Ridgeview Valley Blog

Ridgeview's Newest Resident Is Super Cute!

I told you she was cute!!!  This is Chai Kitty Umlauf the newest resident to Ridgeview Valley.  She is the sister to Heidi Umlauf the beautiful German Shephard.  Michelle rescued Chai Kitty this week from the Garrett County Animal Shelter and she is really happy to have a loving new home.  She is even litter trained already.  Her name is Chai because she is the color of Chai Tea.  Her blue eyes are beautiful!!  Michelle also wanted me to let everyone know that there are lots of adorable kittens at the shelter just waiting for a loving home! (Hint, Hint!)  I think she wanted to bring them all home!  

Look her eyes are the same color as the fleece!!!  She is so little and fluffy!  She's MiLina size so maybe my Chihuahua and her can be friends!  I don't think MiLina has ever met a cat, so I'm not sure what the reaction would be LOL!!  Although sometimes I think she thinks she is a cat!

Welcome to the neighborhood Chai Kitty!!

Spec House Progress

I drove over to the spec house that Gosnell Inc is building this morning to take a pic.  I was surprised, they already have the block up for the basement and they were pouring the basement floor this morning.  Jeff told me they are going to start framing next week.  It''s moving right along.  

 

Ridgeview is Growing!

It always puts a smile on my face when I see new activity in Ridgeview Valley.  I just received an Architectural Review packet from Gosnell, Inc. for a new home to be built.  YAY!!!  That is so exciting!

The house looks awesome in the drawings.  A Phil Silkey design, the house is 2300 square feet on three levels with 3 bedrooms and a loft.  Jeff is building it as a spec home on Lot 94.  That is one of my favorite home sites in Phase 1, it will lend itself great to the walk out basement.  Below are renderings and floor plans of the house.  Jon Bell and Debra Savage at Railey Realty already have it listed on the market.  Check out the full listing on this link.  We hope to have new neighbors soon!

I have seen trucks hauling dirt out of the community so I will get picks of the progress soon.  

Activity, Activity, Activity

Pete sent me a note yesterday reminding me that I have not posted anything on the blog since April 19.  Wow!  Has it really been that long?  Time does have a way of flying by!  It has been so busy here on the farm that I haven't even taken the time to log on to compose a blog.  What has been keeping me so busy?? I'll tell you.

We are so excited about the upcoming TOTL schedule.  I did log on long enough to post the summer schedule of events.  You can find that by clicking on the calendar of events on the right side of the page.  I can't wait to see The Odd Couple and I am really excited and hope we have a great turn out of kids for Miss Nelson is Missing.  They are even serving dessert after those performances on the grass in the amphitheater.  The kiddos will have the chance to interact with the actual characters of the story.  Sounds like lots of fun.  And certainly don't forget the Garrett Mentors Annual Barn Dance; that promises to be lots of fun, food and fellowship.  Besides Bryan at Jearbryo's is cooking again, enough said.  The food will be amazing.

We had the first wedding of the season last weekend.  No pics yet though.  I can't wait to see them.  We were so honored to be able to donate the barn on Memorial Day to a military couple.  Emily and Adam were such a beautiful couple.  They actually had hay wagons to take their guests to the top of the hill for their ceremony.  I imagine that was so beautiful, watching such a loving event overlooking such a peaceful valley!  Awesome!  

I have been very busy working with Debra Savage who has been even busier getting all of the sales listings in order.  The decision was made early this spring to move the listings of the property back to Railey Realty.  I will have links and contact information for all of them up on here soon.  

Besides the general spring clean up, new mulch, lots of weeding, cleaning the barn and vasts amounts of mowing, the community is coming even more alive with the construction of a new home.  Gosnell Inc. has commited to building a new spec home.  I hope we can use it as a model home for a little while but it would be even better if it would sell before Jeff has it finished.  I will get pics and floor plans up on here next week so everyone can see what it will look like.  

I am so blessed to sit here at my computer and look out at the lush green trees bordering the meadow and see a deer munching on the wet grass.  What better place is there to be than Ridgeview Valley?  You can be here too!

Price Reduction 104 Birdsong Way

Sandi Flockhart sent me a price reduction the other day on the spec home located at 104 Birdsong Way.  Wanted to help her get the word out.

Spring Snow at Deep Creek Lake

Wow!  We have really been spoiled the last month with temperatures reaching the mid-70's.  This morning we woke up to snow, yes I said snow!!!!  What a shock to the system.  The news channel reported that this spring storm was supposed to move on out by noon and yet it is still hanging on.  The good news is that we will be back to those summer time like temps by Sunday.  YAY!!!!  

Are You Sure It's NOT Summer in Deep Creek Lake???

The weather here in the mountains of Maryland is really too good to be true.  Temps in the mid-70's to 80's has everyone saying, "Are you sure it's not summer?"  You would think it is.  When I came by the Aquatic Center this morning they already have their docks in.  I love this weather and I can work on my farmer's tan LOL!!!

Although along with these wonderful temperatures come the creatures I really don't like.  Today, Michelle and I were trekking around the top meadows when I happened to look down and my right foot was just about ready to plant right on top of this little fellow.  Needless to say I screamed at the top of my lungs.  Ewww!  Ick!!!!  Yuck!!!!  I have never liked snakes.

I know, I know it's just a little harmless garter snake, but I don't like 'em!!!  That is actually the 4th snake that we have seen here so far this year.  We saw a snake, possibly the same one in the same spot last week.  There is a tiny hole in the ground that it slithered right into.  I really didn't know that snakes lived in a hole in the ground.  And I call myself "Country"!!  Yeah right!!

On with our walk we came across this cute little pansy that has found it's home in the middle of the meadow.  Much cuter than the snake!!

Then on around the meadow and down the new trail that brings you out below the barn we found this in a mud puddle.  You're probably getting tired of hearing about frogs.  But again I have never seen them lay eggs quite like this.  So, I googled!  I found out that this is likely the eggs from the American Toad. They are laid in a long tube that can hold as many as 15,000 eggs.  These should take 3-12 days to hatch and become tadpoles.  Michelled went to check on the spring peepers and the wood frogs this morning. The wood frog tadpoles are growing quite quickly.  They might just sprout legs next week.

We had a purpose to our walk today, not just an aimless trek around the entire property.  I was jotting down coordinates for new Geo Caches.  Stay tuned for that.

Spring Peeper Update

Michelle and I hiked to the water tower again today to check on the status of wood frog and spring peeper eggs.  To my surprise this is what we found.  They have hatched and now we have tons of little tadpoles.  I hope the weather stays warm so they can continue to thrive.

Maple Sugar in Garrett County

I was reading my friend Becky's blog, Deep Creek Blog, this morning and she had this wonderful post from the Maryland Life Magazine about Maple Sugar Camps in Garrett County.  Sugaring has always intrigued me.  When I was a child my neighbor and my uncle would treck out on the farms every February to start tapping trees and hanging buckets.  I don't remember much about my uncle boiling the water but my neighbor, Glen, would cook that sweet,sweet water in an open kettle over and open fire in his yard.  It was our Christmas gift from him every year.  I loved hanging out with my neighbor, Glen, when we were kids he was like a Grandfater.  I remember seeing him in the cold early spring getting the fire going and watching the kettle when we would go by on the school bus.  That started my interest in Maple Sugar.  

Then growing up there was a rather large sugar camp just across the state line in West Virginia.  They made maple sugar candy in shape of maple leaves.  Now if you have a sweet tooth that is some yummy stuff!  I like it better than the syrup.  

Several years ago I talked my husband, then boyfriend, and his mother into tapping trees on our farm and boiling the water.  Our farm is just up the road from Enlow's farm who is mentioned in the article.  It is realy neat to see all of the blue tubing hooked to trees on their farm.  I am really glad they are keeping the history alive.  Oh and by the way they have fresh honey too!!!  YUM!!!!  I digress.  I had no idea what I was getting myself into with the whole maple sugar thing.  The year we did it the trees were running really fast and we were collecting lots of water.  It was up to my mother in law to boil it because I had to work. LOL!!! I can't believe she agreed to it because throughout the process she ended up cracking her glass top stove.  Ooops!!!  And then she decided to go the propane route.  Well just let me say that we ate that maple syrup like it was gold with the amount of propane that it took to boil the water to syrup stage.  And I never did get any candy!  She finally told us "NO MORE WATER!!!!!"  It was fun while it lasted!!

Then I started working here at Ridgeview Valley and you have heard me talk about Mr. Earl many times.  He told me stories of maple sugar in Garrett County in his day and his family making maple sugar right here on the farm.  Earl told me Ridgeview Valley was one of the top producing farms in Garrett County if not the top producer of maple syrup.  I found this interesting article sometime back from The Frederick News stating that in 1928 according to the USDA Garrett County was the top producer of maple syrup in the country.  It would be really fun to have someone tap our trees here again.  Maybe I will have to talk to the Enlow's.  

Last week KG and Ann were up for the weekend and coincidentally the Enlow farm was one of their planned stops for the weekend.  I have to send Ann an email and see if they got their syrup and the tour they were looking for.

 

Spring In Garrett County - My Favorite Time

I just love the rebirth of spring and everything that comes with it.  The new spring flowers pushing throught the ground, the swarms of robins making their way back north and my favorite sound of all the spring peepers.  I love everything about spring, the fresh clean smell of the air, the bright green of the grass long covered by snow (not this year, but the grass is still greening quite rapidly), the morning song of the spring birds, the lovely yellow of the coltsfoot, the first wild flower to pop out its perfect little smile.  Oh I could just go on and on and on!  This is why I live in Garrett County because I really do have, dare I say, "Hillbilly" roots and I just love the magic of the goodness of spring.  I can't wait for morel mushrooms and yes ramps.

Colts Foot

This week, Michelle has become just as excited about spring as I am.  Michelle and Chris went hiking around Ridgeview on Sunday and she actually heard spring frogs before me.  I got her email and then my hubby and I went out walking on our farm and we heard them too!!!  Yay!!!!  It is finally here, glorious SPRING!!!!

Michelle sent me a picture becasue not only did she hear the frogs but she saw the eggs as well!  

Of course I had to break out one of my many "Old Timer" sayings.  So I told Michelle that the frogs now have to look throught the ice three more times before the warm weather is here to stay.  Of course she asked me why?  I have no idea it's an old timer's saying that I have heard for years in Garrett County.  And of course Michelle went in search of the answer.  This is what she found on the Missouri Folk Lore Society website:  " Frogs will look through the ice, twice." It is supposed to remind you that there will be two more frosts after you hear frogs in the spring.  I always heard three times but the rhyme of twice and ice is quite clever.  

So as soon as I got to work on Wednesday Michelle and I quickly planned our daily hike.  We would meet at 1 and head to the water puddles up by the water tower so that I could also witness these beautiful frog eggs.  To my surprise when we got to the top of the hill we did not hear what I am used to hearing out of these precious frogs.  I always hear a peep or a squeak out of the "Spring Peepers'  hence their name.  But no these frogs were "clucking"????  I have never heard that, I was so confused.  I did not have a grand country answer to this.  I have never heard a frog cluck or quack.  Well I learned something new this week.  

When we got to the puddles there were lots and lots of froggy eggs, there are going to be a ton of tadpoles!!!  

These eggs were found in a glorified mud puddle, I hope they hatch before it dries up.  We ventured on over to the small pond where we heard more clucking and actually caught a glimpse of a couple frogs, salamanders and tadpoles!!  I was shocked to see that there were actually tadpoles already hatched and swimming around.  Of course I couldn't get a picture because I was using my iPhone.  I did attempt a picture of a wood frog the frog known for it's clucking rather than chirping.  It's hard to see so I drew a circle around it.

We finished the hike by following the logging trail on the next property to the beginning of Gravelly Run. These are just a couple of pictures I took along the way.

View of the Barn at Ridgeivew Valley with Wisp Resort off in the background.

Deep Creek Lake a little spec off in the distance.