October 22, 2009

View of the day-The watch dog makes sure the fueling is properly done, as the guys make a game plan for the day.

We were on the road by 10am today and the sun was actually shining. The forecast was for rain later on in the day and from the looks of the clouds in the west, they were probably going to be right for a change.

While Jeff got his combine moved...taking the header off to make life a bit easier crossing the railroad tracks...Al unloaded the truck and Marilyn serviced and did windows. Once everyone was assembled at the field, the conference began and everyone got their orders.

We were working on the rest of the straight wheat that we had started on, back before the snow hit. The moisture was still 'up there', but again, it was going into air bins and it had to get taken off...it is getting late, after all. It didn't take long for both machines to take care of the 70 acres that were left standing and once that was done it was time to change headers.

While Rudy and Mike worked on getting the draper head into transport mode and hook up their pickup head, Marilyn was having issues with the PTO shafts that refused to break loose. That's what happens when you aren't taking the header off at least once a week, like we do most of the summer...things just seize up...a lot like life really. With a little help...and some pinched fingers...we managed to get it unhooked and loaded onto the trailer.

While the guys moved to the next field, Marilyn had to drive into Esterhazy to the lot where the pickup head had been dropped off. After getting it hooked up and locked on, Marilyn moved up to the next field of swathed canola. The swaths weren't drying down as fast as the standing fields were, which meant the moisture was 'up there' and slow going for both machines. There was a lot of stopping as the swather person had left a lot of 'beaver houses'...huge piles of canola, all very wet underneath. Needless to say, the productivity was halved from this afternoon.

Around 6:30pm the sprinkles finally showed up, and after filling the truck, we shut it down for the night...and perhaps the day tomorrow...and headed back to Yorkton.

Maybe the sun will shine tomorrow...