Leaving Shenandoah, Now What?

Monday October 5 to Saturday October 10, 2015                                 Previous Post
Greenfield Mountain Farm                                                                    I Did It, All 105 Miles

 

 

We finally picked our day to leave Shenandoah based on the weather.  It had rained for 3 days in a row.  We had the break for the hike and then more days of rain were predicted.  We’d been in Shenandoah for the entire summer and now into the fall.  It was time to pack up, go back to Charlottesville, get some things done in our hometown and get back on the road.

So first thing of course was to wave goodbye to Shenandoah National Park where we have had a delightful and cool summer up in the mountains but close enough to UVA for David to get his weekly treatments and for me to have my cataracts removed. 

There has been rain but almost no heat or humidity so we were content with our summer location.

 

As with most people who return to the towns where they have their roots, we had a number of things to accomplish in this familiar surroundings.  They aren’t terribly interesting but just for the record……….

 

You may remember that when we return to Charlottesville Roger, David’s older brother, often comes down and the boys spend their time “working on things” around the farm for a few days.   This time was no exception.  They both claim that they actually have a good time doing this stuff although I wonder if they are a rare duo to consider this work fun.

Take for instance, installing a steering stablizer on Winnona.  I checked on them several times but this was a tough thing to take photographs of.   Here were the first two.  I got Roger in the gray on the driver’s side and David in the blue in the front.

Great pictures huh?

 

 

How about this one?  Can you see them both? 

 

They did come out to get just the right socket so I had them pose.

 

This is at the end when David REALLY wanted me to get a picture of them using our air compressor to power Roger’s pneumatic impact driver to do remove the nuts from their bolts and replace them.   I guess the guys looking at this may know what’s going on here.  This is the best picture I could get and it doesn’t have the compressor in it.  Sorry David.  In the end, it got done and we are now much safer should we ever have a driver’s front tire blow out.

 

 

Next they tackled painting the porch roof.  Metal roofs are wonderful!  So glad we didn’t have to give up the sound of rain on our roof when we got Winnona.   Metal roofs also last way more than the 20 years of other types.  IF, you keep them painted.  So when I spied some rust on the porch roof before Carrie’s shower in the spring, I put scraping, priming and painting on the list.  I think David felt Roger would be a better help to him in this endeavor than I might so he saved this chore for the two of them. 

 

David wears a mask whenever he works with any chemicals like a rust remover.  Actually a good idea for everyone.

Scraping finished, on goes the red primer.

 

 

 

Mostly  finished, sweaty guys with big grins!   Thanks you two!!

 

Lookin’ mighty spiffy after David puts the finishing touches on the following week!

 

 

 

 

Each time Roger comes there seem to be several sections of fencing that need to be replaced.  This time it’s 3 sections in the front.  If you’ve ever had a ranch or a farm, you know that fencing is a never ending task.  Sort of like dishes or vacuuming although not quite that often.  Of course you have to take out the old stuff before you can dig the holes for the new posts, set them in the ground and then nail the boards to them.   That’s the farm lane to the house behind them in the pictures below.

 

 

 

 

Really nice job guys.

 

 

Next is the dryer.  It stopped working early in the spring and since we haven’t been around it didn’t get high up on the list until it was impossible to hang the laundry out on the line because of the rains.   Now this isn’t a difficult repair supposedly except for where David installed the laundry when we put the bathroom in.  There is a hidden dutch door behind the clawfoot tub and next to the shower.  Open the top and you have access to the stackable washer and dryer.

So the heavy cast iron tub and the washer have to be moved out before you can even get to the dryer.  Probably should have had 3 men for the tub but these two managed it.  And without hernias it appears.

got the washer out

   Got the dryer out.

 

 

David did the repairs after Roger had left.

 

In addition, they had some nice meals and pretty sunsets.

 

That’s Humpback Rock on the Blue Ridge Parkway sticking up above the trees to our west.

 

 

The farm’s signature barn is extremely old and probably could be torn down but it is such a wonderful part of this place we don’t want to do that.  It was home to many of our animals over the years.  Still it is deteriorating and if we want to sell the property, we need to get it shored up.  So we call on Mike Watkinson from Shenandoah Restorations who specialize in antique barns to come out and evaluate it and give us a plan and a price.  GULP!!

 

 

 

Pretty primitive construction.  But she’s lasted 100 years + before needing some help.

 

 

After claiming he actually had a good time, sadly for us, Roger headed back on Saturday.  It is just so wonderful of him to come and help David out in ways I just wouldn’t measure up.  You are just THE BEST Roger.  We can never thank you enough.