July 21

View of the day-Wind turbines near Highmore, SD.

According the the weather radio, we topped out at 105 today. Al serviced the combine in the morning, but the humidity was really high again, we knew we probably wouldn't start until after lunch.

We started in around 1pm, and it seemed to be going through all right, so we finished off the load from the night before and Al took it to town. A call on the radio from Al to find out what the combine had registered for moisture was cause for concern since the load was testing 14.8% moisture. The elevator wasn't going to dump the truck because it was too wet. Marilyn quit combining immediately and took a sample in to the elevator-it tested 12.7, so back out to the field to crank up again.

The yield and moisture monitor was acting up on the combine, it wouldn't stop recording, so the averages were out on both counts. The small grain tester was showing the same as the combine, and throughout the other stops in the harvest, had only been out by .5%. Al called in with the second load and it was also too wet, so Marilyn brought another sample in and this time it was 13.6%. Al said to shut it down for the day.

We did fill the farmers truck with rye for seed from the last load, and headed back to town. The humidity wasn't that high, maybe 40%, but it must have been enough to keep the grain from drying. We couldn't even go back out later in the day because the humidity started going up after 6pm.

We went back to the camper to get out of the heat where Al checked his eyelids for cracks, and Marilyn made sure the remote was working for the TV.

Once again we wait...