Tuesday 06.04.2013

Long day today (for SY) 14 hours! Starting with a neighbor from several miles west knocking on the Farm House door at 7:15am to say that the Ramsay cows were in his backyard! Long story---longer day! 3  hours cattle wrestling this morning, another hour this evening at dusk--no luck! (Didn't have the presence of mind to get a pic of the stubborn critters on the lamb!)

On site today:

Sherry - the ususal
SY - the unusual!
Mick and Jody from SC - prepping kitchen ceiling Main House for new pot rack
Kevin W. at the Studio - tile and soap stone - one more day!
Kevin K. and Mike D. carpenters at the Guest Cottage
Arty Lundgren crew removing bricks from sidewalks and garden

Sidewalk demo complete

Chuck Kennedy electricians here - long day till past 8pm hanging
a new pot rack in the Main House kitchen

          20+ man hours of labor to 
               install this pot rack!

                        Less than a week since the hay cutting and the grass has already grown nearly 4"!

Monday 06.03.13

The forecast was for intermittent showers today --which we needed--but nothing happened (rain-wise) so Arty Lundgren's demo crew was able to get started removing the old brick walkways from the Main House down to the Guest Cottage, as part of major renovation of the grounds surrounding--and including--the formal gardens.

On site today:

SY - able "pallet-moving" assistant to Arty's crew! (Thanks to our new JD 5300!)
Kevin - soap stoning at the Studio
Don Wright - bush hogging all pasture edges following the hay cutting last week
Mick and Jody (from SC) dropped by to pick up some things on the way to Alexandria for TS and ended up starting installation of the new pot rack in the kitchen--will stay overnight at the Cottage.

"One brick at a time!"

Stockpiling old reusable brick.

Major progress on day #1

Friday 05.31.2013

We've been blessed with a stretch of hot, dry weather this week--perfect for getting up the first cutting of hay off the pastures.  On site: Donny and crew arrived early with  huge equipment ...

                      ...and soon the hillsides were dotted with giant round bales of hay!                                

Also on site today:  
Sherry & SY - the usual; Roofers at the Cottage;
UPS delivery of new hanging pot rack for the kitchen at the Main House

Kevin setting soap tone at the Studio...

Solid, polished piece of soap stone!

     Soap stone being set in place...
     (click on image to set it right!)

Thursday 05.30.2013

A beautiful early summer day (90 degrees!) at Ramsay.

Happy birthday to our son, Lindsay (1980) After 7+ years as Director of Online Marketing at Wintergreen Resorts, he's taking a new position with the E-Commerce Team at the Corporate Headquarters of Southern States in Richmond.

On site today:
SY- the usual
Roofers - Guest Cottage
Orkin - Main House and Farm House. Great crew; very thorough and professional!
Tiler Kevin - at the Studio setting soap stone
Jessica - gardening, etc. (SY assisted with watering)
Don & Wayne Wright - baling hay

All the hay that is to be cut has been cut now,
and baling will take place Friday & Saturday

Still having difficulty downloading pics from the iPhone - !?#@!*!!

Please Imagine:

Beautiful red roses from the garden...
Obie & Laddie greeting me through the glass storm door at the Farm House at the end of the day...and
Beautiful newly painted red roofs on the workshop and Will's Playhouse!

Wednesday 05.29.2013

Apologies for the upside down pic enlargements from yesterday's posts. My ignorance is showing (I guess!) about my new iPhone 4s. The pictures downloaded upside down--which I'm assuming meant that I held the phone/camera upside down?--but I reoriented them when I saved them, and they were loaded to the post correctly, but came out upside down when enlarged!!!??? I'll summon my "geeks"!!

On site today:

Sherry & SY - the ususal
Roofers - guest cottage
Painters - Farm House, Workshop & Will's Playhouse
Mowers - all lawns
Gardeners - here and there (SY and gardeners watered all the new trees and transplants)
Hay Balers - pasture

Our first cut of the season!

 Despite a few glitches with the equipment! (Don & his brother)




       We needed a few pieces of antique blue & white ceramic to
       add to the soap stone for the new Studio bathroom addition
       --to match the existing floor. Couldn't find any tiles so SY found
       a small planter at the Greenwood Antique Shop and Kevin
       transformed the planter into "pottery pieces!" --------------->

The Workshop roof gets a much-needed new paint job, and.....

                                          the Farm House roof gets its final coat!!

Tuesday 05.28.2013

The long Memorial Day Weekend found Ramsay enjoying Tom & Reae with daughters--Lizzie and Margaret--and friends & boyfriends along for the holiday weekend.

Charlotte & Margaret with North Star!

Page always gives a lesson in horsemanship!

 Our friend, Page Turner returned along with her 4-legged
 steeds in tow to offer trail rides around the upper pastures...





This morning brought a dose of "the real world" --after such a nice holiday weekend--when the great crew from Orkin arrived early to begin work on the long-overdue cleanup of the Guest Cottage crawl space!

On site today also: 
Roofers at the Guest Cottage; Tile work at the Studio; & Don Wright moving
equipment here to begin baling hay tomorrow!

The view from the deck of the Farm House is a welcomed
site at the end of the day!

Gator + Plants = Farmer

Decided to get dirt under my nails ...

Before...a barren wasteland waiting for color...

After...a bouquet of beautiful flowers

Completely exhausted after this undertaking, I returned to the house and took a nap.