June 30, 2010

View of the day-We’re making dust again as Marilyn does a pole dance never even coming close to the wires.

We were up extra early to drive to Stockton, but this time we went through Colby so Al could have a look at the route into the elevator. We grabbed a quick breakfast to go, then headed east to Stockton, meeting a lot of crews moving west.

Once we got to Stockton, we decided to fill the slip tank with fuel for the combine but the pumps were so slow and cut out at $75 we figured we would get some at Colby on the way back. Those pumps and the bank charge $1 every time you use it…what a racket. We hooked the header up and started back to the farm with the General and combine.

Marilyn stopped to get the slip tank topped off at the Coop in Colby then made it out to the farm just as Al was unhooking the trailer. We got the combine unloaded and set up with the header, then opened up the field…and what a field…flat as a table, all standing straight up, running close to 40 bu/ac, and 10% moisture. Perfect.

Al was concerned about being able to keep up with the 18 mile haul one way but Marilyn was managing to time it just right for the first couple of loads. Al came back with a bolt missing from the bottom of the shock we had just installed, so we found another bolt and got it back in place and tightened down. While we were in the yard fixing the General, we decided to put the Freightliner into service and after getting it started, Marilyn drove it over to the field.

Al got one more load in and Marilyn filled the General and Freight one more time and Al brought the Freight into Atwood and parked it at the camper to unload in the morning. Even though we started around 5pm we managed to carve out 75 acres.

The campgrounds have exploded with harvesters and they are scrambling everywhere…it’s getting crazy. And speaking of exploding, the fireworks stands are doing a booming (pun intended) business and someone close by our camper likes firecrackers.

Not Al…not yet, anyway.

June 29, 2010

View of the day-Our camping spot in Atwood, KS...right by the elevator and apparently there is no jake brake law in this town.

We were up early to start battening down the hatches in the camper. We didn't even stop for breakfast, we just headed out to the bins to get settled up, hook up the shop trailer to the camper and head north.

Just as we got to the corner before the bins we could see there were a couple of high line trucks parked in the middle of the road. They had been putting new poles and wires up and were just in the middle of restringing them when we came along. We couldn't get the camper by them so there was no way we would be able to get the Freightliner and it's load anywhere near the corner. They move over long enough for us to get the camper by and they said they would be out of our way in 45 minutes which worked out good because we still had things to do before we left.

Ken and Kevin came up to see us and after we got everything organized the line men had moved on and we were able to leave. We made the tight corner and Marilyn decided to check the lights on the cart trailer...of course only one was working, so we spent and extra 30 minutes finding the splice that was causing the problem. We had everything operational, so we continued on our way.

We had another busy day on the highway and the high point came just south of Phillipsburg when Marilyn, who was in the lead came up behind a little white car and it was behind two older John Deere combines with their 30ft headers on and they didn't seem to be moving over. The little white car whipped around the first one and as he was passing Marilyn could see that it was the dreaded Department of Transportation enforcement. He pulled out and passed the second combine and they seemed to get the picture and let us pass. Just as Al got by the combines, the DOT car pulled over and put on his lights, so Al pulled over to the side and called to let Marilyn know he was going to be delayed. After sitting and waiting for the man to show up, he looked in his rear view mirror and saw that the man had been stopping the combines and not Al...needless to say Al just drove away and wasn't bothered again. Does that count as a stop by the DOT?

We made it to Atwood, pulled into the campground that we had booked a site in only to see that the spot that we had been promised was filled by another harvester. Marilyn went in to talk to the lady and she said that was the only place that the semi that had been turned into a camper could park. She let us chose another spot, where we parked, got the A/C working, then hooked the shop trailer up and took the rigs south of town to the farmers yard to unload.

We got out there, unloaded the tractor and cart in record time, left the shop trailer and came back to town for supper. We took a tour around the town before going back to the camper to see if we could get any local tv or internet. No to the first one and yes to the second...well, it's intermittent at best, but at least Marilyn doesn't have to drive anywhere for the upload.

Tomorrow we rescue the General and combine from Stockton...

June 28, 2010

View of the day-The pile is building at Glade, Kansas, while they work on the flat storage behind the elevator.

We slept in a bit since Marilyn was up late shopping and Al got hooked in watching The New Two Thousand Mile Harvest video. He had just wanted to watch a couple of chapters of the DVD, but got sucked into the vortex and stayed to the end, and Marilyn got back to the camper around 2:30am from her Walmart visit.

We grabbed a quick breakfast then went out to the bins to hook up the header to the pickup, then head for Stockton, KS. How quickly we forget about our “lets just move on Sunday” thought from the Cherokee move…the highway was pretty busy for a Monday. Once we got to Stockton, we parked at the fair grounds along with several other harvesters…there were trailers and equipment all over the place.

We figured we might as well take a road trip and check a few leads, since we didn’t have anything lined up, so we headed west from Stockton. We were somewhat surprised that we didn’t see very many combines running in the fields, as a matter of fact, some of the fields were still pretty green. We got to Colby and decided to look for a campground…just in case…and found one. It was right along the interstate and almost in the Walmart parking lot…Marilyn was sold on it, even though the nightly rate would have been almost triple what the Cherokee rates were.

We drove north of Colby and stopped to visit a farmer before going north to Atwood to see what was there for parking the camper…unfortunately for Marilyn, there was a spot. After we checked out the town, we started back for Great Bend, stopping in Oberlin at the Pizza Hut for supper…the first Pizza Hut visit in Kansas. We thought we would go back through Phillipsburg to check that highway out and we had to wait for a pilot cart just outside the town, but it wouldn’t have affected a wide load, so we would be fine.

We will be busy tomorrow paying bills, settling up with the farmers, tearing down the camper…although we didn’t even set the dish; who had time to watch anything…before we hit the road and head north.

It was a day of over 400 miles of driving…

June 27, 2010

View of the day-Everything is loaded and ready for the next move from Timken, KS.

We got to sleep in today, a nice change from the rest of the week. We didn’t get any rain last night and the front that came through brought us relief from the hot temperatures from yesterday. We went for Sunday brunch then did a bit of shopping for parts, then Al went back to the camper and Marilyn did some Dollar Store shopping.

We went to Albert to pick up the General and after fueling it up, went out to the bins to start the loading process. We got the cart loaded in no time at all and had it hooked up and chained down ready to go. Kevin came out to drop off some papers and we had a chat with him before he left to go watch his kids play ball. They played in a tournament yesterday in Ness City…it was 107ºF there!

We started loading the combine and we still can’t quite get the hang of lining it up right the first time. Good thing we have a few more stops to practice on…we’ll get it yet…at least we aren’t in a hurry to get somewhere just yet. The farmers in Phillipsburg have found someone else since their crops were ready before we finished in Great Bend…that’s the way it goes. We finally got the combine loaded and hooked up to the General then got the shop trailer lined up so we can hook it up behind the camper when we take the last load.

We went back to Great Bend, got cleaned up, then went for our weekly laundry run…no internet there...but thank you McDonald's for having it while we had supper while waiting for the dryers. Marilyn has been uploading the blog courtesy of the NexTech store’s free WiFi and it is right next to the 24 hour Walmart Supercenter…and she hasn’t set foot in it.

That will change tonight…

June 26, 2010

View of the day-It was the hottest day of the run so far…the heat index was at 107º

We got out to the field and were able to start right away…well, after rearranging a few things. Al had to run the cart out to the middle of the field so we could get the far end done without having to drive to the trucks. Once everything was in place, Al continued hauling to the elevator and Marilyn finished combining.

We got the main field finished then had to move over to a 10 acre patch, but in order to get to it we had to take the header off to move through the tree lined low spot. We got the header swapped out in record time…we’re getting a lot of practice at it…then started to combine the last chunk for this area. Once we finished and got the trucks full, Al took the semi to the elevator and Marilyn went over to the first field we had done to get the Horst header trailer. She waited for Al at Ken’s yard, where he dropped their semi off, then went back to the combine to load the header.

After the header was loaded, Al took it up to the bins and Marilyn followed in the combine. Ken picked us up and took us back to the field so Al could get the General to take it to the elevator and Marilyn got to move the tractor and cart back to the bins. After getting it parked, Marilyn went to pick Al up at the elevator, where he left the General for the night.

It was a busy day everywhere as the weather has been ideal for harvesting with combines and trucks flying down the back roads. There aren’t a lot of fields left and there is harvesting being done all the way up to the Kansas/Nebraska border. There is a chance of thunderstorms tonight and the clouds were starting to build in the west, hopefully when the front passes through it will cool off a bit.

We got back to town in the daylight…a first this week…had supper, then went back to the camper. We had such plans since we had gotten off early, but by the time the showers were done, we didn’t feel like doing anything.

Tomorrow we load up again…

June 25, 2010

View of the day-Long shadows as the sun sets and the General and Cart wait at the end of the field.

First a correction on yesterday’s entry…Ken said Al “needed” a semi, not “would like” one...Marilyn agrees.

We got a later start to the day since we didn’t have any early errands to do. We had a change of venue for breakfast as we tried out Burger King…finally some decent coffee, then went out to the field to service and finish off the last 15 acres of the field.

After we got the General loaded, we unhooked the header and moved a few miles over to the last field we have to do here. Marilyn drove the combine, Al took the pickup and header and Ken followed us over. After hooking up the header and cutting a patch for the trucks, Ken drove us back to get the rest of the stuff, so Marilyn took the tractor and cart and Al brought the semi over before taking the General to the elevator.

Marilyn was able to make better time on this field, except that she had to drive to load the trucks so Al could keep up. This worked fine for the first half of the field, but as she got further to the back she had to strategically plan how to cut to get close to the truck. Al eventually caught up and was able to run the cart a couple of times, which helped out a lot. Even with all the dead heading to the trucks, Marilyn was still able to get over 125 acres done on the field, not bad for the day.

Wit a lovely harvest moon to brighten up the evening, we didn’t quit until 11pm which means a very late night.

But we should easily finish tomorrow…

June 24, 2010

View of the day-No time to wait for a load as the combine dumps on the cart as it is dumping in the General.

Another early morning as Al went to get his tire fixed, only to find out the rim was cracked and he needed a new one. Once he got back to the camper, we hit McDonalds for one of their fine breakfast meals, then Al took the General out to the next field and we went back to service the combine.

We had to take the header off to move the three miles to the next field…the roads had been narrowed quite a bit by the grader over the years which left some high curbs…the combine might have even been a snug fit. We took the scenic route around the block to miss the mile of bad road, then loaded the header back on and drove in the other two miles…in second gear…it was rough.

Marilyn opened up a spot to park, gave Al a ride back for the tractor and cart then started combining. She wanted to make a round around the field to set the border and after cutting a couple of short cuts in the field for Al to run the cart down, she started on the last two short sides. After clearing the top of a terrace, she started down the other side and apparently put the header down a bit too far, which resulted in a bit of landscaping…the header was now full of dirt.

She shut the machine off, put on the gloves and proceeded to clean the dirt off. It had shaved off the top layer so nicely that the wheat stalks were still in nice little rows along most of the header. After twenty minutes of pulling and scraping, it was ready to go, so she started back in combining. That lasted for about 30 feet until the feeder plugged…or so she thought. Out of the combine again, this time to pull straw…and it was jammed pretty tight.

Al called on the radio and got the news of Marilyn’s predicament , so out to the combine he came with the pickup. It seemed the problem was a bit further back than the header…the feeder house was plugged...time to take the header off and start pulling straw…good thing it wasn’t hot out…only the mid 80’s. It didn’t take long and with a bit of team work, we got everything out, the header back on and we only lost an hour.

The rest of the day ran a lot better, Al was able to haul with the General and the semi, so there weren’t any holdups for the combine. Marilyn had another rider for a couple of hoppers when Ken came out to check out the new combine and tell her how much Al would like a new semi of his own…

We wouldn’t have had enough room for grain to finish the field tonight, so we shut it down just after 10pm, fuelled the combine, then headed for Great Bend.

Tomorrow the furnace is supposed to be back on…

June 23, 2010

View of the day-Al dumping at the bin site...

Another early day as Al went and picked up the shocks he had ordered for the General before we headed out to the combine. A nice change was the north wind that was blowing…it was a lot cooler, only reaching into the mid 90’s, which made the truck driver somewhat happier. Once we got to the field Marilyn serviced the combine and Al got the new shock put on the General.

We continued combining the field we were on yesterday…lots of terraces, so the going was slow and it was all Al could do to keep up with the trucking, especially since the yield was around 57 bu/ac. We were able to use Kevin’s semi and grain trailer to pick up some of the slack and it also helped because they were just hauling to the bin site, so there weren’t any line-ups to speak of.

Marilyn had visitors for a couple of hoppers, Mandy, Kevin’s wife and their two daughters, Maddy and Macy squashed into the cab for a ride. The girls have really grown and there isn’t as much room as there was when they were only ‘lap’ size.

After they left, Marilyn continued combining and was able to get the field done with no room to spare on the semi…but at least the cart and General were empty for tomorrow. Al needed the General empty so he could bring it in to Great Bend to get a tire fixed in the morning…one that seems to have a slow leak in it.

Tomorrow we take the header off and move to the next field…and it is supposed to be another ‘cooler’ day…

June 22, 2010

View of the day-The view from the top of the combine as Al comes flying across the field with the cart.

We were up early…Marilyn to get the lunch ready and Al to go find a new shock for the General. Al had no luck with finding a shock, but they ordered one in and it should be here tomorrow. We hit McDonalds for breakfast to go and headed out of town.

We got out to the field, got the combine serviced and were cutting by 10:30. We finished the first part of the field we were on, then moved across the water way to get the last 30 acres. Al had to spot the cart and drive back and forth with the Dodge to dump the cart loads and with the field running about 52 bu/ac, he was running lots.

We finished the field, got the header into transport, then moved to the next field. Al pulled the header with the pickup and Marilyn moved the combine, just as they got the header put on the combine, Kevin showed up and helped put everything back in place before giving us a ride back to get the General and grain cart. Al took the last load from that field in to the elevator and Marilyn drove the tractor and cart over to the next field and started combining.

Once again the temperatures were over 100º and there was a strong south wind…but at least the humidity was down to a tolerable level. Machines we going all over the place and Al had to contend with line-ups at the elevator…fortunately they were able to dump fairly quickly and there was only once that Marilyn had to wait.

To the north of us, there were weather warnings…tornado, flood, hail…but they must not have been getting too much because there was nothing on the weather band…although the sky didn’t look very good. Marilyn did get 45 drops of rain on the window, but that dried almost instantly.

Al finished dumping the last load of the day at the elevator, then fuelled up the General before coming back to the field to park for the night. Marilyn decided it was time to quit when she had combined down to the terraces that has small ponds in them…not something she wanted to contend with in the dark. After shutting down the combine, Marilyn went out to fuel it up and wouldn’t you know…the wind had died down and the dang mosquitoes were feasting…the little buggers.

Five acres short of 100 for the day, but with all the terraces, productivity goes down with all the turning and small strips to pick up.

Still a good day even with the move…

June 21, 2010

View of the day-The engines are running and ready to hit the road from Cherokee, OK. Just another day on the harvest run.

We tried to get away at the same time as yesterday but the fuel and food bills were not totalled so we could not leave until the bills were paid. Al looked after getting those looked after while Marilyn got the camper ready to hook up to go.

After we got everything paid and the camper hooked up to the shop trailer, we were ready to leave Cherokee for the last time this season. The trip up was uneventful…except that we have made a mental note to travel on Sundays from now on…the traffic was a bit hectic on a Monday. We got to Great Bend, KS and left the General and the shop trailer in a parking lot while we went to the campground to get set up for the week.

After getting the camper parked and cooling off, we went for lunch then hooked the shop trailer up and headed out to the bin site where the tractor and cart were parked. Al was a bit concerned about making the corner on the dirt road out to the bins, so Marilyn took a railway tie and spanned it over the culvert just in case he couldn’t cut the corner wide enough and the wheel dropped down…it didn’t. A nice bit of exercise hauling that big chunk of wood back and forth in the 90º heat…at least there was no catastrophe.

We got to the bin site and unloaded the combine, serviced and did windows so it was ready to go. Ken, the farmer, was seeding Milo across the road from us and he took a water break to see how we were making out and to give us directions to the first field. We left the header on the combine trailer, which Al pulled out to the field with the pickup, and Marilyn moved the combine. It was about 6 miles to the field and once we had the header on the combine and got a big patch cut to park things in, Karen came out to give us a ride back to the bins for the tractor and General. Marilyn actually drove the General out to the field…Al was concerned she might like it so much that she would want to haul grain…she has offered, but then Al would have nothing to complain about.

The wheat was running over 50 bu/ac and it weighing almost 63 lbs…a real nice crop. Al hauled two loads to the Albert elevator, then took a couple loads of seed wheat to the yard to put in a couple of bins. It seems like the harvest has just started here but the Great Bend coop had brought in 460,000 bushels yesterday at all their elevators…the dust is flying everywhere.

So we drove 140 miles, got set up in Great Bend, unloaded and started combining, got 49 acres cut and made it 20 miles back to town before 11pm.

Imagine what we can do when we don’t have to move…

June 20, 2010

View of the day-The temperature at the bank in Cherokee…another day to be in the air conditioning, not driving.

We were up early and eager to get rolling before the day heated up. After getting the header hooked up to the pickup and checking the load, we left for Great Bend, KS. We stopped once to check the load…everything was fine…then drove straight through to the bins near Timken. For the second time the strong south wind was a bonus for driving and it should still be huffing tomorrow when we move the second load. We got the tractor and cart unloaded, then stopped in Great Bend for lunch before rolling back to Cherokee.

On the way up, we didn’t see a lot of dust being made, although lots of crews were out servicing their machines. Things looked a lot different on the way back…dust everywhere as the harvesters took advantage of the weather and made a lot of progress.

We stopped in Pratt at the CaseIH dealership to pick up a couple more fuel filters to have on hand…we are hoping it is the usual crappy fuel from Cherokee that is the problem with the combine. ProHarvest is in Pratt, but Ray was on the road, so we couldn’t get any answers to our issues…a few suggestions, but nothing concrete to solve the problems. For some reason when we shift the combine from 2 to 3 gear, the RPM’s drop and nobody seems to know if that is normal…so we wait to find out.

We got back to Cherokee, move the General from the truck lot to the street for an early morning get away, the went back to the camper to cool off. Marilyn decided to do one more round of laundry because once we get going at Timken, there will be no early nights. The trip out to the field is generally 20 miles one way and the Laundromat closes at ten…although, a suggestion from someone on Facebook mentioned Walmart is open 24 hours…just buy new clothes...it has possibilities. While Marilyn did the laundry, Al went and settled up with the landlord.

We have noticed that since we have started harvesting, wheat has gone up at least $0.45 per bushel. This, apparently, has something to do with the reports from Canada about the shortage of wheat acres due to the seeding conditions…or lack of, as the case is in a lot of places. It should be interesting to see where it ends up.

We managed to get in under the wire at the Smok Shack for a really late supper, then went back to the camper to get things put away for the move tomorrow. We want to get away at the same time, but we have to settle up with fuel and food, so it might be a bit later.

Last trip to the library…

June 19, 2010

View of the day-Starting to clean the combine in our front yard, to get it ready to head north.

We had breakfast then went out to the field to take the header off the combine and put it on the long haul trailer. After some…’discussion’…we finally got it loaded to everyone’s satisfaction, then roaded the tractor, cart and combine back to Cherokee.

Ron…our Carmen farmer who doesn’t mind having his name in the blog…came in to get settled up and while Al took care of that in the cool of the camper, Marilyn got the compressor going and started cleaning off the combine. Ron, being an OSU fan, gave Al a nice orange and black hat to support his team…to bad the logo is from Northern Equipment…ahem…John Deere. Ron gave Al a ride back to the field to get the pickup and header that we had left there.

When Al got back to town, he cleaned off the header while Marilyn started washing the combine. Well, either the engineers at CaseIH finally listened to those of us who have to clean these things, or they hired someone who had to do the grunt work on a harvest run in his/her younger days. Wait a minute…if it was a ‘her’, all those little hidey-holes that collect crap would never have been there to start with.

Anyway, they did a fabulous job making the drain holes in the hopper big enough to get more than three kernels out at a time and the shields open up really wide so you can get underneath for a good cleaning. Some of the ledges that used to accumulate chaff and were hard to clean off were now gone and those back axles do not have all the little holes that you could never get the chaff out of. More good things than bad…so far.

The temperature today topped out at 102º and the humidity was unbearable, but we kept struggling through it to get everything cleaned up. There was no way we were going to load up in the heat of the day, so after everything…including the ranch dressing off the side of the pickup…was shining, we took a supper break at Miss Dotties.

After supper we went directly to get everything loaded…first the combine to load, tie down and hook-up to the General, then the tractor and cart. We still have a bit of a time getting the combine loaded just right so the hydraulic cylinders on the feeder house don’t rub on the fenders. Marilyn came up with a game plan using some pool noodles as a wrap for the cylinders…we’ll see how they make the trip.

Al fuelled up the Freight before parking it our on the street near the header. The plan was to get the General’s load out there too, but there was another crew that had hogged up the spaces, so it will wait out at the parking lot until tomorrow…hopefully they leave before we do.

Which is going to be extra early, to beat the heat…

June 18, 2010

View of the day-Al stands guard as the combine gets fuelled…just enough to finish the field, without adding too much weight to get stuck in the terraces.

We met John at breakfast and made plans for the day. We went out and serviced the combine, then Al & John made the first round to find out where the seed would be cut…and Al made sure to cut wide around the standing water. Marilyn took over once the guys had everything marked out and managed to get everything finished without getting stuck.

We got the header unhooked and ready to move to the next field. John’s son-in-law and his father had big trouble with their R7 Gleaner…engine issues…and they had 50 acres left to do, so we drove the 11 miles SE to the field and got started. Marilyn was having severe power issues…alarms had been going off since we started in the morning…even after we blew out the air filter. Fortunately, we had picked up fuel filters, so Al replaced the water separator filter and BAM…back in business. What a change and it helped a lot when Marilyn found the water sitting in the terraces…but never got stuck.

We finished the field around 9:30pm, then Al took the last load to the elevator and Marilyn stopped at Pizza Hut to grab supper. Of course, it was 9:55 and they closed at 10, but they were gracious enough to give us a ‘leavin’s pizza’…one made with whatever they had left…and even gave Marilyn a large iced tea while she waited.

We are needed up the road so tomorrow is cleaning day…yay…

June 17, 2010

View of the day-Another change of colors…this Gleaner was working across the road from us at Carmen.

The sun was shining and the wind was blowing, it was going to be a good day for combining…at some point. We grabbed an early breakfast at Miss Dotties, then headed for Carmen…to do a test and see how close we were to starting.

After driving out to the cart through some wet spots, we did a test and tried not to get stuck doing it. We took the sample into Carmen…13.5% and with the cart full of dry wheat we had from before the rain, we were good to go. We stopped to get the General from town then got organized to finish the field. It was quite a task cutting in the soft fields…there weren’t too many places where the combine wasn’t sinking and leaving ruts. At least there was no standing water…and Marilyn didn’t get stuck.

We finished up the field then Al went to the elevator to dump the last load, Marilyn picked up some fuel for the tractor and combine, then it was back out to the field to get things ready to move. We unhooked the header from the combine then moved it out to the road with the pickup through the narrow entrance to the yard. After a few attempts at unsuccessfully backing the header up straight…something about those front wheels…we were able to get it far enough over to get the combine out and hooked up to it.

Marilyn left for Cherokee with the combine and header and after getting the header trailer hooked up to the pickup, Al drove the tractor and cart and Ron brought up the rear with the pickup and header trailer. We got to the next field, got the header back on the combine then started cutting. It was a small field and once we got finished we unhooked the header again and moved through town to the next field. We got the header back on the combine and called it a day. Lots of moving and some interesting combining conditions…but at least we were cutting. We took the header trailer into town and parked it with the other trailers, then Al picked up fuel for tomorrow.

Main Street was pretty quiet as Marilyn went to upload the blog, until someone started knocking on the back of the pickup as she was parked in front of the library. Lee Petersen was on his way back to Pratt with a header, so she got to have a good gab and check out the fancy European New Holland header he was going to try out. A 35 ft auger head with adjustable cutter bar…

No camera, so no pics…looked interesting though...

June 16, 2010

View of the day-One of only two Brandt grain carts made, the other is at the Farm Progress Show in Regina, SK. This one is part of the Petersen Farms harvesting crew.

We woke up to the sound of thunder, but fortunately no rain…at least here in Cherokee…further south it looked dark and like there was something hitting the ground. South…where the combine was parked.

We went for breakfast at Miss Dotties where we got a chance to see the weather channel to find out what was in store for us in the rain department. It looked promising…at least we would see the sun at some point today. We came back to the camper to decide what to do with another day off…internet at the library topped the list…this time from the inside during business hours.

We went back to the camper to get the laptops and while Al was checking the pickup over, he discovered the inside dual on the back was flat. We went over to the coop to see if they had four new tires…we were at 85,000K on these ones and we were thinking about getting new ones…this was just ahead of schedule. They didn’t have any so we just got ‘ol baldie fixed and will get those elusive Michelins later.

We were just ready to head into the library when a harvest crew came through town…with Saskatchewan tags…we chased them down so Marilyn could take a few pictures of some yellow ones…for a change. They stopped for a break on the side of the road north of town and we had a good chat with them about how their harvest was going before the continued on their way north to Pratt, KS.

We went to the library and they were very accommodating there…found us power and we sat facing the front window so Al could watch the traffic going by between online searches. After a couple hours we folded up the laptops and went by the elevator to see if there were any samples brought in, then went back to the camper.

Marilyn went to pick up a few groceries for supper…to eat in for a change and Al watched as the grain trucks started trickling by the camper. He called Ron to see if there had been any rain down at Carmen…there hadn’t been, so tomorrow looks promising. Enid, on the other hand, got 2 inches…the crop we saw standing in the field will be standing there for a while yet.

Tomorrow we cut…we hope…

June 15, 2010

View of the day-At least somebody is combining today, the John Deere was making dust in the canola…but nobody else turned a wheel.

Got to sleep in again because we knew there would be no cutting, but we decided to get some more work done out at the combine. We went to the sale barn café for lunch, got our parts and left for Carmen. It was a sunny day but there was no wind to speak of and the humidity made working outside really uncomfortable…but we had to do something constructive.

The first plan of attack was to put the new knife for the header together, then store it in the handy compartment built in to the header for just that purpose. Hopefully we won’t need it for a long time, but…just in case. We unwrapped the three parts that we had brought with us, only to realize…we were short one piece. The guys at Yorkton shorted us one 8 ft knife piece and two connectors so there was no way it was going to get put together. Time to call Fairview to see if they had one in stock…no luck, not even in the ProHarvest truck…what the hell?? Good thing the neighbours over at Livingston Machinery where the MacDon van was parked were able to help us out.

We got back to the combine and after changing the oil filter on the header, continued putting the knife together and got it put into the holder. Jobs done for the day. On the way back to town, we saw a JD combine in the canola, it still looked a little wet in the field by the road but he was actually making dust.

When we got back to Cherokee, Al dropped Marilyn off at the camper and went out to the lot where the trailers were parked. There were a couple of new John Deere combines with the headers hooked on behind that belonged to a harvester from Montana. They had picked them at Enid and they were going to road them through the harvest…all the way back to Montana! Trailers are too expensive, so they decided to roll that way…it has been done before.

After our landlord, Mike, did some touch up welding on one of the trailers, Al came back to the camper and called it a day…somewhat constructive.

And now, to the library to get connected…

June 14, 2010

View of the day-Deluge 2 of 8 that hit Cherokee from last night until this morning.

We got to sleep in…we knew with all the rain it would be a super-do-nothing day. We did decide if it wasn’t raining we would at least get the tarp fixed on the General which was down at Carmen, so we gathered our tools and headed south.

We stopped for lunch in Carmen before checking out the General and when we got to the truck, Ron had already taken the bracket off and had called the welder who showed up just after we got there. He said it would take about 45 minutes to redo the bracket on a new pipe, so we used the time to see if we could get out to the combine to change the broken guard on the header. They had gotten 1 ½ inches in town but the gauge on the combine showed 2 ¼ …not counting the chaff in the bottom of the gauge.

We made it out to the farm without any problems then started working on the combine. It had gotten quite clean from the pounding rain and we think the cart might look as good, but it was out in the middle of the field and with the water standing in the stubble, we thought better of checking it out. Once we had the new guard and section on, we went back into town. The new bracket was leaning against the grain truck waiting to be put on…which we did in no time at all…another job off the list.

We left Carmen and carried on to Fairview to visit with the MacDon guys and get a new filter for the header. After having a good chat with them about some of the questions we had come up with after running the header for the last couple of weeks, we went over to see the ProHarvest guys at the CaseIH dealer. After filling him in on the spreader falling off issue and the monitor locking up, he wasn’t able to help but would be checking in with the other guys to see if anyone else had come up with a solution.

We left Fairview and continued on to the bright lights of Enid. We were really surprised on the way down to that there weren’t a lot of fields that had been cut yet. Marilyn needed to return a pair of jeans to Wal-Mart and pick up a couple of things she forgot in Alva yesterday. Al needed to stop in at Atwood’s for a few items…which we never got because the service sucked. Marilyn couldn’t believe that when the cashier asked Al if he found everything he was looking for, he said yes…so unlike Al not to speak his mind.

Once we were done shopping we stopped at the Golden Corral for supper…and the rains hit again…lots of lightning and thunder with a heavy downpour. Not as bad as Oklahoma City with their 9 inches of rain last night…thank goodness. We finished supper and headed back to Cherokee, going through several small towns along the way and checking out the harvest crews that were parked in them to see if we knew anybody. We didn’t see any bodies out and about…everyone must have been shopping or catching up on sleep after the good run we had down south.

We got back home to Cherokee and stopped at the library so Al could check out his favourite sites…he wouldn’t be making the midnight run with Marilyn when she went to upload…and the rain started again. It was a short burst and by the time we got back to the camper it had let up enough for us to get everything unloaded and inside.

Interesting that Al didn’t buy one toy this trip…and Marilyn forgot to return the jeans…

June 13, 2010

View of the day-Times have changed…just look what they are selling at Walmart these days…two for one, no less.

Well, we got more rain during the night and after getting to sleep in a bit, woke up to even more. We didn’t get as much as they did around Pratt, KS…3 to 4 inches and more predicted for today.

We hit Miss Dotties for lunch, then went to Alva so Marilyn could get her Walmart fix in. We took the laptop along and Marilyn found someplace where Al could ‘easily’ get on the internet to entertain himself while Marilyn was in Walmart. She only got to shop for a short while before Al came in to help with the grocery shopping…how he could think 3 ½ hours was long enough was a wonder to Marilyn…there were 10 aisles left to go. Al never did find the two things he was looking for at Walmart…Marilyn should have insisted they go to the bright lights of Enid…he surely would have found what he was looking for there.

Al drove around Alva, checking out the campgrounds and motels to see who was staying in town…there were a LOT of harvesters scattered throughout the town and most of them were lined up at the Laundromat to get their laundry done.

We went back to Cherokee and the sun was shining, of course, the clouds were rolling in and there was another tornado watch for tonight. Back at the camper, we put out the awning for the first time this year just in time for the rain to start falling again. Lots of lightning and thunder with this one, but it looked like it was west and north of us…but we can never tell unless we drive out of town because of the trees around us.

Tomorrow the plan is to do some fixing on the things we have been putting off. We will have to go to Fairview to get a few parts…and toys…

And, it’s not that far from Enid…

June 12, 2010

View of the day-A field of pushed canola outside Cherokee has to wait for a while as the rain starts rolling in.

We got up early so we could finally get some laundry done. After rounding up some quarters we got the washers running, and killed some time before loading up the dryers. We went to Miss Dotties for breakfast and while we were there, one of the locals that we know well came in and said “as soon as I heard the forecast for rain, I knew you were in town”. Imagine that.

After doing a bit of catching up, we went back to get our laundry only to find out there was one washer we hadn’t even started…great…a head start on the next laundry run. We got the laundry back to the camper then stopped at the grocery store to stock up on some lunch before going out to the field.

We got the combine serviced, started right in combining and were going great guns for the better part of the afternoon. Al had a bit of a faux pas when he tried to open the tarp on the General and the wind took it and bent one of the guide pipes for the electric tarp roller. While he worked on getting it operational, Marilyn had to take a break to change a knife section that had broken and was leaving a strip in the field.

Marilyn was keeping an eye on the skies; they seemed to be getting darker and the clouds were building…not just in the area the weather band was warning about. Just as she got to the opposite end of the field, the rain started coming down…hard…and with a half a hopper on, third gear didn’t seem to be an option. First she had to get to the cart, which was in the middle of the field, dump the combine, then get out and tarp the cart, then book it across the field…all in the rain. She got back to the Dodge, put it in 4WD and tackled the greasy road to meet Al in town…too bad he didn’t have his radio on. By the time she got to Carmen, Al was on the way out with the General and the streets were dry…they got nothing in town. Al turned around and came back to town as we decided to leave the General in town…we never would have made it back to the field on those roads.

We went back to Cherokee, had supper and another visit at Miss Dotties, then went back to the camper. We were now in a tornado watch and the clouds were really getting angry looking…lots of lightning and heavy rain moving our way. Between showers, Marilyn got the dish aimed so we could find out what was going on it the world…without the internet…and Al realized that with this dish, he gets to watch the Canadian Football League games this summer. That was a little consolation as we listened to the trucks rolling past the camper to the elevator…how did the rain miss them?

Rain…and Marilyn didn’t get even to Walmart…

June 11, 2010

View of the day-Pit stop outside Snyder, OK...and a chance for Al to cool off.

It was another early morning after a late night our other farmer came by to settle up and when that was done we got the camper already for the move and then went into Frederick for lunch and Marilyn had to return her modem for the internet to the Pioneer Phone Company. Al, on the other hand got to pick up his two toy tractors he had the Case IH dealer put away for him pictures to follow at a later date.

We left Davidson Oklahoma for the last time at 12:30 and with a hard south wind pushing us we made good time considering we were moving with the Freight.
We got to Carmen at about 5:30 unloaded the tractor and cart then hooked up the cart trailer and took the Freight and our camper to Cherokee, we parked the camper got the power hooked up for the AC and headed back to Carmen to start making dust there were a lot of combines going in the area. Even though we started at 7:00 we still did 40 acres and Al got 2 loads into the elevator.

Now to find some internet to post this and oh yes, it is midnight, 81º and tomorrow is another early day…

June 10, 2010

View of the day-Al and Ron make a pass around the barn to open up the field and take a test.

We got up early to try and get loaded in the cooler part of the day. When we opened up the door we were greeted by thick fog...well, at least the sun wasn't going to cook us. We got the combine loaded and hooked up to the General, then loaded the tractor and cart and got that hooked up to the Freightliner for tomorrow.

We left Davidson around 10am and started for Carmen, OK. There were a lot of harvesters moving north and we played leap frog with them most of the way. There were very few combines making dust...likely due to the thick fog that we drove in for half the 230 mile trip.

We got to Carmen, unloaded the combine, then hooked up the trailer to the General so we could haul it up to Cherokee...we had no place to park in Carmen. We fueled up the combine at the Coop, then moved it out to the farm, put the header on and cut a test.

The sample was 13.5% moisture and the cut off was 14%, so being as it was already 4:30pm, we decided not to cut anymore in case it was too wet...there was mud on the tires just from the first cut and the humidity was still way up there. With the 5+ inches of rain they had gotten in the last 3 weeks, the field is going to be a challenge.

We took the General and trailer up to Cherokee, then headed back to Davidson, stopping in Fairview for a snack on the way. There were a lot of combines making dust on the trip back, probably trying to stay ahead of the weather that is on the way.

And now we have lightning in the west and wind warnings...

June 9, 2010

View of the day-The cart is full and waiting for the semi to show up and the combine has the header hooked on behind for the trip back across the river to Oklahoma.

Al was up early to go dump the last 250bu of seed into the bin. The farmer came a picked him up and Marilyn went out to the combine on her own...just in time to have Al come over to help fuel the combine.

It was another day of waiting on trucks...we had a cart full from last night and it didn't take long for the combine to get full, so it was 'hurry up and wait'. We got the first truck full and ended up waiting on the second truck too...and we could see the end of the field was sooo close.

We finally got the combine empty and started to get it ready to move back to Davidson so we could load up. It was another scorcher out...more so because of the humidity...so we decided to just work on the header until the truck came back, then we could move the tractor and combine at the same time...getting the slow stuff out of the way.

This was the first attempt at pulling the header behind the combine...something that Marilyn has always thought would be a good idea to reduce the number of trips it takes to move between fields. She is still looking for the perfect tow bar for the pickup...other crews have them and they work...but Al says the pickup is too new to have a wreck. Maybe later on...

Once we had the cart empty, we started down the road...with no excitement...no short corners, no traffic jams...an uneventful drive back to Davidson. Once we got to the lot where the trailers were parked, the farmer picked us up to go back for the Dodge and the General. We got back to Davidson, fueled everything up, then went out to get the header loaded...another learning curve loading it on the trailer.

We decided to switch some tires around on the trailer since we hadn't had time to change the toe in which gave us the flat on the trip down. The other front tire was bad too, so we swapped it out with one of the back ones that still had tread left on it...just to get us to Cherokee where we would get it trimmed in properly...no really...this time for sure. We got them switched out in no time and after a bit of trailer shifting, were able to get the header loaded and strapped down...and quit for the day.

Al got to the watch the Chicago Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup in overtime...an exciting game to end the season. Marilyn got her Skype working and chatted with a friend from back home...ahh, modern technology.

An early day of loading and moving tomorrow...

June 8, 2010

View of the day-Marilyn nervously gets to cut around the big power poles...where Al seems to insist on lining up under the wires to unload...NO chance of that.

The farmer came to pick Al up first thing this morning to dump the General's seed load into the bin. By the time Marilyn got out to the field, Al was back and after servicing and fueling the combine, it was an early start combining.

We finished the field we were on, then moved over to get the last few passes of seed wheat that we had left in the previous field that were needed to top off the bin. We dumped it in the General and left the unloading for tomorrow. Here are a couple more pictures of the oil tank hopper bin, the only thing the farmer has left to do is add a lock system to the drain door so the wild hogs don't break in.

We moved over to the last field and were going great guns until the trucking slowed down...line ups at the new elevator they were hauling to meant we wouldn't get to finish today. The productivity of this new combine is amazing, with 35ft of 40+bu crop coming in we are averaging 19ac/hr...and hardly a snort going through the heavier stands. Now if only we could get the monitor to quit locking up, it would be perfect.

We went into Vernon to get something for supper, then went back to the camper and although we quit earlier than normal, it still ended up being late by the time we got home.

We hope to get finished and moved back to Davidson tomorrow to get loaded up...strict orders to get finished before the NHL Stanley Cup Playoff game.

But, you know, the best laid plans...

June 7, 2010

View of the day-Marilyn makes dust near the coal fired power plant by Oklaunion, TX.

It was another hot humid day, fortunately the rain was well to the north of us. We couldn't start right away due to the high humidity, but once we got going, the dust was flying...among other things.

We worked on some seed wheat that was going to go into that 700 bushel oil tank bin that was the view of the day. The entrance to the field was very narrow, so Al had to road the tractor and cart out to the intersection to load the semis...pretty precarious, but he managed to get them loaded and on their way. The farmer was having issues with his auger, so we filled the General then left enough on the field to top off the bin, then moved to the next field.

We were making good time on the next field since there was a truck to fill, but after he left we had a bit of a wait once the cart and combine were heaped. After filling the truck, we continued on and while making an extra lap around the field end to make some turning room for the combine, Marilyn noticed the straw being left behind the combine was a quite a bit heavy on the right side...it looked a lot different from the earlier rounds. The straw hadn't gotten any tougher, so when Marilyn turned around to cut back, she could see the problem...sitting right beside the fluffy bead of straw was one of the straw spreaders.

After stopping to inspect, she could see the shaft was still on the combine but the collar and the bolt that holds the cone and spreader on was gone. After loading the spreader onto the deck of the combine, she carried on...leaving a trail behind until we had the last semi filled.

Today we did exactly the same acres as yesterday...134, and there is light at the end of the tunnel. There should be...

We are the only ones left in the campground...again...

June 6, 2010

View of the day-More of the same as Marilyn makes more dust...with proof that she is cutting a full 35 feet...and she thought Al had neglected his picture taking duties.

Well, the temps for the day had been forecasted to be in the 90's, and they were...until you added in the humidity then, once again we were into the 100's again.

We got out to the field and took a test around 10am, but it was too wet to start, so we thought we would find some place to get eggs for breakfast. We could see a truck stop about 5 miles from the field so we took a trip over, only to find out that the only thing there was the pumps...the building had burnt and there was a temporary trailer as an office. We then figured we might as well go into Vernon and try the breakfast burritos from a place that Keith had told us about...apparently they don't cook on Sundays, but they did send us over to the Brown Cow restaurant. We got there at 11:01, which meant we weren't going to get any eggs...and what do we know about Mexican food? It was a good meal and after we finished we went back out to the field.

It had dried down enough that we were able to get started and we didn't have to wait on trucks, even though they were both running to Altus. Once the cart was full, Al would get to drive the combine and get cool while Marilyn checked out the manuals for the combine. Yesterdays successful discovery of the boundary function on the monitor was topped by today's find.

When cutting terraces...the ridges in the fields that channel the water...you end up with all sorts of odd shaped pieces. This means the mapping software measures the amount cut by the input of the operator...so, Marilyn puts in a 35 ft header, and that she is cutting 34 ft, to allow for error. Once you get down to a pie piece, it is necessary to use the monitor to shrink the size of the header to the size of the swath for accuracy. This is done by touching the screen, but as the piece gets narrower, you have to match it on the screen. Not after today...

There is a function that automatically calculates the width of the swath according to the previous passes...it shrinks it down automatically and it doesn't matter if the patch is left, right or in the middle...it maps according to what you cut...BRILLIANT! Marilyn can't wait to see what other capabilities are hiding in the monitor.

We finished up the field and moved over to the next 80ac patch and made a couple of rounds on it to fill the cart before calling it an early night...well, earlier at least. It was another good day...135 acres...except for having to stop to blow out the engine air filter, the combine worked another impressive day in the heat.

And tomorrow the temps are going up again...

June 5, 2010

View of the day-Ingenuity...a hopper bin for seed wheat made out of an oil tank...more details to come.

We got out to the field and did some servicing. Al got to check out the new position for blowing out the rad from the top deck...works great. Marilyn greased and got organized to start in on what was left of the field.

We got going great guns and were doing pretty good until the trucks got backed up. We couldn't do too much once everything was full, so we went into Vernon to pick up a few things and check out the lineups at the elevator there. They said we could haul there but it would be a FIVE HOUR wait until we would get unloaded...pass on that.

Once we got the call that the trucker was on his way, we went back to the field and continued cutting. The trucks were hauling the odd load into Frederick so that helped them get back a bit sooner and we didn't have to wait again for the rest of the day.

That was nothing like the two JD combines that were in the field across from us...one of them had a full hopper in the morning right after we started and it stayed parked full in the field all day...they were waiting on trucks too.

Once again there were combines rolling all around us, with the strong south wind blowing and the temperature topping out at 102º, it was prime harvesting weather.

We finally finished the first field then moved across the road to start on the second field. We needed to fill one more semi so that he would have a load to take to Altus in the morning...so much for an early night. We did get him filled and on the road home, then after fueling the combine, we headed for home too.

Considering we had a Walmart break in the afternoon, we still managed to get...149 acres done today!

Look out tomorrow...

June 4, 2010

View of the day-Al roads the tractor and cart across the Oklahoma/Texas line.

Today was moving day for us...we were heading across the Red River into Texas to start combining there. We got out to the field and unhooked the header from the combine then Al drove the tractor and cart while Marilyn moved the combine over to the new field.

Along the way we encountered a lot of crews servicing, moving and combining...it really is in full swing and with the temperatures forecast to be 105-107º for the weekend, there will be a lot more crop coming off. We did meet a crew moving north already, but most of them were in the fields making dust.

We got to the field then the farmer picked us up so we could go back and get the pickup, header and General. We got them out to the field and it was decided that because the farmer had his wheat contracted in Altus...an 80 mile drive one way...he would have two of his semis haul the grain until the contract was filled. This meant Al could run the cart and Marilyn wouldn't have to stop to dump.

One thing Al has always thought these combines needed was a way to go around a field and have the monitor tell you how many acres were in the perimeter...the desktop software does it, so why couldn't the combine? Marilyn was personalizing the user screens and discovered that these machines now have the ability to do this very thing. It is almost like the GPS in the vehicles that tell you how many miles to your destination...this tells you how many acres in the boundary, how many acres you have left and an estimate on how much time it should take you to finish. Al is pretty happy now that there is a way to know how much is left, because when he asks Marilyn...she has no clue. It doesn't matter that she has combined tens of thousands of acres...she really can not visualize an acre. Not anymore.

On Al's first pickup from the combine, he discovered the fuel filter on the tractor was leaking, so he drove into Frederick to get a couple new ones and on the way back he picked up the shop trailer so we would have it handy at the field. While he was gone, Marilyn had no end of trouble with the return plugging from the cheat grass. The first time it stopped, she backed out of the swath to get out of the wind and when she went around the side of the combine, the back wheel was just sitting on the edge of one of the shields from the side of the combine...and no idea how the thing came off...or why. After propping it up against the fence so it would be easy to find with the pickup...there was no way it was fitting back on...she continued on. She had to stop three times due to plugging and even tightening the return chain and slowing down to a crawl didn't help. Once Al got back we did some minor adjustments and were rolling non-stop for the rest of the day. Well, except for the wait on a truck to dump in.

Considering we started a 4pm in the field, we still managed to get 93 acres covered and have a good start on a load for the semi in the morning.

But it's another late night...