Tag Archives: John

October 3, 2007 · 4:15 pm

We have the Permits! WP668 Caboose

John was at San Jose City Hall again today talking with the building department. There was an “express plan check” to determine whether we could get permits to build a short set of stairs and also hook up the electrical power to WP668, our backyard caboose. Normally, an “express plan check” is to get permission to build a whole house but because last year we got a variance from the City Council, we had to do this too. It cost $1,132 for today’s plan check and the following three permits:

1. Anchoring the steps (and tie downs) to the ground
2. Building the 7 step stairway with banisters and handrails
3. Electrical installation and wiring

Also included in the $1,132 is a city fee for San Jose to operate and maintain storm sewers – this was about 1/3 of the total charge. $1,132 is about 3 times the permit cost for simple stairs and electrical hook up on a regular structure. The caboose is unusual so the city keeps adding special reviews and requirements, which we have to pay for.

At least we are done with the permitting process and our contractor can finally start work!

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Updated 5 April 2020

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July 4, 2007 · 10:57 pm

San Jose Fireworks

John and I just got home from watching the American Independence holiday fireworks at our local train station. I can still hear our neighbors setting off their own 4th of July firecrackers and small rockets. The elevated Caltrain station is just a few blocks from our home. Sitting on the platform, we can see three big fireworks shows and many small ones in the San Jose area. Many of our neighbors also bring their kids, grandparents, dogs, lawn chairs, and blankets to the platform see the free shows. 4th of July is John’s and my
wedding anniversary; every year, we get to celebrate with our whole neighborhood.

Fireworks start at full dark, about 9:30 p.m.. The show lasts for about 20 minutes. Every year there are new shapes and colors. This year, it was square boxes of light, plus red hearts inside of expanding blue balls. The yellow smiley faces and the saturn shapes were back from prior years as well.

I worry about the dogs in the audience since animals often find fireworks terrifying. Our veterinarian gives our two dogs sedatives for this difficult week. Juliet in particular gets hysterical and cries pitiably when she hears fireworks. Romeo, who normally howls whenever he hears a firetruck siren, is much calmer about fireworks.

In addition to the sounds of local fireworks outside, I can now hear two or three fire engines going by. Our neighbors across the tracks must have set their grass field on fire again. I am glad our dogs are asleep.

WP668 Caboose Restoration Update

Since we moved WP668 into our backyard on 12 May, we have been working on her between other family and job obligations. It will take at least the next year to get the biggest projects done. Our first efforts have been:

Neatly trimming trees that were damaged during the crane lift
Setting up a temporary power connection for the ceiling lights so we can work inside
Sweeping and vacuuming the dust of ages
Replacing missing and broken glass in windows, cleaning the windows that survived vandalism during storage
Replacing the fence we took down to move WP668 in
Buying and installing the car stops

A prior owner of WP668 cut through inside and outside walls to install a big window. He just made the hole – the window was never added. We have removed the cut 1″x6″ tongue and groove interior planks above and below the hole and are installing new 2″x6″ fir tongue and groove exterior boards to fill the hole. We will eventually replace the interior boards also.The caboose originally had 6 small sash windows that rose between the interior and exterior walls plus a 2 piece sliding window in each bay plus 2 sidelights in each bay. There are also glass windows in the doors at each end. We are retaining and restoring (or replacing) all of the windows except the one sash cut out by the prior owner since that wall will eventually feature floor-to-ceiling glass fronted bookcases. We are still working on filling the exterior wall hole. John and Paul primed the new fir tongue and grove boards last weekend with white paint. John is filling the irregular cavity spaces between the interior and exterior walls with cut-to-fit rigid foam insulation.

It was my job to remove the interior boards around the hole. I found that getting 91-year-old fitted and nailed boards out without splitting them is tricky. We saved the pieces in case we need original wood for repairs elsewhere. We are leaving all interior work until it starts to rain again next Autumn.

Someone asked why we have named WP668 “Kate Hall”. The name comes from Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew (Act II, Scene i), a play from about 1590 much-quoted to those of us named Katherine:

PETRUCHIO: Good morrow, Kate; for that’s your name, I hear.
KATHARINA: Well have you heard, but something hard of hearing: They call me Katharina that do talk of me.
PETRUCHIO: You lie, in faith; for you are call’d plain Kate,
And bonny Kate and sometimes Kate the curst;
But Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendom
Kate of Kate Hall, my super-dainty Kate,
For dainties are all Kates, and therefore, Kate,
Take this of me, Kate of my consolation;
Hearing thy mildness praised in every town,
Thy virtues spoke of, and thy beauty sounded,
Yet not so deeply as to thee belongs,
Myself am moved to woo thee for my wife.
KATHARINA: Moved! in good time: let him that moved you hither
Remove you hence: I knew you at the first
You were a moveable.

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May 25, 2007 · 5:37 pm

Caboose Move on Front Page

A photo of my family standing on the platform of our caboose is on today’s front cover of our local newspaper, the Willow Glen Resident. Inside on p.18-20, are more color and monochrome photos, nine images in all. The reporter, Mayra Flores DeMarcotte, has been patiently waiting to publish this story ever since February 2007 when she saw our application for a variance presented to the San Jose City Council. Mayra sent two photographers, Jacqueline Ramseyer and Vicki Thompson, to take pictures of the 12 May final move and crane lift of WP668 into our backyard. The name of today’s story is “Home Depot – Willow Glen family purchases 30-ton caboose”.

Two videos of the big move have been posted on YouTube:

“Caboose Move” by Samuel Fineberg (9 min. 24 sec.), 11 May 2007.
“WP668 – crane lifts caboose into backyard – webcam” by John Plocher (1 min 9 sec), 14 May 2007.

What fun!

More story and photos are on the WP668 website.

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Photo Copyright 2007 by Danek Duvall
News Images Used with Permission, Copyright 2007 Silicon Valley Community Newspapers
Updated 3 April 2020

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May 12, 2007 · 12:02 am

Caboose Moved Today

WP668, our 91-year-old caboose, moved to our backyard today after over a year in storage. We all arrived at 7:30 a.m. to start the job. South Bay Crane & Rigging (408-244-0414, Los Gatos, CA) lifted the 1916 historic railroad car by crane and loaded her onto a truck. At 9 a.m., they drove WP668 three blocks to our house.

The first job was to get the crane into the driveway that runs along our back fence. One of the gateposts and some tree limbs came down but Julie, the crane operator, did make it fit. Then, the crane turned one of the caboose’s truck and wheel sets end for end (we had rolled it in backwards when we moved it out of storage last year). Finally, the crane lifted the 18-ton WP668 body off the lowboy flatbed, over the trees (some more limbs damaged but nothing unexpected), and onto the wheels. Lance, the rigger, went up and over the fence and back to keep the pulling rope stretched in the right direction so that Dennis could direct Julie in how to lower the caboose down with the least damage to surrounding trees. Our friend Chuck Cottam (who designs and installs koi ponds) and my husband John acted as backup riggers. Chuck also wielded the tree saw as needed.

Our neighbors, friends from Sun Microsystems, friends from the Silicon Valley Lines (SVL), and South Bay Historical Railroad Society (SBHRS) model train clubs, and photographers from the Willow Glen Resident newspaper joined our family for the big event. After WP668 was down and secured, we all had a BarBQ lunch, with caboose tours. Some of today’s photos follow. Tomorrow, we replace the fence!

More story and photos are on the WP668 website.

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Images Copyright 2007 by Katy Dickinson, John Plocher, and Danek Duvall
News images Used with Permission, Copyright 2007 Silicon Valley Community Newspapers
Updated 3 April 2020

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March 8, 2007 · 6:28 am

Photos of Sravanabelagola (India)

Below are some photos from our trip to Sravanabelagola (Karnataka, India) last weekend. I am sorry to write that we will not make it to Delhi and Agra (to see the Taj Mahal) this weekend after all. After long complex discussions with several travel agents, the trip price just
kept going up as they added more items somehow not in the original amount; when the quote went over $2,000, we said enough. John and I are disappointed and frustrated but hope to see the Taj on a future trip. We will visit Goa instead this weekend. I will post more pictures (Belur and Halebid) as time allows.

We started before dawn from Bangalore and after a long drive, we got to Sravanabelagola before it got too hot. On our climb in socks up more than 600 granite steps to see the huge A.D. 981 Gomateshvara Jain sculpture, we saw carved inscriptions commemorating ancient pilgrimages. My favorite inscription was translated:

THIS WORN OUT INSCRIPTION IS DATED SAKA 1568 PHAI SUNA VADI 6,
CORRESPONDING TO THE 16TH MARCH 1647 A.D. TUESDAY. IT SEEMS TO
RECORD THE PILGRIMAGE OF SOME PERSONS.

The exactness of the date combined with total lack of information abut the pilgrims who carved it is funny.

Sravanabelagola sign:

Sravanabelagola

600 plus steps (in socks):

Sravanabelagola

Doorway at the top:

Sravanabelagola

rock inscription and sign:

Sravanabelagola

rock footprints:

Sravanabelagola

stone dancer:

Sravanabelagola

small statues:

Gomateshvara

head:

Gomateshvara feet with

carved snakes and termites:

Gomateshvara

statue:

Truck demon

on road:

Tree roots over

road:

Caboose Approved!

John and Paul and I and one of our neighbors were in the San Jose City Council chambers this morning at 9 a.m. for the hearing on our Development Variance to move caboose WP668 into our yard as an “accessory structure”. It was approved on the Consent Agenda without discussion! Hooray!

The Permit will be signed this week. Some of the entertaining parts of the 7 page long document:

Finding: “4. This Variance, subject to such conditions as may be imposed thereon, will not impair the utility or value of adjacent property or the general welfare of the neighborhood, and will not impair the integrity and character of the zoning district in which the subject property is situate in that the reduced setback will facilitate development of an unusually shaped, small lot that might otherwise remain undeveloped into perpetuity and will be compatible with the adjacent residential neighborhood.”
(I think this means this project does not mess up the current land use or access.)
Finding: “6a…the proposed use at the location requested will not:… Adversely
affect the peace, health, safety, morals or welfare of persons residing or
working in the surrounding area…”
(Morals?)
Conditions:
“11f…This is a habitable space….”
“13…Accessory buildings… shall not contain conditioned space,
living space, or sleeping quarters.”
(That is, WP668 is a habitable space but not a living space.)
Next step: ask for a Building Permit from San Jose’s Chief Building Official.

After we have the Building Permit, we can move the caboose!

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Updated 5 April 2020

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Tag Archives: John

We have the Permits! WP668 Caboose

San Jose Fireworks

WP668 Caboose Restoration Update

Caboose Move on Front Page

Caboose Moved Today

Photos of Sravanabelagola (India)

Caboose Approved!

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