September 6, 2011

View of the day-Bob in the combine and Kim in the truck, picking up on the go...something Marilyn has never seen...at least with a grain truck.

We were out at the field by 11am and started making dust shortly after. We had done about 8 acres, when Bob sent a test in to Marg at Precision Ag...plenty dry, but 4% green count. We had to quit.

Since we couldn't do any combining and Bob and Kim would be able to finish it off once the green count came down, we got everything back to the yard and started loading to move north to Balcarres. We loaded the pickup head on the trailer, then hooked it up to the combine trailer, before loading the combine.

We had a bit of an issue getting the combine trailer hooked up to the General. As soon as we started to use the hydraulic lift to get it high enough to set on the pintle hitch...it started to sink into the ground and getting it high enough with the lift was just not going to happen. We had to go 'old school' and use the box hoist, chains and blocks to get it to the right height...and of course it was plenty hot with no wind back in the bin area...just as it always is when we load up.

We had to get a safety chain welded up...Marilyn forgot to unhook it when she unhooked the hydraulic hoses and it snapped...the first time ever for that mistake. While Al was getting that and the water hoses looked after, Marilyn got the camper ready for the road. We got the camper hooked up and were on the road by 3pm.

The trip up had no breakdowns, but lots of traffic. Since we weren't sure we would be able to get unloaded in the farmer's yard, we stopped on the grid road just off the highway, dropped the combine trailer to unload the combine, then hooked back up so we could park it in the yard without it's cargo.

We got the camper parked and flanged in with power and water, then unhooked the header trailer from the combine trailer and got it and the General parked. We had left the combine parked in a roadside area after we unloaded it and once we got directions to the bin site where we would be starting tomorrow, we moved the combine and pickup head out there.

We took a run into Balcarres before going back to the camper and had an excellent supper with pleasant service considering it was only 1/2 hour to closing when we showed up. After we closed the place down, we went back to the camper for a much needed shower and to check out the internet service...super high water pressure and five bars on the Blackberry for internet.

Now we check the power to see if we can use the washer and dryer...