June 30, 2011

View of the day-Al gets a shot while trying to stay out of the dust and the 108º heat.

It was supposed to be another day off as we waited for the moisture to go down, but Kevin called us up in the morning and figured we should give it a try. We got organized then headed out to give it a try…the moisture had gone from 17.2% on Tuesday to 8.3% today! Yeah, that’s good to go.

We finished a couple of patches then moved over to finish off about 50 acres that the other crew had left that was right next to where we had just finished. They had moved a few miles north and were going strong, so there was no sense in them moving back for that little bit.

While Marilyn was finishing off that patch, Al and Kevin moved the tractor and pick-up over to the next field so she would be able to start right in while Al took the truck into the elevator. They had already closed for the day, but the manager was good enough to go over and dump him so we could keep going. Kevin got to drive the combine for a while, cutting the first ‘flat’ part of the field, then Marilyn took over on the terraced side of the waterway.

Al was having alternator issues with the tractor, so just before calling it quits, he took it off so we could get it checked out tomorrow in Great Bend. Once Marilyn got the truck full, we called it a day…and it was a good one, over 130 acres.

Not bad for a day off…

June 29, 2011

View of the day-Gerry lures Al into the green one for a test drive.

We had intentions of being on the road bright and early, but we didn’t have anywhere to be, so we ended up leaving around 11am. We went to the bin site and hooked up the pick-up head, then started out for Phillipsburg.

We stopped in Hayes for lunch then carried on in the blistering heat…103ºF on the pickup read out. There were combines running all over the place, most of the fields had been combined but as we got closer to Phillipsburg, it looked like they were just starting out. We stopped at the CaseIH dealer in Phillipsburg for a visit and to pick up some oil…they were good enough to let us leave the header there until we can move it further north.

After we got it backed into a spot that would make it easy to hook up behind the cart trailer, we headed west to do some visiting and to get Marilyn’s laptop. Gerry & Lynn owners of Prevost Harvesting had picked it up from Staples on their way through Yorkton.

We took one of the secondary roads where there was little or no traffic…in 70 miles we might have seen 10 vehicles. Along this road, there were fewer combines running and the ones that were making dust were just the local farmers. As we got closer to Colby, we could see the crops were not as far along and even though there were cutters out in the fields, they were just sampling to see how the moisture was.

We pulled into Brewster just as a semi was pulling out of the elevator and was waiting to weigh out empty. Looking at the licence, we could see it was from Saskatchewan and was the very harvester we had been looking for. We had a quick chat with him, then followed him out to the field where they were combining. We got there just as they had finished combining the irrigation pivot corners, which were plenty dry…but the crop under the pivot was a whole other story…still pretty green. They were done for the day.

We followed them back to Colby so Marilyn could get her laptop and got invited to stay for supper...honest, we don’t do this on purpose. We had another great home cooked meal and lots of visiting before starting back to Great Bend…160 miles, but thankfully interstate highway except for the last 30 miles.

There are custom cutters parked EVERYWHERE…

June 28, 2011

View of the day-Al gets probed at the elevator and we have fingers crossed that the moisture isn’t too high.

We went out to the field at the usual time and after servicing and fuelling the combine, Marilyn prepared to finish the last 5 acres on the field…the last five ‘green’ acres. We hoped there was enough dry wheat on the truck to get it low enough to unload at the elevator.

Marilyn notice the front end was making a lot of noise when she turned on the feeder house and after giving it a quick inspection, discovered that the reverser chain that Al had just finished tightening was pretty much stretched. Al gave Kevin a call and got him to pick up some new chain on his way back from checking the moisture at the next field.

After lapping up the last of the field, Marilyn took a ride into the elevator with Al and we were releaved to find that the moisture was 15.1%...not good, but a far cry from some of the other stuff that was showing on the monitor. We got the truck dumped then went back to the field to do some more servicing.

Al blew the rads and filters out, while Marilyn gave the windows on the combine and General a good cleaning and a coat of RainEx…a miracle product that makes dusting them off a dream. Once Kevin got back with the chain, Al went over to the yard to measure and break the chain to the right length and to cut some new threads in the blower wand that he broke when he threw it off the combine.

Once everything was in tip-top shape and we were given the next couple of days off, due to the fact that the moisture on the next field was 17%, we headed back to town. Marilyn went shopping at the truck parts store for some new clearance lights for the General…Al is loving the brightness of the LED lights and they are sorely in need of replacement. The gentleman there was quite helpful and she left with a few new warning flags and a couple of new oversize signs…great prices. The lights got ordered and they should be in Wednesday.

We had been invited out for supper by Taff & Wendy Hughes, the other harvester that is cutting for the same farmer. We had a great visit with their family and crew and got a tour of the ‘estate’. What a gorgeous evening for a BBQ, the bugs stayed away, the temperature was perfect and the steaks…well, just the best! The yard had been landscaped by a professional photographer and with the waterfall, pathways and cozy spots nestled in the little valleys of the tree canopied hideaway…it was just so relaxing and beautiful. No pictures...they would not have done it justice.

Marilyn said if she had something like this at home, she would quit harvesting…

June 27, 2011

View of the day-A couple of friendly dogs suck up some shade under the General.

We got out to the field early…relatively speaking…and took the header off to move to the next field. After getting it hooked back up at the next field, Marilyn cut a patch out to park everything, then Kevin picked us up and took us back for the General and cart. Marilyn took the pickup back, then started combining, while Kevin had the honor of driving the tractor and cart.

The moisture was still up on this field…a lot of the wheat had come up in the spring and was still green. It was a far cry from the 9% moisture of the last few fields, coming up as high as 14.1%...but Marilyn was able to blend it off.

We covered 140 acres again today and got to combine next to the JD crew…apparently Marilyn didn’t get the text that supper was coming out to the field, or else red and green don’t go together…except at Christmas.

Al had some time to wait at the end of the day and while Marilyn was cleaning up one of the terraces, took the MiFi out on the top of the hill and did a bit of surfing out in the field. Two thumbs up for the high speed connection in the middle of nowhere.

It’s going to make for some scenic Skype calls…

June 26, 2011

View of the day-…is it hot enough for you???

A good day to stay out of the heat, as you can see. We hit the omelette bar again before heading back to the camper to do some bookwork. We had let that get a little behind, so we figured now was a good time to catch up.

Marilyn got a WalMart fix in, doing a couple of laps of the store for exersize. Once she got home and was unloading the 6 packs of pop out of the pickup a couple of them escaped from the plastic hoops, hit the pavement and created quite a sticky geyser. After finally getting them into the camper and most of them into the fridge, one more insisted on jumping ship and spraying inside the camper…oh well, the floor needed to get washed anyway.

Al talked to Kevin and it looks pretty promising for making dust tomorrow…

June 25, 2011

View of the day-The rigs sit and wait for another day…it’s the weekend again.

We got to sleep in and didn’t have anything at all scheduled for the day. We went out for the Chinese buffet, then took a trip over to the Verizon store to find out about getting a MiFi for mobile internet. Al had several concerns but the salesman was able to answer all of them to his satisfaction, so he was almost convinced.

We left the store and went back to the camper to discuss it further, then packed up the laptop and went to the library so Al could do some surfing in air conditioned comfort...anything to get out of the 98º heat. Marilyn went back to the Verizon store to pick up the MiFi and get it activated. Now there is no need to go out on the evening drive to get the blog uploaded.

After picking Al up from the library, we took a cruise around town, then went back to the camper to get sucked in to the Storage Wars marathon on A&E…and that was it for the day.

And now we test drive the MiFi…

June 24, 2011

View of the day-Al unloading in the Albert elevator.

Al got up earlier and went and picked up the parts we had ordered last week. When we got out to the field we got things service up and were combining by 10:00 AM.

Al went to help Kevin do some work on their semi and while he was crawling out from under the truck he banged his head and had quite a gash on his forehead but he will survive.

We had about 60 acres left on the field we were on, then that would be it for the day. The rest of the wheat is still green, the other crew working with us tried some of it yesterday and it was 15.5% moisture and since it has to be 13.5% or less, we wait.

We were done by 2:00 PM…Marilyn decided to slum it and ride in with Al to unload at the elevator then we headed back into to town and that was about it for the rest of the day. It was a day that turned out to be quite a hot one…101º was the high and more of the same for tomorrow.

That should help the wheat dry up pretty quick…we hope…

June 23, 2011

View of the day-The chaff hadn’t even settled before Ken was out with his rig seeding into the stubble.

We got an earlier start than yesterday and had a pretty productive day. Al had a short haul across the road to the bin where he unloaded the seed wheat, until he had all the bins full. While Marilyn got the last of the field finished, Al and the guys got stuff moved over to the next field.

This time we had to take the header off to move the five miles over to the next field. Ken was waiting with his rig to start seeding a mixture of sudan grass, field peas and turnips…feed for their cattle.

Marilyn got started right in combining on the new field and although it looked pretty good from the road, once she got into it the yield was disappointing…only around 12 bu/ac, a far cry from the almost 50bu/ac yield of this morning, but at least it was weighing in at 59lb.

Al had it pretty slack, but did manage to get a couple of loads in to the elevator and Marilyn combined just over 140ac.

Now that’s a good day…

June 22, 2011

View of the day-Al gets a shot of Marilyn as she unloads on the go.

When we got back from the field last night, Al had written down the MacDon number, which we needed to find out what we could do to fix the header, in his “palm pilot”…a little note book reinforced with tape. He has gone through several of these over the years and most of them have met with the same demise…the washer…or rather, the dryer after the washer. Al has been careful after each catastrophe, that is why it came as a shock when Marilyn pulled it out of the washer with the clean clothes. At least it missed the complete shredding in the dryer and Marilyn spent the trip out to the field trying to get the pages split apart so they could dry and he could salvage some of the information.

When we got out to the field, we checked out what the MacDon tech had filled us with and found we had some fixing to do on the straight header…a couple of nuts had come loose and fallen off, which put half the header into flex mode. We didn’t have the right nuts, so while Al drove back into Great Bend to the CaseIH dealer to get some new ones, Marilyn did the servicing and windows, then unloaded the cart.

We got going later than we had hoped, but still managed to get 105 acres combined. Marilyn had riders with her most of the day…quite entertaining. We finished the south field about an hour before sunset, then Marilyn took the scenic route over to the next field so she wouldn’t have to take the header off. It added a few miles, but everything had been moved over by the time she got there. Kevin had some experimental plots marked off in the field, so Marilyn let him do the cutting until he had them patched out and the resulting yields noted.

We quit around 10pm and drove back into town. Al went to get fuel and Marilyn threw a pizza on the cooker for supper and jumped in the shower…good news…the smoke detector works. The take and bake pizza from Papa Murphys was so fat that the cheese hit the burners and made big smoke…the pizza was still edible, at least.

So tomorrow is more of the same…ahhh, harvest time…

June 21, 2001

View of the day-Al races back to the field for another load.

We left town early and Marilyn dropped Al off at the General that was parked where he left it at the Albert elevator. Marilyn carried on back to the field to fuel and service the combine, then get right at cutting again.

The day was beautiful, temperature-wise at least, but the wind was a wicked one again…it was pretty uneventful even though Marilyn did manage to combine 130 acres. We finished the big field, then moved a mile over to the next 50 acre patch and just carried on cutting.

There were lots of combines cutting in the area and considering Al had a 30 mile round trip to the elevator, Marilyn never had to wait to unload once. We got a lot of wildlife in the area, coyotes…that like to dig big holes on the tops of the terraces for the combine tires to drop into unexpectedly. There was even a coyote pup, the size of a cat that refused to leave the standing grain, but was lucky enough to duck when the header went over him. Al has managed to pick up a deer antler…unfortunately it was with the inside dual on the tractor…but it isn’t flat yet, so it will have to wait to get fixed.

Al took the last load of the night in to the elevator and this time he decided to come back to the field, so Marilyn had the combine fuelled and the cart tarped…without incident this time because the wind was pretty much non-existent after sunset.

How depressing…the days are now getting shorter…

June 20, 2011

View of the day-Starting in on the first Kansas field of wheat…plenty dry 10% moisture and running over 30 bu/ac.

We woke up early to find the power was off, and not just in the two of us campers on the same breaker…all five of us along the street were out. The LOW temp for the night had been 83º, so we really needed the A/C…we kicked in the generator, got the A/C running and went back to sleep. We had the power back on by 8:30am and Al wanted AIS by 10:30, so Marilyn got lunches ready and we were off to the field.

We rearranged the pickup head on the trailer so the gauge wheel wasn’t sitting against one of the brackets, then got it parked out of the way. We then took the draper head off the high speed transport trailer and got it into transport mode to move to the first field. Al took the header and Marilyn drove the combine down to the field and after getting the header on the combine, Kevin picked us up to go back for the tractor, cart and General.

Marilyn had three riders with her for a while, then it was solo time for the rest of the day with Al or Kevin running the grain cart. Kevin brought his semi out and alternated loads with Al and the General.

The wind was blowing hard all day and there were thunderheads all around us, but we never had anything serious for weather…except the wind. We did have a few sprinkles, but with the grain getting down to 8% moisture, it wasn’t going to do any harm. The temperature dropped like a stone in the afternoon and Marilyn was wishing she would have had the ND/Saskatchewan uniform of jeans and long sleeved shirt on. At one point, when Al was unloading the combine, she realized there was a section knife with a chunk out of it that had been stripping and after stepping out onto the deck, turned around and went right back into the cab…it was actually cold with the wind chill. That’s not right for Kansas. Al came over and got the section changed out almost as fast as the NASCAR pit crew.

Al wanted to get one more load into the elevator before they closed at 10pm, so he left the field with the General and Marilyn was left to fuel the combine and tarp the cart...in the cold and wind...66º. Fortunately, she remembered having a long sleeve shirt tucked behind the back seat headrest…thinking she wouldn’t really need it until August...not this year. The fueling went fine, but the wind was so strong that when she went to tarp the cart it took the tarp for a bit of a ride. It took some time to get the combine and cart lined up so the wind was actually helping instead of creating chaos and after 20 minutes of struggling and climbing up and down the cart and combine ladder, finally got it tarped. Back at the camper, we had power and thankfully it is cold enough out that we won’t need the A/C.

Maybe we can get a load of laundry done…

June 19, 2011 Happy Father's Day!

View of the day-An original Father’s Day program!

Rain again last night, although not enough to do any damage. We kept a low profile until it was time to go for Sunday brunch…should have gone before the Father’s Day rush. Al decided to try out the omelette bar and ended up waiting about 30 minutes to get his order filled…but it was worth it.

After we got back from dining, we noticed our original camp spot was now empty, so we decided to pack everything up and make the move…something we are getting pretty good at. It took no time at all and we were backed in under the shade of the trees and with the exception of the breaker kicking a couple of times due to the neighbors two A/C’s running. We certainly hope that gets rectified because it’s supposed to be hot again…but what’s new?

We got a call later in the afternoon to go out for a Father’s Day BBQ at our farmer’s. We figured we better get a few things looked after at the bin site…Al’s new antenna on the tractor, the new air filter in the combine, the new skid plate on the header. Marilyn checked the rain gauge on the combine and it had almost 2” of rain...and a new spider had taken up residence on the left corner of the mirror…a much bigger one than before.

We got our fixing done and after an excellent meal, we were treated to a performance by the children honouring their father’s and grandfather…Marilyn thought they did a better job learning their lines than some of the productions she has been involved in.
After some dessert and conversation, we headed back for Great Bend and on the way we saw a couple of fields that had combines making dust…and grain trucks on the highway.

It looks promising for tomorrow…

June 19, 2011

View of the day-The old New Holland TR97 sits on the corner lot looking for work.

We got to sleep late and do a lot of nothing today…along with everyone else in the area after the big storm that went through last night. Once again we had a nasty wind rocking the place and more rain…only 0.40” out at the combine, although we haven’t been out there to check the gauge.

We cruised town in the afternoon, checking the sites out, then we killed an hour or so at the library…in air conditioned comfort…surfing the web until they kicked us out at 5. We went out for supper then Marilyn took a couple of laps around Wal-Mart, while Al checked his eyelids for cracks.

The storms have started to bubble up again in the western part of the state and are drifting slowly to the east, so we likely will see more rain before the morning comes.
And the rigs wait on the hill…

June 17, 2011

View of the day-Back in the ‘campground’…such as it is.

We made it through the storms that passed through the area last night, getting a bit of rain and LOTS of wind. Those awnings over the slides are certainly weather-tough…noisy, but well attached.

With no combining on the agenda for the day, we had a short ‘to-do’ list to keep us busy for the day. First on the list was to get the camper closed up for the visit to the RV place to get the new waterpump installed. We stopped for lunch before making our appointment at 1pm and since they told us it wouldn’t even take an hour, we decided we might as well wait until it was finished rather than unhook and hook up again.

Once they had finished, we took it back to the campground…the guys in lot #7, where we were supposed to be parking, were apparently in a different time zone or something, because their ‘staying for one night’ had already stretched into three nights. So we went back to where we had been in the first place. Plus we had unloaded a bunch of stuff from the camper and left it along the building, so we had to go back to park there.

We went on our parts run to the CaseIH store…where ProHarvest had just pulled in for their next stop in the harvest run. We picked up a new cab filter for the combine and an antenna for Al’s radio in the tractor…no idea where the old one disappeared to. We stopped to order an new air filter for the Freightliner and a new shock for the General…neither of them in stock, but they would be in early in the week.

That was the extent of harvest related activities. We went back to the camper and Marilyn was able to get the dish set up between the camper and the building…and aimed it in three minutes! That has to be some kind of a record.

Good thing too, Al had to watch the pre-season Saskatchewan Roughrider game…

June 16, 2011

View of the day-Al taking the detour at Pratt, KS…a crazy day for traffic.

It was farewell to Oklahoma today. We didn’t get up as early as yesterday, but we didn’t have to make the return trip…and we were going to have a brisk south wind pushing us for a change…woohoo!

We were making good progress with the wind, until we hit the detour at Pratt, then the traffic started to back up. We thought we would be back to smooth sailing on the other side of Pratt, until a convoy crew of harvesters with 6 units pulled in front of us…and they wouldn’t go any faster that 45mph, even though most of them were pulling campers. We passed some tire shrapnel on the side of the road and Marilyn informed Al that it wasn’t from her rig, just so he wouldn’t be concerned and he said, “at the speed those guys are going, they could drive into town on the flat”.

We puddled along until we got to St. John, then the wind switched around and was coming straight out of the east. Fortunately we only had 20 miles to go to Great Bend…but it was a looong 20. We parked the General when we got into town, then went over to the campground to get the camper set up…some steenkin’ harvesters had scabbed our spot. Leo, the landlord came over and got us parked by his shop with a couple of other harvesters, so we would at least be able to shower and sleep for the night. We have to take the camper to get repaired tomorrow anyway.

We grabbed a quick lunch, then Marilyn hooked up to the shop trailer and we went out to the bins to unload the combine and do some rad and air filter blowing. There were storm warnings for the area to the west of us and it had been looking like one of those weird, unsettled days that something could hatch…that and the east wind usually means something will show up sooner or later. We got our unloading and servicing done, then headed back to Great Bend to get cleaned up.

The weather is starting to edge closer to Great Bend and they did have a report of a tornado that touched down to the NE of the bins, but it was in a rural area so we will wait to hear the damage reports.

Hopefully none of those will be from us…

June 15, 2011

View of the day-The first load at 6:30am. Al is checking it out while he waits for the truck to air up.

Marilyn decided to pass on the eggs for breakfast, so we were able to get an early start for Timken. We saw a LOT of combines sitting in the towns along the way…most of them still loaded on the trailers. There were some in the fields as well, but none making dust at that time of the morning.

We stopped to check the load once, then continued on without a pit stop…it was only 160 miles, after all. Once we had gotten through Great Bend, Marilyn went on ahead to unhook the header at the bin site so she could get the header trailer that Al had hooked on behind the cart trailer. He had a narrow corner to make and didn’t need the extra stress of the pickup head trailing behind, so he unhooked it just before the corner and Marilyn watched to make sure the trailer tires didn’t drop into the culvert at the corner.

With that experience over with, we drove a couple miles up to the bin site and backed the trailer in so we could unload everything before we headed back to Cherokee. When we unload the tractor and cart, Al goes into the tractor and uses the hydraulics from it to lift the trailer out of the hitch, Marilyn then gets into the Freightliner and drives it out of the way, then Al sets the trailer down and Marilyn unhooks the hoses and places the three sets of ramps strategically in place so Al can back the rig off the trailer without hooking the hitch on anything.

Marilyn has been known to be a bit of a snake wrangler…garter snakes, at least…and does not fear those ones and will catch them, if she is fast enough. But today when she was getting ready to move the Freight, something…about 3ft long, and fat…slithered past her and went under the truck. Now this had no rattle and it wasn’t the friendly garter snake, she took a guess at a bull snake and wasn’t about to mess with it…but it was hanging around the door that she had to go in. By the time she made a pile of noise going around the truck, she couldn’t see it anymore, so she made the move and got the Freight parked.

Back in the tractor, Al was waiting for the ramps to get set, which meant Marilyn had to do the rearranging mere feet from where old slippery had just gone. She was just setting the last ramp in place when the grass rustled by her hand!! No biggie…just a fat grasshopper.

So we got the tractor unloaded and parked, then went down to the farmyard to visit with Ken before heading into Great Bend. We stopped for lunch, then had to make a detour to the RV place to see about getting some warranty work done…yes, the new has worn off. The water pump had given up the ghost, but since we use the city hookup, we were blissfully unaware until we spied a puddle forming in the basement. After checking things out on the internet, Marilyn discovered that this was somewhat of a common occurrence with these higher output pumps. We have a 1pm appointment for Friday to get the new one put in.

On the way back to Cherokee, there was a lot more action in the fields where the combines had been sitting earlier in the day…and the ones on the trailers were still there, as well. We got back to Cherokee and went back to get the shop trailer hooked up behind the combine trailer, and…more brake light issues. This time we got it right and once everything was flanged in, Al drove it out to the street for our early morning escape tomorrow.

We went for supper to Miss Dotties and paid up the rest of our bills around town. When we stopped at the elevator to pay our fuel bill, they told us they had filled all their bins up with this harvest…almost one million bushels! Harvest in this area turned out better than predicted…although far from the average of past years.

Tomorrow we leave Oklahoma, we won’t miss the heat and the wind, but somehow we are pretty sure it will follow us into Kansas…

June 14, 2011

View of the day-It’s that time again…cleaning for the move. Good thing there is a large front yard at our campground.

We got right down to business rounding up the equipment that was scattered around the countryside. Marilyn took Al out south to pick up the tractor and cart to bring them back to the trailers so we could load up. Marilyn went back to the camper and started blowing off the combine and header…not a fun job with a couple of rains packing down the chaff on the feederhouse.

When Al got back, he fuelled up the Freightliner then we loaded the pickup head on it’s trailer…we still hadn’t decided which trailer it was going to get pulled behind. With the header off the combine, we went out to John’s farm to get the MacDon head out of transport and loaded onto the high speed trailer for the long haul, then brought the header into town and parked in on the street for a quick getaway in the morning.

Back at the camper, Al had to replace another shock on the General before cleaning and fueling it up. We went over to the trailers and got the tractor and cart loaded and locked down, then hooked the header trailer up behind it and moved it onto the street. Unfortunately, we had light issues…even though we had everything working when it was hooked up to the pickup, but now we didn’t have brake lights. We worked on them for about an hour and discovered the trailer had some kind of messed up, hook up, so we gave up and put a new signal light on the General instead.

We went over and got the combine loaded and hooked up before calling it a day and heading to Pizza Hut to dine. Al wants AIS by 7am, so if Marilyn wants eggs she will have to see the sunrise to be ready. We will get one load up to the farm at Timken, then come right back to Cherokee.

We have to be back in time for the final hockey game of the Stanley Cup…

June 13, 2011

View of the day-One of two coyotes that kept getting scooted along as Marilyn finished the canola. They didn’t look too good in the 104º heat…mangy to…and not too smart because for every swath they moved to the north, three bunnies would come out of the swath the combine was on.

Al had to get up extra early to go our farmers place to settle up and since it was going to be a cooker again, we were pretty sure the canola was going to be good to combine…but just to be on the safe side, we waited until after lunch to start in.

We got going around 1:30pm and with the exception of a drive belt that jumped off the pickup head, we were able to get the last 50 acres lapped up. Marilyn drove the combine back to the camper and once Al had gotten the truck unloaded, he came back with the pickup and we went back for the General.

So that is it for combining in Oklahoma, now we get to load up and figure out how everything is going to get moved in two trips.

It was still 103º at 8pm and tomorrow is cleaning day…a cooling trend with highs of only 95º…

June 12, 2011

View of the day-Al checks out the tanks at the veteran’s memorial near Helena, OK.

Last night as we sat out front of the library sending up the blog and surfing around, the skies were flashing with lightning. We saw a few drops hitting the windshield and decided we had better get back to the camper before it was too late. We nicely got the door open on the camper and it hit…boy did it hit…the wind was blowing hard and it started pouring.

We were okay in the camper, the house we are parked beside made an excellent buffer against the wind and no leaks from the driving rain. It carried on for a couple of hours and in the end we had almost an inch here in town, with no signs of damage that we could see.

We had taken a drive out to John’s farm where he had taken the draper head that was in transport mode. Something curious had happened from the wind that had hit on Thursday…somehow, the wind had blown the header in such a way that the tongue hitch swung around 180º and was straight under the header pointing backwards. Aliens??

We knew we wouldn’t be combining today, so we made arrangements to settle up with Ron in Enid, get a bit of shopping done and give the Chinese buffet a workout. Marilyn got her Walmart fix in and Al was able to get a couple of things from Atwoods that he had on his list. We had supper and a good visit with our farmers, then stopped for groceries on the way out of town and it was late when we finally got back to the camper and unloaded everything.

Tomorrow the heat is back on so we hope to get that last 50 acres of canola lapped up…

June 11, 2011

View of the day-The hammer is down on the last field of canola, before the storms hit.

Al was up early to get the load of canola over to Dacoma, then back to the field to dump what was left of the field on the cart. He left the General out at the field by Alva and got a ride back to the camper with the farmer. We went out to the field to get the combine and Al drove it over to the field while Marilyn stopped back at the camper to pick up the new part for the combine that ProHarvest had dropped off…talk about service!

Out at the field, Marilyn got started with the outside rounds. The field looked flat as a table, which would be a nice treat after picking up swaths on the terraces of the last few fields. Looks can be deceiving. Carving through the middle of the field was a waterway canyon that ‘y’ed off in two directions…well, perhaps not a canyon, maybe gorge would be a better description.

We had been hearing reports of bad weather possibly popping up during the afternoon but most of it seemed to be going around us. Our luck didn’t hold out because right after Marilyn had given the farmer’s mother a ride around the field, the rain started. It wasn’t a gully-washer like the one that hit us a few days ago, but it was enough to shut us down.

Al had enough for a load, so Marilyn rode in to the elevator with him while we unloaded, then we hogged up the parking lot with the grain truck and had supper at McDonalds. We went back out to the field and by the time we got out there, the sun was shining so Marilyn went out and did a test…good to go again. We got another 20 acres done before the sprinkles started again, so we quit for good and went back to the camper.

There are all kinds of storm warnings out…tornadoes to the far west of us, hopefully not coming our way…or anyone’s way, for that matter.

And Marilyn was twice by Walmart today without going in…

June 10, 2011

View of the day-This poor spider had his work cut out as it made its web while Marilyn was combining. The wind never broke the web, even though it was spanning 3ft between the mirror bar and the hand rail. The bonus for the spider was that the lights were attracting all kinds of flying insects that didn’t have a chance.

We got to sleep in a bit because of the rain shower from last night. We did a bit of surfing at the library…Al had to get caught up with the blog since he had not read it for a few days. We had lunch and after that Marilyn headed out service and do a sample.

Al had the General in town from the night before so he had his own wheels and waited to hear from Marilyn if the canola was dry. He got the call that it was good to go so he headed out to the field. It had finally cooled down a bit…if you can call 90º cooler. Things were going good until Al got a call from Marilyn on the radio that she had no hydraulics…and she had to be in the farthest corner of the field.

Well after looking things over Marilyn found that a rod that holds the tightener pulley on the hydraulic pump had broken and the belt that runs the pump had jumped off the pulley. A quick call to the CaseIH dealer in Fairview only to find out they don’t have one. The ProHarvest truck in Pratt, KS did, but that was 90 miles away. We made a quick call to Butch back at Butler Welding and after a trip into Cherokee, he got us fixed up and going in no time.

After that, things were pretty uneventful…Al hauled in a few more loads to Dacoma and he took the General with the last load of the night in to the camper to catch the last few minutes of the hockey game.

Meanwhile, Marilyn finished the field and dumped the remaining canola in the cart for Al to haul in tomorrow. We will have to move about 25 milesto our last field of canola and if the rain holds off we just might finish it.

And the weekend is here again…

June 9, 2011

View of the day-Al picking up canola in the wind, yet again.

Al was up early to take his load of canola to Alva, then he went out to the field, serviced the combine and started on the canola. Marilyn came out later to take over and finish off the rest of the field.

We moved a mile down the road and started in on another quarter of canola…odd how this one is running almost 25bu/ac and it is just down the road from the last field that went around13bu/ac. Productivity was down a bit on this one as there were some ‘window-kissing’ terraces to work up and down…shut up and drive.

We had been listening to the weather band all day and the forecast was for more bad weather but we had high hopes that it would miss us. Al had taken the first load into the elevator at Dakoma which was a few miles closer than Alva, but still a jaunt. He jumped in and combined until he had a cart load, then waited while Marilyn made another round to top off the truck. While at the north end of the field, Al mentioned that there were some rain drops hitting his window on the tractor but Marilyn doesn’t quit until it is running off the header, so she was able to get enough to fill the truck…even though the wiper had to be used a couple of times.

More warnings were coming on the radio and Al was off to Dacoma again, with reports back that the highway was wet…and news on the weather band that Cherokee had two inch hail…ouch. Al called back to say he had hit a wall of rain and if Marilyn was near the south end of the field, perhaps she should bail out. She did just that as the rain and wind started, but she still had to tarp the grain cart after she unloaded the combine. She got that job done just in the nick of time and after driving the combine over to the pick-up, raced out to the highway as it let loose and just poured.

Back in Cherokee, she waited for Al to get back to town and swung by the camper to see if the hail did any damage…no signs of it anywhere. Once Al got back to the camper,we went to Miss Dotties and while we were sitting ther, the skies opened up again, with hail…pea size…and lots of rain. This should make the farmers happy to finally get some of the wet stuff.

Not so good for combiners, though…

June 8, 2011

View of the day-Repair job complete.
Al was up at the crack of dawn and on his way to Pratt to pick up the coupler that we needed to fix the header. Marilyn stayed back at the camper and got things ready to go once we were able to get started back in the field.

Al was able to stop for coffee with Lee Petersen, a fellow Canadian harvester who had just moved up to Pratt. Lee was on his way back to Canada to do some more seeding while his crew waited on some wheat around Pratt. Once Al got the part he was back in Cherokee by 10:30 and they went to work getting everything back together.

There was a bit of tweaking to do to get things lined up properly, but before long they had it assembled and tested for quality assurance so we were good to go. Al moved the combine out to the field and rode around for a couple of rounds to make sure everything was going to work as it should. Franklin, one of the farmers showed up and helped Al move the cart and pickup to the next field about 7 miles SE of where we were.

Marilyn got the field finished, then Al took the load to Alva while she moved to the next field and started in on it. It was another 106º day with a brutal south wind…again…that made picking up the swaths going north quite the task once the sun went down…you could hardly see the swath in the white out from the dust and chaff.

There were weather warnings to the north of us as the clouds moved in just before sunset and by the time we quit the lightning was flashing. Just as we parked the combine to fuel it, the wind switched to come out of the north and by the time we got back to Cherokee, the nasty stuff had moved NE leaving us unscathed.

The header worked like a charm on the 120 acres we did today…

June 7, 2011

View of the day-Another blaze just north of Cherokee.

We started off with good intentions, Marilyn took Al up to the combine and af

ter servicing the combine, left him there to start picking up canola again. It didn’t take long before her phone was ringing…it was Al and the header had given up the ghost. It was the same issue that we had worked on last fall in Carlyle…apparently the jerry-rig didn’t last too long. Perhaps the steep terraces had something to do with it.

We started looking for the part that we needed on the roller shaft…first online, then through our network of dealers that were close by. We figured it wasn’t going to be easy…and we were right…not a lot of call for pick-up heads down here. Straub’s out of Great Bend were able to order us one from Kansas City and it will be in Pratt, KS first thing tomorrow morning, so we have a road trip scheduled.

Al brought the combine in to the local welding shop to see if there was something he could do. The slot that the keyway went into on the roller shaft that drives the draper belt was all busted out from the sheave slopping around. We certainly didn’t want to have to put a whole new roller in, so Dr. Butler put his mind to the situation and fabricated a fabulous piece of work by cutting of the bad part of the shaft and building a coupler. Absolutely amazing…if it works.

While we were at the welding shop the fire sirens went off in town and after looking to the northwest we saw huge plumes of smoke…not a good day for a fire…the wind was blowing at about 30 MPH out of the southwest and, yes, the temperature was warm it was around 104 degrees.

We have a 150 mile round trip in the AM, then we’ll get the combine back together and start back in the canola…at least, that is the plan.

We could have done without this day off…

June 6, 2011

View of the day-Al working the terraces on the outside round of the canola.

Another killer day…106ºF and not a cloud in the sky…there was still a wind, but it helped to stir the heat…at least that is what we are telling ourselves.

John picked up Al first thing in the morning to give him ride to get the tractor and header from Carmen. Marilyn met him out at the combine and after servicing and moving across the road to the canola, we got started with the pickup work. We had some issues getting things set right and Marilyn is convince the yield monitor is still now quite right, but…shut up and drive.

With 21ft swaths, Marilyn was able to clip right along…except for the terraces. The swatherman had gone north and south on the field and on the far north end, the terraces were doozies which slowed down productivity. Al picked up the headlands and after Marilyn ran into town to pick up some groceries for lunch, it was time for her to take over.

The canola wasn’t running all that good, even though the swaths looked like they might be holding a lot. The moisture was down around 5% and at the high point of the afternoon the grain temp on the monitor was 129º! Marilyn thought the surprizing thing was that even though the heat had been brutal, there was no shattering in the swaths, no seeds sitting on the feeder house like usual with canola, and the pods that had collected on the header bracket had not been broken open either…someone sure has been working on adaptability. At one point, there was a dust devil that passed across the field and it picked up clumps of canola almost 100ft in the air. If you look close at the picture, you can see a couple of them…Marilyn didn’t get to the camera quick enough to catch the big one.

Al was hauling the canola to Alva, about 25 miles west of Cherokee. They were putting it into a concrete silo where it will sit until it gets trucked out to Oklahoma City to get crushed. He had an easy day of hauling with just two loads, but the heat didn’t make him very happy…he did get to take a break to watch a bit of the hockey game while he waited for Marilyn to get a load for him.

It was 120 acre day, even with the small swaths…

June 5, 2011

View of the day-Al waits by the barn for a load of wheat.

It was moving day and we were heading south…to do some combining, at least. We got things unhooked and ready to move, Marilyn took the combine, John pulled the header and Al brought the pickup.

Once we got to the field and got the header hooked up, Marilyn started combining while Al, John and Ron went back to get the rest of the stuff. Al had to dump the General and then go back out to dump the cart before he could come back to Carmen. Ron had the honors of moving the tractor and grain cart out to the field and even though he left before Al had gone to dump the truck in Cherokee, he was the last to get to the field.

It was another hot and windy day…broken record, but it’s true…over 100ºF again, which is perfect harvesting weather. The farmer wanted a load of seed wheat, so Marilyn started in the best looking part of the field and got 300 bushels squeezed into their grain truck, then it was full speed ahead.

With no major setbacks, other than a couple of trips out to dig the dirt out of the header, the field went faster that it had in past years, even though it was so short in places the header was travelling on the ground…hence the dirt digging. One good thing about mowing is that the stubble is so short that the bathroom breaks aren’t so painful…all that will change tomorrow when we start in on the canola.

We finished up around 8pm and after getting the header unhooked, Marilyn started the drive back to Cherokee…well, a few miles south of Cherokee…to the canola field. Al brought the General over once he had gotten it dumped and then Ron met us and took us back to the pickup. Tomorrow we go back for the cart, then get set to do the canola.

Could be interesting…

June 4, 2011

View of the day-Al starts the day with a full hopper on the combine with the wind blowing hard again and the temp hitting 102º on the Napa sign in Cherokee.

Another hot windy day Al unloaded the truck from last night then went out to start combining while Marilyn got things organized back at the camper.

We finished the field we were on around 4:00 then we had a 8 mile move to the last field for John, it was a 70 acre patch Marilyn got going by 5:00 and Al took a load into to the elevator at 7:30, unloaded, then he stayed in to watch the hockey game…Vancouver won 3-2 in overtime.

Marilyn meanwhile had the cart and combine to fill…or finish the field whichever came first. She got the field done and after filling the slip tank with fuel at the Coop, got back to the camper by 10:00 PM. A 130 acre day and with a move…not too bad.

The elevator won’t open until 11:00 AM because it is Sunday, so we might move the combine, header and cart to Carmen first then unload after that, where we have one more field of wheat to go. The weather is more of the same…hot, hot, hot and windy…so we may get done with the wheat by tomorrow night, then we move to the canola.

It is now midnite and it’s still almost 80º… glad the AC in the camper keeps it cool…

June 3, 2011

View of the day-Another good day of cutting by pretty much everyone in the area. Everywhere you looked there were plumes of dust flying…now this is action!

We scheduled AIS for 10:30am and with the wind blowing the way it was and the 88º temps at 9:30am meant we could be have been going even earlier. We knew we would be putting in a long day without starting at the crack of dawn, and it was going to be another hot windy one.

Marilyn got the combine fuelled up, then went back to get snacks for the day and Al got the rigs moved closer to the next part of the field, then started combining. Once Marilyn made it back, it was round and round until the field was done. This one didn’t yield as good as the first one, only around 20, but the test weight was still up at 62lbs.

We took the header off, then moved a few miles over to the next field, put it back on and started right in making dust again. Marilyn combined until the truck was almost full, got the combine fuelled, then Al took over while she went into town to make sure she got her order of the Friday catfish special from Miss Dotties…awesome stuff.

After picking up the fish, then getting the slip tank filled with fuel again, it was back to the camper for Marilyn. Al made another hopper full, then came in with a load on the General to dump in the morning.

No rain in the forecast, so we forge on…

June 2, 2011

View of the day-According to the prediction of one of the locals…”she’s gonna break loose today”…and it certainly did, the dust was flying everywhere around us.

Al had a feeling it would be dry enough to give it a try around 2pm…which means he wants to try it at 12:30-1pm, so we had an early lunch and headed out to the field. Al cut a sample, then we took it in to the elevator…12.3% moisture…good to go!

We started in along the waterway and the combine was showing way higher than the test sample, so we cut over to the road side and were able to blend everything quite nicely since it was down to 10% moisture on that side. Marilyn took over combining while Al got the farmer’s truck out so we could fill it with seed wheat, which didn’t take as long as everyone thought it would. I averaged around 40bu/ac and the test weight was 62lb.

We got the first patch finished, then moved 10 miles over to the next field and started right in on that one. It turned out to be an amazing day…got to hear the hopper full alarm and got to use the lights, which meant no wet ground and we got to combine into the night…at least until the elevator closed.

The weather looks like it will be hot and windy for the weekend, so we should be able to get the rest of the wheat lapped up.

Hopefully the canola will be ready by then…

June 1, 2011

View of the day-On the road to Fairview, the Cimarron River is looking pretty low.

Al was up early and on the road to Carmen to check out the field we have to do down there…it would be at least a couple of days, so we didn’t have to worry about getting everything moved down right away. It was another hot muggy day and the south wind had returned after taking a day off.

Marilyn continued with her cable wrestling and conquered most of it…it is now bundle and label time. Al wanted to give Sasktel its daily rag about our phones not working. After another 40 minutes on the line, we finally had success…sort of. The phones work, but there is no messaging or data…not that we use data, but text messaging…seriously? At least Al has his right arm back, he was mighty cranky that his phone wasn’t working, as anyone at Sasktel will vouch for.

We went on a road trip to Fairview to visit with the ProHarvest guys…Al needed to get his ProHarvest belt buckles…and on the way we did see a couple of fields getting cut, but nothing major yet. The trucks are still rolling by the camper headed for the elevator, which also makes Al anxious to get going.

We rushed back from Fairview to talk to Ray from ProHarvest, who was at the combine out at the farm, trying to find out about the error message Marilyn had gotten when she moved the combine out yesterday. He was still there when we got back and he informed us that there was a bulb burned out…imagine that, it actually tells you there is a bulb out…what next? After a good visit with Ray, we went back to the camper for supper and to get prepared for the big event tonight…the puck drops for game one of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

That ought to keep Al’s mind off the grain trucks going by…