Fog rolling in.

Just kind of happened on our daily walk, he sure was proud of getting it!

The big rig is here! We officially punched our ‘country ticket’. Great to have him home after his first trip, and of course we are VERY proud of him.

Got down to 22f that night and the warmth of the fire was quite welcome.

Gathered almost three thousand pounds of scrap metal from around the farm; metal roofing, cushed culverts, an old silo auger, metal chairs and even an old swing set complete with a teeter totter.

Of course no good deed goes unpunished. I called the scrap metal yard in Culpeper before I drove it down there on Saturday morning. It closed at 11:30 and I got there at 11am. After I got off the scale the guy came out and told me they aren’t accepting any scrap metal because their machine is broken. Told him I literally just called and he said they forgot to tell the lady in the front office that I spoke to…great.

Ended up taking it to the Orange county dump which accepted it for free since they are going to recycle it too. The dump trailer proved to make this much easier than it would have been otherwise.

Final phase of the renovation is here, the addition of a chimney and the creation of the hearth and rock walls inside. We love the look.

On a late afternoon walk we came into this clearing and just on the other side of that scrub brush a coyote was howling and barking like crazy. As you can see Ace came back and hid behind me…so much for protecting the master.

Patty made the traditional corned beef & cabbage with all of the sides and we brought it up to Ashburn to share with Grammy and Beepa. Was great to see them, and I think they enjoyed it.

The farmer is “sweetening” up the fields in preparation for the spring planting.

Nothing like a hike up Old Rag mountain to focus the mind! Haven’t done it in probably 4 years, but Patrick encouraged us and up we went. This was the first time for Patty, she was a little surprised when we got to the part where you have to pull yourself up through crevices and crawl through small openings. It was a great day to be outside with Patty and Patrick.

COVID note: We passed NUMEROUS crazy people that appeared to be wearing their mask full time in the middle of no where on the trail with no one anywhere near them. I find it sad that people believe it will help them or anyone else if no one is around! Hopefully years from now we can look back and laugh at that experience.

A few pictures from the hike.