Stanley Snow Day

Stuck as we were in Alexandria, we didn't get to visit Hawksbill Cabin over the weekend.  We asked neighbor Dan if he could take a look at the place to make sure everything was okay - and asked him to feed Momcat.

Dan and Sally were out on their cross country skis, and made their way over pretty easily.  I'm jealous of that - Mary and I have snowshoes but not skis.  Maybe we'll break down and get some.



I was worried that in our little hollow, which is just on the start of the upslope to the Blue Ridge, we'd get a huge dumping of snow.  But the pictures Dan and Sally sent back don't look so bad - maybe two feet up on the roof there.  In 2010, Snowmaggedon (click on the label for more info about that one) we had quite a bit more snow up on the roof, and hired the roofer to come over and shovel for us.

It's really quite a pretty setting.  Hopefully there'll be some snow left next time I get out, I'd like to go sledding in the front yard!

In the Thick of It

Summer has finally arrived, and although the hop yard is keeping me busy full-time, I can't forget how lucky we are to have our getaway at Hawksbill Cabin, and how beautifully it reminds us every year of the changing seasons.

Today, to welcome July, I've got a couple of random photos I managed to take while I was tooling around doing errands at the house last weekend.  In the first one, one of our barncats - the one we call "Momcat" because she is the mother of one of the kittens we adopted - is hanging around the brick terrace supervising me.  At the moment I was down by the pool setting up the robot and cleaning out filters.  

I guess our relationship with her has evolved so that she is one of those "outdoor pets" that you hear about.  We feed her when we're there, and there is another neighbor that feeds her and the other barncats when we're not there.  She shows up right on queue when we drive up, popping up on the brick terrace by the time we're packing in the second armload of stuff from the car.

The second photo shows some of the bee balm blossoms we got this year, which seems to be a good year for them.  There's a patch of them that comes back every year out in the back by the little shed - sometimes it's more robust, and sometimes less.  But with all the rain, at last we have more than 20 flowers on this.

It was in bloom the first time we came by to look at the house, back in 2007.  It was an exceptional show that year, too - and I had never seen the plant before then, so I spent a few minutes checking it out.

By the time we closed on the place, the blooming season was over, but I did a little research to learn more and found out that it would likely come back year after year.

And sure enough it does, so it is one of the things I look forward to now every summer.  Things go 'round, you know.

You Know You Want a Minibob

When Mary and I headed out for Hawksbill Cabin last weekend, we knew we were headed into some snow.  We'd seen reports that Skyline Drive was closed, and expected that we might find as much as six inches of snow on the ground in the hollow.  As it was, there wasn't as much and it had begun to melt already, but it still made for a pretty scene.

Fantastic thoughts of our good times sledding last winter filled my imagination as I was driving through the horse farms on the east approach to the Blue Ridge.  We have two of these Zipfy Minibobs that we bring out whenever there is enough snow on the ground, and our sloping front yard makes for a good hill. Here's a video of me sledding down the hill: 

While I found our two at an outdoors store in Arlington, I've been trying to find another place to buy them that I could share on the blog, and I finally did:  Amazon.  Here's a link back to one of the vendors there, should this be an item you want to put on your holiday gift list.

Wintry Weekend 2014

We've had snow before, but it had been since 2010 that we had more than a foot on the ground at Hawksbill Cabin.  Our neighbors had warned us about it - even posting a photo of them cross country skiing around their yard.  We were looking forward to seeing everything covered in white, but waiting until Saturday morning to be sure we would drive and arrive in full daylight.

It was a beautiful sight, but the house was cold.  There are always these tradeoffs...we turned up the heat for the rest of the day on Saturday to get the mass of the house warmed.  Once that is done, it will hold heat pretty well (although there's a draft off of the picture windows.

I was looking forward to trying out some of the winter sports gear we've accumulated over the last few years, and I will post about those adventures in the next few days.

For her part, Tessie seemed to enjoy the change, even though the depth of the snow made things difficult for her.  She was a trooper, running around the backyard exploring.

When I took her out for a walk in the wood lot Sunday, I didn't expect that we'd get such a great view across the Jordan Hollow property from our back property line.  It was spectacular though, looking across over the little 10-acre field that borders us, now growing into a second growth forest, and then to the old inn, and off to the western foothills of the Blue Ridge.

You've got to find the balance in the end - we don't get weather quite this intensively every year, more like every 3 or 4 years - it's pretty, and it's fun to get out in...but truth be told, it's cold.  Spring is coming.

A Snowy Walk in the Woods

On Sunday, Tessie and I awoke to a crisp, clear winter’s morning at Hawksbill Cabin.  All day Saturday the sky was gray and spitting snow flurries, but there was no hint that we’d find such a pretty dusting of snow when day broke. 

We got up and did the normal routine – a short walk around the back and into the wood lot, then down the drive to the stream and around the bend to the neighbor’s house.  I snapped the photo here from the road, unable to resist the golden light that was just rising above Skyline Drive. 

After breakfast, one of us was still feeling her oats and she talked me into a walk in the snowy woods over at Hawksbill Recreation Park.  Here’s a shot of Tessie running to catch up with me along the pathway.

Short and sweet today, I wanted to be sure I got these photos onto the blog!

Chores Inside and Out

For the most part, the weather during this just passed holiday weekend was tremendous out at Hawksbill Cabin.  We did get some rain, but we had several days of sunshine, like yesterday, when I climbed up on the terrace below the pool deck to take this photo looking up at the house.

For a good part of the fall, Mary had been talking about getting the curtains down and laundering them, so on Tuesday, our rainy day, she took this one on.  One of the most challenging parts of this task is the fact that the windows are ten feet high, so you have to get up on a ladder to take them down (and to put them back up) - so I helped a bit on this part of the task.  Then she went into town to take care of other errands while the curtains washed in a coin-op laundrymat.

With the curtains down, new light was shed on the modern bones of our place.  Here are three photos I took during the chore - first, the view from the living room, unobstructed by curtains; and second and third, two views of the house looking from the outside - first the original, main house, and then, the addition.

October Nor'easter

All week long there was that looming forecast of a winter storm coming, predicted to hit the mid-Atlantic region by Halloween weekend.  And so it did.

This was an early snow, mixed with sleet - it was very wet, and quickly adherred to the remaining leaves on the trees.  As Tessie and I were hanging around in the cabin Saturday morning, we were constantly interrupted by the burst and crack of trees branches coming down in the wood lot under the weight of the snow.

Tessie and I took a little walk to check things out.  She was very excited to be out in the snow, so much so it distracted her from her business - we went out no less than three times before we had "results."  

All the shrubs were weighed down from the snow.  They survived the "Snowpocalypse" in 2010, though, so hopefully there isn't much permanent damage or loss.  Also, we found that you can finally see Beaver Run again with the leaves down.

Weather like this sets up a very beautiful scene, despite the cold and inconvenience - our power went off at 9:00 am; I didn't expect it to be restored until at least Sunday.  Fortunately, the gas heat works without electricity, so I turned it up a little higher than usual and the two of us bailed for Alexandria on Saturday afternoon.

We made a quick stop in town at Hawksbill Bicycles, where Chris and Rob were setting up for the Chambers downtown Trick or Treat event. 

Luray was abuzz with all the festivities, between Darkwood Manor just behind there, and a metal music fest that was also scheduled for the evening.  There's always a lot going on, maybe surprisingly so, for such a small town!

A Pleasant Winter Morning's Walk

I’ll start the week with a post of some photos from the Sunday morning walk I took. The Valley was sparkling fresh from a light snow that fell last week, and I love to take a walk in the winter scenery.  These are photos from my iPhone, which I am still just learning how to use.

My goal was to visit the neighbor’s mare and donkey in their pasture, since last night they were standing near the fence looking out at the road and I’d decided I would make a point of saying hello. I brought them a couple of apples as a treat. The mare will come and visit me when I walk by, but the donkey is independent (I’ve heard is also 40 years old) and can’t be bothered - he's barely visible in the background here. I still tossed an apple his way when the mare wasn’t pestering me for it.

As I walked by Jordan Hollow Inn, besides noticing the cabins up on the hill, where there are six of them, I also noticed that the current sign is painted on the back of one of the older signs that has the horses. There are a few more of these signs in the barn and I really like the images. I always thought it was a mistake to get rid of the horses there, but as long as you did, it probably makes sense not to feature them in your signage.

As I came back around into the hollow, I caught sight of Hawksbill Cabin up on the hill with snow all around. This view, like the one of the cabin over at Jordan Hollow Inn, is one you’ll only see in the winter time, when the leaves are down. The cabin was sighted and built so that it faces due south, so you get this striking light in the winter and I find it hard to resist taking pictures.

Also, here is my typical winter photo of Beaver Run, looking south from the road. It seems a long time ago since we had the beaver dam, although it definitely had an impact on the stream, widening out the little canyon. When I walked by, the stream was gurgling happily with the snow melt, a sound that continued to build for the rest of the afternoon.

Snow Facts

When we first bought the Hawksbill Cabin, there were large support poles attached to the beams in the main part of the house. One of them is shown here near the fireplace. These old beams and structures came out of the house after we found the termites and had to tear the roof off of the place, replacing it with a modern structure (http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2007/12/wtf-moment.html ).

During the winter of 2007 and 2008, there wasn’t much snow – certainly not enough, it seemed to us, to justify the expense of these support poles, even if the previous owners had known about the condition of the roof. An article by Carl Quintrell in the PN&C last week provided more insight.

The four Page County snowfalls in December 2009: 6.5 inches on the fifth, .25 on the ninth, 18 inches on the 18th and 19th, and another inch on the 31st, combined to make it the snowiest December since 1942. In fact, the average snowfall during December is 4.26 inches, according to Quintrell. Adding the rain and freezing rain that fell during the month, there was another 4.85 inches of precipitation, on top of the heavy snow.

The article goes on to report that the average annual snowfall from October to March is 22.74 inches, with the heaviest falls in February, at 6.36 inches, and January, at 6.20 inches. Comparatively, the 2007 snow was only 17 inches, with only a light dusting after we bought the place. In 2008, there was only 5.85 inches, and we never saw it during our weekends out.

However, the average figure of 22.74 inches is certainly enough to justify those snow poles in the old roofing system. We’ve modernized and upgraded that system now, so there is no danger of a collapse, and we added insulation up there to reduce heating costs. Maybe it would be nice to have the old beams back, but I’ve no complaints about our successful renovation and the character of the new ceiling.

Christmas Morning Cold Shock

We had a splendid holiday weekend out at Hawksbill Cabin. Upon our arrival Christmas Eve, we were greeted with a glimpse of this cheerful tableau of Santas. Since we got there after dark, we weren't able to enjoy the wintry scene that surrounded us, until we woke up in the morning.

The Page County area was in the same weather pattern that Alexandria was last week, and we heard from many friends and neighbors there - by email and on Facebook - about the impact of 20+ inches of snow. It was all pristine and white, very pretty to look at by the time we got there...which is not to take away from the hardships this weather caused for many people.

My first recollection of Christmas morning was looking at the thermometer and this view of the side yard where the old barbeque is - 20 degrees, and easily 20 inches of snow out there. A warming trend was on the way, and for most of the day and the days that followed, the snow was melting.

Here are a couple of additional views of the "Winter Wonderland" effect we had during our time at the cabin, one of the front of the house and another looking across the yard to the road. One of the key weekend activities this time was a couple of walks we took, one in the neighborhood and a couple on Luray's Hawksbill Greenway - those will be topics of follow-up posts this week.

During and after the fog

The dregs of that hurricane finally cleared Friday afternoon, so we postponed the drive out to Luray until Saturday morning. While the weather continued to improve, all of the streams in the Valley were swollen from the rain, including our little Beaver Run.

On Sunday morning, Sofie and I went out for a little stroll around the yard around 8am. We were greeted by a very pleasant morning fog, and I snapped a few photos of the scene. Later on, around 10:30 or so, the fog had begun to burn off, so I took some more to compare.

It's interesting what the change in atmosphere can do for some things - I think the fog highlights the red on this shrub - the sun takes away from it.

On the other hand, the sun on the beaver pond highlights that part of the landscape. These two photos are meant to show that it is refilling and has nearly expanded to its old width.

The main purpose of these last two photos are to show how high the water has gotten in Beaver Run - easier to see in the fog. This is from the road looking north where the little stream runs across the front of our property.

When the stream is running this robustly, there is the happy sound of falling water from the dam and from some of the small rapids in the stream.

Floors and Doors

We still have a long list of home improvement projects at the Hawksbill Cabin, and we get to them as we can. It's basically a function of money - the two labels about big projects and small projects will show that we've taken on quite a lot of them, including some that were very expensive, over the two years so far - but also, Jesse, our general contractor, stays very busy in the Valley so we have to wait until we come up in his queue.

There was old linoleum tile in the main hallway of the addition. It was probably the original floor. The immediately previous owners had haphazardly installed a second layer in one area and painted over the tiles for the entire length of the hallway. Replacing the tile with Pergo or a similar floor was the plan.

I should note that we considered using alternative, sustainable materials for this purpose - including bamboo and other products. Their costs were approximately double that of the beech block we chose, which ended up being on sale at Home Depot, and comes with a 15-year warranty. I still chalk the availability and distribution issues up to an emerging market for "green" products, there is a lot of talk and great products and technologies, but the supply chain issues still preclude their widespread adoption.

Also, somewhere along the way the doorway to the master bedroom had been removed, and there were never any doors on the hall closet. We'd gotten by on the bedroom door, and hung curtains over the closet.

We combined the doorway installations with the floor to have a two-day project for Jesse, and last week we finally got them done. In the progress, he hid the phone cord that used to run down this hallway behind the molding and thresholds. Really a job well done, as always.

Summer Surprise #2

These flowers are called Bee Balm, and they were in bloom the first time we came up to the Hawksbill Cabin with a realtor. So I pay close attention to them every year, making sure that we'll have plenty of them.

I'd never seen them before we found them in the yard, next to the old storage shed (you can see the original stone portion of the house in the background, the windows are along the back wall over the kitchen and dining room area). Since I found them, I keep an eye out for them, and I've seen them growing wild (more likely naturalized) up in Shenandoah National Park, and recently in a big arrangement in the DuPont Circle area of DC.

I took this photo on the day I was checking out the hostas (my Monday morning post), and as I came around the corner of the house there was a humming bird working them over. Apparently this plant is a favorite for them.

First Spring Project 2009

As I was scrolling through the photos on my moto cam I noticed I haven't written yet on our first spring project, which was to redo the gravel walks and parking space. These photos are a few weeks old - Mickey came out and took care of this project the same weekend we did the Mary's Rock hike last month.

That's his truck in the background...I know he made three trips for all the gravel, but I don't know the cubic footage of the gravel we put down.

When I post the azaelea photos from this past weekend, the difference will be clear, especially in the photo below, which was taken about two weeks ago, just as the azaeleas were beginning to bloom.

We also decided to put a path up the side of the house. This little hill is fairly steep, and the dogs started using these steps as a way to get to the backyard. So we decided to put a path in to make it easier for everybody.

The paths had been recently redone before we bought the house, but the small gravel that was used didn't stay in place and was pretty much mashed into the ground after just a year or so. We've chosen a larger sized stone and we put down a really good membrane to protect from weeds growning up in the paths. It made a huge difference around the house.

"In like a lion," so they say

On Sunday morning we were greated by a light dusting of snow -heavy late winter snow that melts off quickly. So I got outside early to take some fleeting phone cam shots of the cabin with snow on the ground. Here are the photos - indiscriminately uploaded.

Also, I took a little drive down Ida Road - Ida is one of the communities settled by folks displaced when the Shenandoah National Park was formed, and they were resettled in the Valley. This is Grace Church, just a bit off the road there, but a charming little place you can just see through the trees when you drive by - I always thought it might be pretty in the snow.

Finally, as I came back from that drive, a few more random shots of the cabin:


Approaching on the path from the drive (these azaeleas will be beautiful in two months!); a look at the pool (Daris says, "not long now!"); a view of the pine trees and the road (they are just pretty); and a view looking across the brick terrace (that's the fire pit near the front door).

Of course we are getting pounded this morning in Alexandria, 3 inches and counting!