September 7, 2011

View of the day-The gangs all here…almost…just missing one more Massey.

Al was up really early to get the General unhooked from the trailer and get the low down on what was happening for the day. We were out at the field by 10:30 and after a pile of organization, were able to get combining before noon. It was another perfect day for combining, it was almost 90º with just a light wind…beautiful fall weather.

Al started combining since he didn’t have to truck for the first part of the day and Marilyn had to go to town for groceries and to do some banking. Balcarres didn’t have a Credit Union, so Marilyn had to drive the extra miles to Fort Qu’Appelle to get the work done. After loading up at the Coop grocery store, she went back to the camper to get lunch made, then went back out to the field.

Back at the field, Al was still making dust with the rest of the crew and Marilyn hopped in and rode with him until it was his turn to run the tractor and cart…no pictures of that since the windows were pretty dusty and it was impossible to keep them cleaned off. Marilyn continued combining until Al was finished with his trucking duties, then he took over around 10pm…that’s right 10pm.

We had a hand held radio from Bob so we could keep in touch with what was going on and could talk to the cart driver when we needed to dump. With four combines in the field, it was not an easy task getting the dumping cycle coordinated…there was no telling where the next swath would take you and Marilyn’s yield map looked like spaghetti with all the twists and turns. It was to be expected what with the field conditions being so wet, but thankfully it was plenty dry enough so no one got stuck.

We are so used to being just the two of us in the field…we hardly ever talk on the radio because we know pretty much what the other is thinking and we have a system…most of the time. Today, it took some getting used to with all the chaos…at least it seemed like chaos to us…but it was perfectly orchestrated and everyone was where they needed to be at the right time. Marilyn just wasn’t used to the chatter, especially when Al would be calling on our radio and someone would be paging her on the hand held radio…and she would answer on the wrong one and wonder why no one was talking to her.

The good news for the day was that we actually got to see the hopper ‘full’ lights flashing on several occasions and when Marilyn left the field we had combined over 100 acres…and Al was still at it.

Marilyn guesses Bob wasn’t joking when he told Al this morning that they start combining at 7am and quit at 2am…