Wednesday afternoon, January 22, 2014

What a beautiful day at Ramsay today!  Perfectly clear, china-blue skies and cold enough that most of the snow that fell yesterday and into last night is still where it landed--very little melting except on some of the paved areas.  So it is a blue and white day (all photos taken by Stephen):

Geo was here in the morning, helping Stephen clear sidewalks, porches and outdoor furniture, and the outdoor fireplace area, as well as moving firewood.  Stephen cleared the driveway early, then the sun finished off the remnants left by the tractor before lunchtime.  Stephen checked plumbing in the houses to make sure no pipes were frozen and all was well.  Sherry was here for a regular day at the main house.  Jess Haden stopped by to take more measurements related to the work on the south portico of the main house.  A few pics Stephen took this morning:

Tuesday evening, January 21, 2014

Our area received about 3 inches of snow today--it is still snowing lightly at 9:30 PM, but unlikely to produce much more accumulation before morning, according to local weather forecasts.  Today's high temp was 32, and we are on our way to a 2 degree low tonight.  It's 22 degrees at the moment.  Daytime temperatures are forecast to stay below freezing until Saturday, with lows in single-digits to 19.

Here's a photo taken while walking in the NW field today.

Tuesday morning, January 21, 2014

Snow was later than forecast getting here this morning, starting around 9 AM.  Our internet connection has been unstable during the snow, so I'm taking advantage of being between storms to post a picture, taken from a window in our kitchen looking across the deck of the farmhouse.  The local forecast predicts more snow this afternoon.

Monday afternoon, January 20, 2014

Many missions accomplished today, in balmy 55 degree sunshine.  The forecast for snow accumulation in our area has been updated to 4-6 inches, beginning late tonight and continuing through tomorrow and into Wednesday.  Donnie Wright came today with a load of beautiful, wonderful-smelling Ramsay hay, and unloaded it into the shed.  Stephen stopped by Southern States in C'ville for more feed, so the animals' culinary future looks promising!

Honestly, this hay smells so good, I almost
took a bite myself!

Patsy was here this afternoon, having been out of commission due to a bout with the flu right after Christmas.   She checked on all the plantings to see what needs to be removed and/or replaced, and is planning to return next week to dead-head the remaining live plants and tidy up a bit more.

  

Geo made more great progress cleaning up the path around the woods today.  He cut down several smallish trees that had gotten a foothold in the path, and has cut them up into lengths and stacked them--we are thinking they look like good kindling for the outdoor fireplace!  He also moved some additional firewood from the shed to the porch of the main house in case it's needed later in the week.

Sherry will be here tomorrow for housekeeping in the main house and others as needed.

All the animals are fed, all the vehicles are either under cover or under a tarp, and Ramsay is awaiting its blanket of snow tomorrow.  Here are the contented animals having dinner at the end of the afternoon.

Horses first, so they won't run the cows away from their hay.
Cows know to wait their turn.

Cows have their own dinner pile.  They are much better
at sharing than the horses are.

Monday morning, January 20, 2014

An early update for today--our dogs and then I heard the local coyote pack in the stilll-dark early hours this morning--I expect they were hunting in the brightness of the moon.  The sky was beautiful, full of stars.  I took the dogs outside for a brief run just after 7, and here's a pic of the sunrise behind the old barn.

Geo is here working on the path--he will be cutting back some of the saplings and brier bushes alongside the path today in addition to clearing debris.  Snow is in the forecast for tomorrow, 2-4 inches most likely for our area.  The nighttime temps for the rest of the week will be below freezing, in fact, in single digits by tomorrow night.  So Stephen will be checking plumbing and taking measures to keep pipes from freezing in all the dwelling spaces this week, and generally battening down the hatches for tomorrow's wet weather today.

Saturday and Sunday, January 18-19

A lovely, clear weekend at Ramsay.  Cold and breezy, but at least nothing frozen falling.  Here are some pics from a few weekends ago after a night of freezing rain and subsequent sub-freezing temps:

Iced tree

Stephen removed a layer of ice from the fish pool to prevent
 the walls cracking

The white pines are most likely to suffer from
the weight of ice or snow on their branches
or from high winds. 

Geo made excellent progress on Friday clearing the path around the woods, and will be back tomorrow (Monday) for further work.  Some other projects underway include the south portico of the main house, which is wearing scaffolding while it awaits the delivery of special, extra-long boards for use in replacing the columns, and the pending repair/repainting of places on metal roofs where the paint applied this summer has come away.  Weather has been a factor in completing the outdoor work, but contractors are prepared to go forward with work as soon as temperatures and precipitation permit.

A couple of additional recent photos:

New path from the Carriage
House (garage) to the workshop

Christmas decor by Patsy at the Ramsay gate

The parterre garden with a dusting of show, two days ago

January 17, 2014

Happy New Year from Ramsay!  Susan here, beginning today as part-time blogger for Ramsay Farm FYI.  I retired from UVa as of December 27, with 25 years of service, and am so enjoying being at home, and looking forward to being able to be more a part of the activities here at Ramsay.  Stephen is just now recovering from what was either a horrid cold or flu, and then dental surgery, plus we've had a lot of wet weather over the past two weeks, which confined our activities to office work and the minimum of outdoor work; e. g. feeding animals, troubleshooting some infrastructure problems (frozen pipes, leaking plumbing) at the main house and the studio, obtaining fuel for heating at the main house, and arranging for some part time help due to the departure of Kevin, our skilled carpenter from the summer, who has left for a full time job.

Today was bright and sunny and cold in the morning (25 degrees around 9 AM), but warmed up to the low 50s this afternoon and now blue-gray clouds are rolling in.  Sherry was here cleaning today, and the temporary part-time worker, Gio, was here, beginning to clear the pathway around the woods along the property line with Ridgely.

Even though there isn't much color in the landscape here now, there is a sere beauty in the bare trees, silvery skies, and soft brown of the fields.  Just today, the fields have dried enough to drive on with the Gator.  For the past week, they have been standing in water from all the rain and the sleet we had last weekend.  Here are a couple of pictures I took this afternoon when I walked with the dogs.

From the northwest pasture

Winter trees

I also stopped by to check on the cows and the horses, all of whom are in the front pasture at the moment.  One of the cows actually came to me at the fence, sniffed my hand, and licked it, I guess hoping I had something for her to eat--this was a big surprise, because the cows have always been quite stand-offish.  And of course, Toby (Mr. Bossypants, to borrow from Tina Fey), had to come over and beg as well.

Ramsay cows

Toby 

Even though we are still months away, the warmer weather today made us think spring thoughts and look forward to planting lavender, basil and cilantro in the herb garden again.