to a Brave’s game, drove by Georgia Tech and Emory University, we stop at Micah’s and Sarah’s future home and of course we stop at El barrio on Buford Highway to say Hi to mis paisanos. But the most important is that we were all glad to hang out with Micah and Sarah again like in the old times, We miss you guys.

Then we hit the road on May 25th to get to our next stop at My cousin’s in Port Arthur Texas, It took us 9 hours. In our way there we stopped at Biloxi so Jacobo and Jake could take a swim at the beach which was Jacobo’s first time at the beach. We drove by New Orleans but decided not to stop, my cousins took us to Galveston on the ferry it was very excited and windy. In Galveston we visit the acquarium at Moody Gardens, we went to the beach and then to the downtown which is very old and beautiful. Jacobo played a lot with my cousin’s kids there were seven kids total 3 from each cousin plus Jacobo. On May 29th we started our trip to Piedras Negras Mexico wich took us another 9 hours. We are very glad that we took that driving trip by the gulf of Mexico since now after katrina things have changed.

During our staying in Piedras Negras Coahuila Mexico Jake did his summer law practice in Eagle Pass Texas. Jake was able to take a public mini bus by my house which took him by the international bridge then he will walk the international bridge all the way to his office. Jacobo took an art class from the public library in Piedras Negras where he practice a lot of spanish with teachers and clasmates. We were able to attend a distant cousin’s wedding, visit north padre island with our second cousins Chris and Crissy from Iowa who live in Laredo Texas now, camp in a Lake near San Antonio Texas, and I was able to visit the biggest Outlet mall in United States which is located in San Marcos Texas.

Back in Iowa Jacobo started kindergarten at Penn Elementary School, where he had a little bit of culture shock since most of his classmates are caucasians and at HACAP a lot of his classmates had African, Hispanic and Asian Heritage. At school he not only learned academic stuff but also racial stuff, which is sad to happen at such a young age, but it was going to happen sooner or later. His teacher says that they have being focusing on the phrase, Different is OK. At Penn Jake and I have been voluntering with different activities and field trips and I had the opportunity to talked about the mexican culture to Jacobo;s classmates, we are part of the PTO which is the parent teacher organization that supports economicly some of the school needs, and right now we are also part of the spanish committee in order to start spanish classes after school, I hope it will be ready after spring break.

My dad got offer a job from his old employer from Mexico who bought a copper mine in Israel. My dad got the job and went to Israel on November the 3th. I got a little bit overwhelmed when he left since he helped a lot around the house. But I was able to change schedules at my job before he left, so that made it easier. He had sent me a lot of pictures which a will post another day. He might come and visit us soon.

I Quit my job on December the 13th in order to go to Mexico for Winter break. This time we took I-35 all the way to Coahuila but we didnt stop there as usual, instead we kept going all the way to the state of Morelos where one of my good friends from Iowa City got married, we had a wonderful time. Then we went to the state of Michoacan to visit some of her aunts, we had a great time there too. Then we drove back north and stop at the state of San Luis Potosi, were my first cousin Edna lives with her husband and daughter, then we finally got back to the state of Coahuila were we spent Christmas just my brother, Jake, Jacobo and I, since my mom is absent and my dad in Israel, but it was a better Christmas dinner than last year.

I hope you all had a great 2005 and wish you a great 2006.

Ale

Sarah and I have been worried lately about Dotty staying home all day alone by herself. She probably just sleeps most of the time, but we wanted her to have a little more activity and hopefully some company.

So…we started looking for a companion dog for her. It was fairly difficult, since Dotty really doesn’t seem too interested in other dogs. She also has issues with larger dogs. They frighten her which makes her get snippy and aggressive.

Anyways, we went to the local Petsmart, which sponsors Humane Society adoptions every Saturday. There, Sarah found a little Daschund named Mama Doxy, since she had just had a litter of puppies. After Mama climbed into Sarah’s lap, much like Dotty did with me, we knew she would have to come home with us.

So far, the two dogs are still feeling each other out. Dotty is very laid back, while Mama (renamed to Boxey, after the dagget (dog) on Battlestar Galactica) is very forward. We’re afraid that Dotty is angry with us for bringing in an invader, but then again, we’re not sure Dotty is capable of being angry and assigning blame.

Hopefully they’ll become good friends and spend their days playing. That way, when Sarah and I get home from work, they will be tired and relaxed instead of hyper and crazy.