September 29

View of the day-Trying to fight the sun and the dust to get finished.

We got up in the middle of the night…well, the middle of the night for us…6:30am. Marilyn took Al out to the semi at the elevator, then met the farmer at the card lock to get fuel for the combine. After Al got the truck unloaded and Marilyn got fueled up, we stopped for breakfast.

Al went out to the field and after servicing the combine, started combining while Marilyn went back to the camper and got lunch organized for the day, then took over in the combine. Al had to get the auger from the bin on the last field and set it up on the field we were in.

While he was gone, Marilyn fought with the downed oats, digging the header in the dirt and picking up rocks. At one point, Marilyn managed somehow to get a rock lodged in the header between the auger and the feederhouse, taking out three of the disappearing fingers in the auger. After shutting down the combine, Marilyn crawled into the header to get the rock out…it refused to go out either way…it was just too big…how the heck did it get in there? The only way to get it out was to unhook the header, take it off and get the rock out…so that is what she did.

When Al got back to the field, the combining continued as the sun disappeared and the clouds rolled in. The wind had picked up and the combination of heavy dust, downed oats, and hiding rocks…well…Marilyn picked up another rock. No more broken fingers, but it got in behind the auger and once again we had to take the header off to get the rock out. This has never happened to us before, never mind twice in one day.

We went back to combining and decided to call it a night, just as the sprinkling started. After getting everything parked, tarped and locked, we were just ready to leave the field when a friend pulled in to chat in the rain.

Back at the camper the rain continued to fall, the blog got written, then Marilyn went off to the new found source of wireless…the elevator. Last night while waiting at the elevator for Al to show up with the semi, there was signal galore.

Since they are never open, who’s to know…