Saturday and Sunday, February 1 and 2, 2014

Saturday and Sunday were uneventful and peaceful at Ramsay.  Stephen took advantage of the nice weather on Saturday to do some cleaning up in the front pasture, and Clay stopped by mid-day to check in with Stephen about the restoration work on the carriage.  We have found out that the carriage was built by Montgomery Ward around the turn of the 20th century, roughly 1890-1910 or so, which is great because that is when Ramsay's main house and farmhouse were built.  Currently, Clay and another restoration person are investigating what the original paint color was on the metal frame.  The "carriage guy" in Dayton, VA who does a lot of work for the Amish community in the Shenandoah Valley says the carriage is in excellent shape given its age, with most or all needed restoration work being cosmetic rather than structural.

Sunday was another beautiful day--for the first time in a long while, it was the same temperature outside as inside our house--about 65-67 degrees mid-day.  We saw Jack Scruby and some other Ramsay connections at church.  Jack has asked me to be on the Heritage Committee for Emmanuel Episcopal, which should be a good fit with my historical collections, records management, preservation and information organization background.  I expect the history of Emmanuel will have many connections to the history of Ramsay, and look forward to learning more about them both.

In honor of Ground Hog Day on Sunday, the dogs and I visited the two primary ground hog sites we know of, both in the pastures on the west side.  Laddie decided to investigate one of them, and you may recognize where this one is--that's the treeline on the boundary with Ridgely in the background.  Judging by the red dirt piled on the ground near this burrow, it may be pretty recent, but we haven't seen any ground hogs "in person."