August 25

View of the day-We finished a field outside of Bowbells. A short drive home to the camper.

The wind was blowing, the sun was shining and the day looked like a winner. We went out to the field to service the combine and were able to start combining at 10:30am. We finished the last 20 acres on the field we had started yesterday, then moved across the road to the last field of durum.

The moisture was quite high, ranging from 15-22% in a few spots, so we did the headlands to see what the average was. They had just started swathing on Tuesday and the weather hadn't really been cooperating so it was no surprise that the moisture was high. We did a few more acres, then the farmer had run out of air bin space so we shut it down for the day.

Since we need to get to Carlyle to get started on the crop up there and the farmer here has a 2188 of his own, we decided to start cleaning things up. The farmer assured us he had no problem finishing up what was left, and there was no sense in us waiting for it to dry down. Before we got started cleaning, the farmer invited us in for a delicious roast beef supper to cap off the day.

Marilyn blew the combine off then moved over to the yard to give it a wash and shine, while Al cleaned up the straight header. The back tire on the combine was almost flat when we got back to the field and even after airing it up, it was low again and we could see there was a slow leak. Something else to fix before we leave...or do we just keep airing it up until we get to Carlyle?

Tomorrow we will move the combine and camper up to Marilyn's sister's place at Carlyle, then we will come back to get the tractor, cart and header. Hopefully the border crossing will go well. Well now, this could very well be the last entry from the 2007 US small grains harvest.

Not to worry...there will be lots more blogging to come...