Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Winter comes to Ramsay ahead of schedule

Early sunrise overtaking the Grigg Barn

The north portico of the main house on a cold day

Local meteorologists are calling our current weather pattern a "mid-winter" type, very unusual for our area at this time of year.  At the end of last week, the arctic weather pattern behind the curve of the Jet Stream--which has made national news headlines because of its severity in the mid west last week--slid south and our weather became cold and rainy over the weekend and even colder, but clear and windy today.  At noon today, our phones' weather apps showed the temperature to be 29 degrees with a "real feel," given the strong winds, of 13 degrees.  The following picture is of a little icy stalagmite that has grown up in the grass underneath the spout of the hydrant at the barn where there was a little drip.

 Mushroom?  Plastic pipe?  Nope.  A frozen water drip!

This morning, the horses stood like statues in front of the barn, soaking up some sun and warmth.

In our earlier post, we included some photos from the early phase of the latest project at Ramsay--developing  two new level turf "pads" just west of the Grigg barn. The first pad is being constructed immediately west of the barn inside the fence, and the other one just to the west outside the barnyard fence. At this point, the first pad is just about complete, and the remaining one is ready for topsoil, seed, and straw matting.

Construction of the pads included installing a drain system for them both so that water won't collect on their surfaces.

The lower of the two pads adjacent to the barn has been completed and grass has been sown and covered with straw matting to protect it through the winter.  On dry days with the temperature above freezing, Stephen is managing sprinklers on this and other newly sown areas.

Mike's fence-building crew was here early last week replacing the row of fence that was removed to accommodate the new barnyard pad.  It took two tractors, Mike's with a post hole digger and the Ramsay one adding weight with its bucket, to get the new posts into the heavily compacted ground.

Another phase of this project will involve installing a new restroom area in the south wing of the Grigg Barn. This development will call for a new drain field which requires the expertise of a licensed  technician from the Albemarle County Health Department who came out recently to obtain soil samples from the designated area.  He initially tried taking a core sample with a hand auger, but determined that a larger sample would be needed, resulting in what looked like a burial site!

Hand auger yields small core samples from 3-4'

Track hoe makes quick work of it.

"Ah, that's what I needed to see!"

In anticipation of the heavy rains which were forecast for later in the day, Stephen spent most of Sunday morning this week spreading plastic over the newly excavated and leveled second pad. Today's winds had begun to disturb the arrangement of plastic, but it had done its job, as the soil remains where it should be rather than having washed away despite steady and at times, heavy rain late Sunday and all day yesterday.

Plastic covered upper pad with cinder block and  rolls of matting as weights

Other, smaller projects were underway in various places on the farm.  Art restoration and conservation expert, Stefanie Newman, came to inspect the painting above the library fireplace in the main house.  She examined some sample areas of the painting in order to assess how much work needed to be done and what it would entail.  Stephanie cleaned another painting from the collection in the main house this past summer and did a fantastic job.

The chickens seem to be doing pretty well in the cold weather.  In these sub-freezing temps, Stephen checks their water supply several times a day and often has to add hot water to the water fount. One of "the girls" regularly flutters up onto the top of the coop when he is leaving their area, apparently just checking to make sure she doesn't miss anything.

Connie was here last week continuing her work cleaning borders and pots and replacing the remaining decorative plants with ones which will be more cold tolerant.

Large urn in the ellipse on the north lawn

As usual, Sherry has been busy cleaning, doing laundry, ironing, and other maintenance tasks she does so well in all the residences.

Before the cold snap and wind, there were a few remaining colorful leaves on the maples last week:

Young maple on the south lawn

Afternoon with Chiswell estate in view

The end of a busy day at the farm.