They don’t call it Stumptown for nuthin’
Alright, with all that pesky sidewalk out of the way and the stumps gone I can level out the dirt and build my concrete forms. Oh, hold up. What’s this, a python? No, it’s a root. Of course, 70 ft trees would have large roots. That makes sense. Whoa. WHOA! There were plenty more where...
Spare a square of concrete
A couple weeks ago I finished knocking out most of the sidewalk and brought in a guy to grind the huge catalpa stumps. There was just one last stubborn section of sidewalk connected to the entire wheelchair accessible corner slab the city put in last year. I didn’t want to just start hacking at it...
Every rose has its thorn
In the year since we replanted our ten rose bushes, about half of the roses flourished and half have not done so well. The issue was random, we had happy roses next to sad roses, which was curious because each plant was receiving pretty much equal sun and water. A couple weeks ago I caught...
Back to the front
Ok, now we’re getting somewhere. The trees are gone. We have our replacement trees. We have our permit to remove the sidewalk so we can grind out the stumps out. I built my own barricades. It’s business time. Here’s the thing about knocking out concrete by hand: It sucks. I mean, seriously I’d rather be...
Keep ‘em separated
After removing our two Catalpas from the front parking strip, it’s time to knock out the sidewalk around the stumps so they can be taken out. So, we applied for a permit to remove and replace the sidewalk from the Portland Bureau of Transportation. One of the stipulations of the permit is you have to...
The Pipe of Mystery
Sometimes when you dig in your yard, you find some crazy junk. We’ve found bones, matchbox cars, marbles, brick walkways, concrete walkways, potato chip bags and…a pipe. Not just any old pipe either. While moving dirt around with the Bobcat last year, we uncovered a strange concrete dome with a metal pipe in the center,...
Oh, how the mighty have fallen
Continuing the saga of our giant Catalpas we pick up where we left off in our last post, License to Kill. We received our permit and set the date for tree removal, but nothing could prepare us for the carnage that lay ahead. Riding my bike home from work, I caught my first glimpse of...
License to Kill
It was February of 2009 when Diana and I first toured our house. There were no leaves on our brilliant Laceleaf Japanese Maple or on the two hydrangeas. The same was true for the two immense Catalpas that loomed 70+ feet over front yard and house. Maybe that’s why we didn’t notice these behemoths, maybe...
I luvs me some Japanese inspired corporate landscaping
There is an office building across the street from Merrell, where Diana is doing some contract apparel design work, and every time we drive by the landscaping catches my eye. So, I took some photos for reference. With a distinct Japanese motif, it has some of my favorite grasses (Black Mondo, luv ‘em!), bamboo and...
Drawing up some plans
With our backyard finally free of major obstructions, it’s a lot easier to visualize potential options for the space. Having really never designed a yard before, it’s hard to imagine the virtually infinite hardscaping and landscaping options. So, I dusted off my old mechanical pencils from high school architecture class (yes, I still have them)...
Bringing in the big guns
Right about now you might be asking, “why are you doing all this?” Good Question. At this point we weren’t sure. After tearing down and replacing the old retaining wall, it was a cascade of one thing after another. We didn’t set out to redo the backyard entirely, it just kinda happened.The backyard was pretty...
Cleaning the Slate
We moved a lot of dirt and got rid a lot of mess and debris in order to get the backyard closer towards a clean slate. It was a lot of work up to this point, but the tough stuff was about to begin. Late Summer last year we decided to fully clear out the...