7 Month Check-Up

Two months away and Daniela had a 3-D ultrasound. The baby has a bit of hair on top of her head.

Looks like the baby got a little grumpy from all the pressing of the ultrasound machine on Daniela's tummy.

...and on to the kitchen!

I know you must be thinking I'm crazy. To start another project like this so close to the baby's due date. This time I had help. My brother came in from New Jersey during the holiday season to assist me. For legal reasons we're not showing his face.

Down came the wallpaper that seemed to be held onto the wall by an entire roll of tape. This is going to be a minor facelift and will be done in two phases. First the main room that is shown here and then the pantry area.

With a house this old I sure did use a lot of caulk. The main room is 90% finished but I don't want to post those pictures quite yet. I'll give it another week or two.

Baby Room

At long last I finished the baby's room. This room has been offline for about 3 years. I did all the cutting of materials in this room while completing the other rooms. Just a few touch-ups left but it's baby ready!

Since I could not find a door that matched the original doors throughout the house I made my own.

The bassinet went together quickly as did the crib. The rocking chair was the same one I was rocked in when I was a baby.

Changing table and diapers. I'm going to need a lot of those.

Friends from Kansas, Brent and Molly Miller, were nice enough to send us the bedding set, which was handmade by a Czech woman Molly met.

All we need now is the baby....10 weeks to go.

November Update

We have plenty to be thankful for this year. Mom and baby are doing well so far. I'm posting some pictures on the progress on the baby room. I hope to have this room completed in the next few weeks. Daniela received a camcorder for her birthday so I plan on posting some movies once I figure out how to use the thing. I'm also posting some final pictures of the garden. They'll be nice to reflect on as the cold weather approaches.

I repaired most of the plaster in this room. The ceiling had to be ripped down because of excessive cracking and unevenness. Taking the ceiling down also allowed me to insulate in between the beams to minimize noise from the bedroom above this room. Over the years the moldings were painted and the underlying layers began to separate so I had to strip all the layers off. I would have loved to stain the original wood but the paint penetrated so deeply in some areas in would take me another year to prepare the wood properly.

The ceiling had to be leveled with thin strips of wood to accommodate the installation of drywall. I could not save the plaster wall behind the door, therefore, I drywalled over it.

A ceiling!

Here's a sample of my harvest. There's about 70 tomatoes here along with watermelon and Scarlett runner beans. I got enough beans to fill the large mug - about 2 cups. I was able to get 4-5 more watermelons of this size this summer. I think I'll plant those again next year. I must have grown 450-500 tomatoes from four plants. A very successful year. So much so I spent the fall canning salsa.

Morning Glory along the privacy fence.

The Red Hot Pokers came along nicely this summer. They're a very unique flower that I'll enjoy for years to come.

A New Addition

Daniela and I are expecting a new addition to the home. No, I don't mean a new room or project.

Our first child is expected in April. Needless to say we are very excited! I am frantically trying to finish three projects on the house before that time. One of them is, of course, the baby's room. We will find out the sex of the baby sometime in November. We've also tossed around a few names but have not settled on any one name just yet. Daniela is doing well and is feeling better after the first trimester morning sickness.....as well as the afternoon sickness..... not to be outdone by the evening sickness.












Our current babies are doing good. There may be a bit of jealousy already. They hate it when we go outside without them!

Garden

I've been wanting to upload pictures from this year's garden for some time now. This year I had a few firsts. The Blue Iris above was one that I had planted the previous year but had to wait a full year for a bloom. It was worth waiting for. This was one of the many blooms Daniela and I got to see in the spring.
















The lupine was another perennial where we had to wait. For once something I started from seed turned out quite nice.















My tomatoes were a great success. Although I only used a small handful of organic fertilizer in late winter it appeared the biggest difference from last summer was from dumping my kitchen scraps in the raised bed and mixing in dehydrated manure and hummus into the soil in the spring. As a result, each handful of soil from the raised bed contained 2-3 earthworms which is very beneficial.





















This year it looks like I'll finally get a decent harvest from the pear tree. For the past two years squirrels have stolen my pears from my young tree before I could pick them. So far so good.















I did add a bed this year where I placed perennials such as purple coneflower, gayfeather and butterfly bush. The black currant bushes worked out really well this summer and gave me a good harvest despite its small size. I may try to add gooseberries or red currants this fall. To take up space in the young bed I also planted Scarlett runner bean vines and watermelon. Both had a great year and I'm waiting to pick my harvest any day now.
















We can usually see at least two monarch butterflies swarming around the bush each day.
















Another look of the new perennial bed with the arbor in the background. I took this photo from my neighbor's back porch. The pink hibiscus were purchased at a closeout sale for $1.00. Not a bad bargain.
















It was quite wet this summer so I had to battle a lot of diseases and mold. One of the things that suffered was my grapevine which developed a disease called black rot. This disease makes rust spots on the leaves and turns the fruit into stones.





















Therefore, I had to apply a rather aggressive fungicide. I don't like spreading chemicals about the yard but black rot can kill your entire harvest if left untreated. It did seem to have worked although I have been advised not to consume a large quantity of grapes because of the treatments I applied. So the bad news is no jam this year. Good news is in the long run it was the right thing to do to preserve my vines. I still have the wonderful smell the Concords produce each September and Daniela and I sit on the arbor whenever we get the chance.
















Overall it was a very good growing year. I'll try to add a few more pics of the yard as the fall approaches.

Czech Republic '08

Daniela went to the Czech Republic in June to visit family. I accompanied her in July. Since I was without the camera for most of the summer I never got to the blog. I plan to make up for it in the next few posts. I am having some technical difficulties as well. I hope to have them resolved soon.















About 20 minutes by car from where Daniela's parents live is Cesky Krumlov. Cesky Krumlov is one of my favorite towns in the Czech Republic and I love just walking around the streets. You can climb up a series of stairs to the top of the tower, which we have done on a few occasions. The castle on the left was built right into a mountainside. Just before you enter the castle you need to cross a bridge, which spans over a moat housing brown bears. Bears have been kept in the moat since 1707.















Daniela and I also visited Hluboka Castle. This is where we had our wedding ceremony for her family. On our trip this summer we made it to the top of the turret to get a nice view of the area.















Since I didn't look very good in any of the pictures we took at the top of the turret I'll post Daniela and her mother.















We did spend a fair amount of time in Ceske Budejovice. This is the town where Daniela and I lived right after I graduated from Kansas State University. Daniela was in her final year of graduate school then. We returned to the Black Tower (Cerna Vez) to take this picture of the town's square. This is also where I proposed to Daniela 10 years ago.
















During our time in Ceske Budejovice we were able to take a tour of the Budweiser Brewery. This is the original Budweiser and not the version found in America with the Clydesdale horses in the commercials. The taste is a bit different and not watered-down.




















Here are the copper tanks in which the yeast ferments. It was a chilly day outside so the 90 degree temperature in this room suited us fine.















Conversely, the celler was not quite 40 degrees. We did receive "all you can drink" samples of the unpasteurized and unfiltered beer. I will not be posting any of these photos. I think it's safe to say there was much learned from the former president of Iowa Central Community College, "Drunken Pirate" from MySpace fame and a slew of others. Just take my word for it. It was real good and suprisingly filling. Sadly, because of the beer's stout nature I was only able to down one cup. However, our tour guide was able to gulp down three cups before continuing our journey to the bottling area.

Cape May 2008

Daniela and I made another trip to Cape May, NJ in June. We stayed at the Seacrest Inn, which faces the ocean. We did some new things this time such as visiting a bird sanctuary for a quick hike, going to Morey's Pier in Wildwood, NJ and taking a trip on the ferris wheel, watched the sunset, and made a trip to Historic Cold Spring Village within Cape May.

















This is the ferris wheel at Morey's Pier in Wildwood, NJ which sits right at the ocean's front.

I didn't realize how high the ferris wheel was until we reached the top. I think I could see Atlantic City from up there.

















An actor show us how a musket was fired at Cold Springs Village.

















Many of the dwelling at Cold Spring Village are over 200 years old and were moved here by truck from their original locations.
















Daniela and I at sunset in Cape May. Right before we took this picture a wedding party was wrapping up their photo shoot.

Daniela is now visiting relatives in the Czech Republic. I'll be headed there in a few weeks. I've been working hard in the garden and I'll be sure to post a few pictures at the end of the summer.

In May the Architectural Heritage Association of Scranton recognized our home for the "significant contribution to the preservation of the architectural heritage of Northeastern Pennsylvania." Their website is still under construction, however, some of the previous winners can be found here: http://www.preservationscranton.org/awards.htm