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…