Thursday, April 17, 2014

This week began as do many weeks--cold and rainy, with mostly maintenance activities underway, but then evolved into a whirlwind of spring-related and other activities.  There had been guests in the Cottage for a long weekend, who departed on Monday with many kind words for the beauty of Ramsay and its setting, and the hospitality they received as guests.  Paul, Ramsay's plumber par excellence, came and repaired the shower fixture in the master bath at the Cottage, which had malfunctioned while the guests were here.  On Tuesday, Sherri was on site cleaning the Cottage and the Carriage House, preparing for more guests, who will be spending a long Easter weekend here.

On Wednesday, Ramsay's delightful interior decorators from northern Virginia where here, working in the Main House, the Carriage House, and the Birdcage (formerly known as The Studio).  Stephen and I went to Free Union Grass Farm in the afternoon and brought back four Golden Comet hens for the new mobile coop.  Even though the night was very cold, resulting in frost on the roof of the coop this morning, "the girls" seemed not to mind and were snug in the upstairs part of the coop.  They appear to like the feed from Countryside Organics, and are sipping from their water container, so we think they are settling in.  Joel, from whom the farm bought them, says they are 20 weeks old and will be ready to start laying eggs soon, probably in a week or so.

Today, Thursday, was a very busy one.  Sherri was on site early, continuing to prep the Cottage and the Carriage House for this weekend's guests and doing maintenance cleaning in the Main House.  Soon, a two-man crew from Commonwealth H2O from Charlottesville were here to install a high-tech filtration and acid-neutralizing system to the estate well and water supply.  They will return tomorrow to complete the installation, which will involve repairing and/or replacing some old pipe and will require shutting off the water supply to the estate.

Darin, the representative from Tru-Green Lawn Service, was on-site in the morning, continuing the lawn fertilizer and weed-control program launched last fall.  The lawns show good results from the earlier treatment, as the new grass has come in thick and green.

Piedmont Landscaping arrived mid-day and launched their customary assault on all the grassy areas on the estate except the pastures.  Their efficient workmen clipped all edges and cleared sidewalks and driveways after completing the mowing.  The lawns now look like watered silk!

Later this afternoon, Mike's fencing crew dropped off the supplies to start on the new fence in the southwest pasture next week.

After such a long winter and seeing snowy landscapes for so many weeks, the green we see creeping up the sides of the mountains and springing up in the woods and fields seems almost miraculous.  The new banner photo was taken from the Farmhouse deck yesterday in the late afternoon sun.