Sullishak --
Landscaping (2008)

by Dave Sullivan

Cleaning up trees

The vacant lot to the south of the cabin hadn't received any real landscaping since 1950, and as a result, it was overgrown with salal and scattered pine trees. Having a woodlot next door was fun in the 1950s and 60s, and I fondly remember going out with a hatchet to cut some down. Over time, however, the remaining trees became overgrown and a menace. For example, look at Tree Damage in 2001. In my opinion, the time to remove them and clean up the vacant lot was long overdue.

I can understand that some people won't agree with the last paragraph ... and if I just compare the following before-and-after photographs, I would agree the "before" photos are the most attractive. Our 2008 landscaping work has made the vacant lot look quite bare and rather bleak. Our goal isn't to create a barren park ... rather we want to expand the current cabin and build a nice home on the vacant lot. Clearing away the underbrush and pine trees is a required first step to both of these efforts. The real proof of whether our efforts make sense will come in a few years when we have completed the building projects and finished the landscaping.

	One of my first landscaping efforts involved helping neighbor, Craig Martell, cut down the pine trees that fell in his log cabin. Since the trees grew on our beach cabin property, I felt responsible to assist. Top: The "before" shot was taken in December 2007. You can see the trees are leaning over the log cabin, but they haven't actually fallen on the cabin yet. Middle: In this September 2008 photo, you can barely see Criag Martell -- he is on top the roof. We needed to work carefully to avoid causing further damage to his cabin. Bottom: Here we see Craig climbing down the ladder after cutting off a branch. Note how the ladder is bent. It turns out aluminum ladders aren't sturdy enough to drop trees on them if you want the ladders to remain straight.
	Top: The vacant lot had become an overgrown jungle that was quite difficult to walk through. Bottom: I began by cutting down trees that were easiest to reach and were not likely to cause damage when they fell. Then I tackled the task of cleaning up branches and cutting up the trunks.
	This clean-up operation would have been all but impossible without mechanical help -- the stumps were massive and well rooted. Chris Reiter got lots of practice using his Bobcat to dig around the sides of the stumps, bust off roots, and eventually pop them out.
	One of the largest trees was leaning over the log cabin, and it was the hardest to cut safely. Chris and I chained it to the Bobcat, and I made an undercut. Then I signaled Chris to begin pulling. Four inches of the hinge were still uncut when I heard a VERY loud crack ... it was easily as loud as a shotgun blast. Rather than slowly falling, the tree simply popped off the stump and began to crash down. With Chris pulling as hard as he could, the tree just barely cleared the corner of the log cabin. Top: We've cleaned up the area and are getting ready to tie onto the tree. Bottom: This shows where the tree fell -- just missing the log cabin.
	Building and maintaining the fire was a critical clean-up activity. Since the lot was covered with green vegetation and wet wood, it wasn't easy to build a hot, smokeless fire. Early on the first day, a neighbor called the fire department, and we spent an hour talking with them about the need to keep the smoke down. So for the next few days, we worked hard to keep the fire as hot as possible while keeping it at a manageable size.
	Barb surveys the changes from the cabin's deck.
	Chris used the Bobcat to remove the salal and bushes behind the cabin.
	We finally got all the sticks and brambles removed from the front of the vacant lot.
	The back of the vacant lot ended up storing some used telephone poles (to go in the remodeling effort), some firewood, and a small fire.
	The view between Sullishak and the log cabin is uninterrupted.

Building a retaining wall

	Top: Since the 1950s, the cabin has had salal bushes in front. This has made it hard to park on the street in front of the cabin without being in the roadway. Middle: To improve the situation, I decided to build a retaining wall out of used telephone poles. With Chris Reiter's help, I picked them up at Consumers Power outside Philomath, and we drove them to the beach cabin. Bottom: The entire front yard is scattered with telephone poles. Most of them will get used in the retaining wall, but a few will be used to hold up the second-story deck.
	Two views of building the retaining wall. We used the Bobcat to move poles into position. Then I drilled a 1-inch hold through each pole and pounded a 5/8-inch piece of rebar in the holes to keep them all lined up nicely.
	Almost done ... all the logs are in place, and a load of gravel has been delivered.
	All done -- I've leveled the tops of the poles with a chainsaw, and I've installed battens between the poles to hide the cracks.
	The finished view from the cabin's deck.

Changing the driveway

One important goal was to change where the driveway enters the property. The original driveway entered on the vacant lot -- but this lot will eventually have a home on it. So we decided to build a new driveway that enters in the middle of the two lots.

	Top: In this "before" picture, you can see the original driveway entrance and the large spruce tree at the front of the vacant lot. Bottom: In this "after" picture, the spruce tree has been removed, and it has been replaced with a mound of dirt. To the left, the beginnings of a new driveway are visible.
	In this picture, the new driveway has been sloped correctly, and we have begun spreading gravel on it.
	Chris Reiter uses a shovel to make minor adjustments. (He did most of the work with his Bobcat.)
	Barb looks at the nearly finished result.
	Several days later, I've worked a bit on the retaining wall and the gravel looks a bit more used.

The Sullishak.com, Allen-House.Com, and RoyalHouse1873.com websites are maintained by Dave and Barbara Sullivan who live in the N. H. Allen House at 208 6th Avenue SE, Albany, Oregon. Our home phone is 541-924-5983. We also maintain Spacehounds.Com for Mary Lowd and Abbey Road Auto Repair for Dave Helton.