(all images and text by Jim Dexter)
| The cleanup challenge: over the summer the stairs were covered with fallen leaves and dirt, as this picture shows on a section of the upper portion of the Lower Merriewood stairs (between Marden Lane and Merriewood). | |
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Another picture of the cleanup challenge: looking up the lower portion of the Lower Merriewood stairs (from Thornhill to Marden Lane) covered in dried leaves and needing trimming of the live vegetation. |
| Dick Olsen running his gas-powered trimmer. He has all of the necessary safety equipment (high-impact eye protection, heavy-duty fabric clothing, boots, etc.) to run the equipment safely. | |
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As you can see here, the vegetation on the left side is already growing over the stairs, after fully eliminating the 'cut zone' created when the stairs were first cleaned by the neighborhood on Earth Day. |
| The 'cut zone' first pass, to clean out the vegetation and get to the roots. | |
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Another picture of the initial 'cut zone'. |
| John Ashton on the lower portion of the Lower Merriewood stairs (looking from Thornhill to Marden Lane), re-setting his gas-powered trimmer after having trimmed the vegetation overhanging the wooden stairs portion of the stairs. | |
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John Ashton sweeping the stairs clean of dirt and dead leaves. |
| The final 'cut zone' is fully clean of the overhanging vegetation, and most of the surface roots have been removed (easing the task for the next cleaning). | |
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The cleaned stairs. |
| Looking up the upper portion of the Lower Merriewood stairs (from Marden Lane to Merriewood): Ready for the next cleaning! | |