July 25, 2008

View of the day-Al finishes the second last field of the Hamill stop, against the Hamill Buttes.

We went out to do a test around 12:30pm and the farmer said it was "go time". Al got to start the field as Marilyn went back to the camper to throw some sustenance together for the day.

It was another day for wildlife, as the road out to the field had a dead fawn that the buzzards were picking over, and they kept scattering every time someone passed. There were pheasants of all ages in the wheat...Marilyn actually had to stop to let some wee babies get out of the way of the killer tires. And rabbits...boy are there rabbits...from tiny young ones up to "Jacky" who Al herded over to the camera.

The road into the field was a bit rough, so the farmer had a harder time keeping up...that, and the bin was getting close to full. The guys kept the combine running and after moving up to the last field, we ended up with enough to fill the bin and all the trucks...the farmer even had to take a load to town with his truck.

The cart had a small load on it so after Marilyn took the combine back to the yard where the trailers were, she got the Freightliner running and took it out close to the field where the cart was. The field was up through some pastures on the way up the Buttes, and it just wasn't fair to trundle the old girl...that's the Freight, not Marilyn...all the way to the cart. If you look in the "V" between the trees on the picture, you can see the cart waiting at the field...remember if you click on the picture, you can get a larger view. After a walk back to the first field to get the pickup, Marilyn went back to town to wait for Al to come back from Winner with the General.

After getting the cart emptied and moved back into Hamill, we both went in to Winner with the last load of the stop. Big news for the Freightliner...it was the first load of grain it had hauled to an elevator since Oklahoma! It was getting busier at the elevators with more and more combines in the fields making dust. We did have a wait for one truck, but his holdup was the elevator pit getting full which meant they couldn't open the tailgate very wide.

There was a pile of corn under cover just across the street from the elevator that has just under 200,000 bushels. The elevator man told us when they had the big rains, the water had flooded the area and the water was halfway up the metal sides of the pile...the sides that have aeration holes in them...they haven't looked inside to see what has been happening...

After supper at Subway and fueling up the Freightliner...by the way, fuel has gone down .20 a gallon since we have been here...it was back to Hamill to call it a day.

Tomorrow's a loading and moving day...