Spring 2010
Volunteer Clean-up Days
Result in Big Accomplishments!
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We finished two Saturday clean-ups in May and really
appreciate the help provided by all the volunteers as
well as the Clackamas County Community Service Team.
Some of our accomplishments:
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Trimming and Blowing
We got lots of trimming, blowing, and pruning done, and
had things looking great for Mother's Day
weekend. We will still need to do another
run through before Memorial Day weekend, but
things are looking great at this time (May
16).
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Monument Cleaning
Our board president, Liz Meyers worked her way down from the
top while the Endicott Family worked their way
up from the bottom. They used wooden
sticks and small brushes to clean out some of
the engraving in the shadier areas that has not
been cleaned in many years. It's slow work, but
also relaxing and contemplative, especially with
some good conversation thrown in! It
certainly makes a big difference in the
legibility of the monuments.
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Lifting and Leveling
I lost count, but we
probably leveled close to fifteen monuments on
the two Saturdays. The Sather Family
(descendants of the Youngs and Grahams) came
prepared with pry bars and blocks, and developed
a pretty coordinated system to remove the
monument, back fill with gravel, tamp, level,
replace, level and adjust again, then on to the
next one. This is one of those jobs that
needs to be done in spring or fall when the
ground is soft but not muddy.
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West Entrance Clean-up
The West (uphill) entrance has been quite overgrown in
recent years and has become something of a
dumping spot at the corner. This is
unfortunate because we have a magnificent
big-leaf maple there that deserves to make a
statement at the upper gate. Dave Beach,
who lives nearby, came with his tractor to haul
away the chunks of concrete that had been
dumped, and brought his chainsaw to remove some
of the filberts and holly that were blocking the
view of the maple tree. We still have some
dead/dying trees to remove to really be able to
see the big maple at its best, as well as lots
of English ivy that needs to be removed from
almost everything. If you do any work in
this area be sure you wear gloves and can
identify poison oak because there is lots of it
in the woods around the cemetery.
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New
Parking Area - Now Complete!
Jerry Eaton just finished leveling and adding
gravel to a small parking area at the west end.
That should reduce the need to pass cars stopped
in the roadway, which has caused damage in the
past to nearby graves and monuments. All
three entrances also received gravel and
compacting, allowing easier circulation on
holidays or when there is a service or other
gathering.
Thank you to everyone who contributed their
time to the spring clean-up this year!
Charlotte
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What's Next?
What happened to the boxwood hedges?
You may notice that most
of the boxwood hedges have been removed. Many of them
were old and overgrown, and had been badly damaged by the
ice and snow a couple winters ago, but the main reason they
were removed is that they provided excellent nesting zones
for the California ground squirrels (not native to these
parts) that have caused so much damage undermining
monuments. We were advised that without the boxwoods
the squirrels might be encouraged to migrate to other woods
and fields. We will see how that works out over the
next year or two, but so far the rodent population seems to
have dropped way off! The remaining root balls from
the boxwoods will be
removed as we can get to them.
Utility Shelter
Last winter we applied
for a grant to build a small three-sided shelter to hold the
garbage containers and leftover cemetery vases, as well as
provide a notice board for a locator map and other
information. Unfortunately in this very competitive
grant climate, we were not successful in getting one of the
awards. It is still a worthwhile project though so we will
work on raising funds to get it done one way or another.
Monument Repair
The last few years we
have made big strides in getting some major monument repair
done on monuments that were toppled or loose. We still
have a few that need to be secured, and lots more that have
sunken and need to be carefully lifted and reset.
Several have missing or deteriorated bases that need to be
replaced. Most of this is slow work that requires some
muscle, but it is not too complicated, so we will
target the worst ones and plan to gradually make progress
each year. We made great headway so far this spring.
We have about six monuments waiting for repair by Oregon
Memorial, including the big Fletcher stone that has been
down for a couple years.
Mailing List Update
If you received an
annual letter last year and your address has not changed,
you can assume you are still on our mailing list. If
you did not receive a letter and would like to be included,
whether as a member of the Cemetery Association, or just
someone interested in the future of Pleasant View Cemetery,
email me your address and we will be sure to include you.
Charlotte Lehan
Memorial Day
Weekend