KatysBlog

The rain cleared for long enough over the weekend that we were able
to put down 3 rail ties. John strung yellow cords around 3 sides of
the rail bed for levelling. The railbed is lower on the ends and higher
in the middle but the difference is not so extreme that the rails will
have trouble arching over the bump. We are lining up the existing
holes in the wooden ties so as to make assembly (of rails, spikes, tie
plates, ties) easier. The ties
are different lengths – some were clearly used in switches – and of
varying age and density. However, since

WP668 will not move much on these rails, we care more about the
top to bottom measure being the same (which it mostly is) than about
other measures or conditions.

Moving a hundred pounds or more of wood heavy with creosote is awkward at
best. We shifted each tie from the pile on the driveway onto my red
wheelbarrow and them bumped it over the mud to the new railbed. Now
that we have the measurements and allignment sorted out, next weekend
we will rent a Bobcat to move the rest of the ties. We bought extra ties so
that we can pick out the ones which look and fit best.

“For much of the San Francisco Bay Area, last month’s rain came near to
breaking records, which date back to 1850. …

Last month was also one of the coldest on record in San Jose: Its
average high of 58.5 degrees was almost a full degree below the 1897 record
of 59.4 degrees.”

reported San Jose’s
Mercury News
this week.

The caboose is still in storage, the ties are stacked in our driveway,
and the backyard area which will become our very short rail line is a awash
in mud. The plants, trees, snails, worms, and
other moisture-lovers are all thriving.

Our garden, except for the mud
pit which used to be our pool, will look great for Easter. The alstromeira,
nasturtiums, and vine jasmine have started to bloom and the prickly pear
cactus on the bank are forming buds. It is a great time to weed: even the
long tap roots of the nettles just slip out of the mud.
I have planted
two new trees (a Sequoia and a Japanese maple) and two more should arrive
soon (a Western Redbud and a California pepper). I hope that a very
wet beginning will help them be well established by the time they need
to endure summer’s high temperatures.

We visit the caboose at least once a day. It is wet but undamaged. We
are frustrated by a month delay but there is no harm done by the wait.

It is still raining and we have not seen the contractors who are making
the railbed for our caboose in a week. The former pool area is littered
with wet tarps and bricks and disembowelled pool equipment. Also, lots of
mud and gravel. We can’t install the ties until the contractors are done
and the soils engineer blesses their work.

While waiting, we are taking advantage of the wet by planting trees. Costco
had a sale on redwood trees (Sequoia sempervirens ‘aptos blue’). We bought
one for $30 to go with the three we planted a year ago. The new arrival is much smaller (only six feet) but the different heights look good together – more like a natural grove. It will end up shading the caboose.
We also bought a threadleaf Japanese Maple ‘Garnet’ (Acer palmatum var. dissectum) to go on the garden side of the bank under
the oaks. Japanese Maple is said to be oak root fungus resistant. A
large California Lilac (Ceanothus) came home too – again for the river
bank inside the fence. I ordered another Western Redbud (Cercis occidentalis) tree. This is a drought-resistant California native as lovely as
its eastern cousin but
needs less water and grows more slowly. The redbud we planted two years ago
on the bank is doing well: it is still covered with lovely purple and
white buds even though the heart-shaped leaves are starting to open.

For the wild side of the bank, on the other side of the garden fence,
I ordered a California pepper tree (Schinus molle) from the nursery. I will know in a week if it is available. It is not the kind of tree they carry in
stock. The master gardener kept asking if I really
wanted a pepper and did I know it was not a California native. I explained
that we are happy owners of 200 feet of steep river bank where a very large
very messy tree like a pepper can thrive even if it does come from Brazil.
We already have one California pepper and
it is very happy among the cottonwoods that line the bank. Cottonwoods are pretty enough but we want something with leaves all year to screen the house.

Right now, the cottonwoods are bare and squirrel nests are plainly visible.
The nests look like basketball-sized bundles of leaves high up in the
branches. Some trees have several of them swaying in the wind. There are
so many cottonwoods that the Guadalupe River becomes a squirrel freeway in summer: the little golden fuzzballs hardly have to jump to get from tree to tree.