Tree Trimming and Caboose Move Variance Permit

There is a crew from DaveyTree
out in our yard now pruning 11 trees. We needed to get all of them
smaller and lower to be able to lift in the caboose over. As requested
by the San Jose water department, we are dumping all of the tree trimmings
down our bank of the Guadalupe River (below the top and above the water).
The tree crew was prepared to chip and haul it all away but we need all of
that brush to build up our bank and protect it from erosion. This will be
an upsetting day for the feral cats on the river bank and some squirrels
whose tree top homes are being relocated.

We have another appointment next week to have San Jose city planning review
our Variance Permit application to move WP668 into our yard. At their
request, we have reworked the Special Use Permit application they originally requested. Last month, John rewrote and reprinted the 350 square feet
of application forms and backup paper with the latest requested changes.
I just hope they accept this version of the permit application. I would like
to get the caboose moved, hopefully before
the first anniversary of its arrival in San Jose (28 February 2006).

In the time it has been in storage, the caboose has dried out, we have
filled in our swimming pool and replaced it with a short rail line,
the caboose body has been roofed and electrified, we moved in the wheels onto
the tracks, and we stripped 2/3 of the old paint on the caboose body. At
the request of the place where it is stored (new management – new broom sweep),
we have stopped all work. We want to bring WP668 home soon.

Here are selected pictures from the caboose move and the work since:

WP668 Leaving San Francisco’s Hunter’s Point:

Leaving Hunter's Point, 28 Feb 2006, photo: copyright 2006 Katy Dickinson