May 8, 2012

View of the week-Al unhooks the hydraulics from the tractor to the trailer that was behind the Freightliner.  The first step to getting ready for this season's harvest...we hope.


It's been a busy month for us, Al was getting worked over hard with the tax time deadline coming at the end of April at H&R Block and Marilyn had a hectic time between theatre stuff and preparing for inventory at her winter job at Staples.  We were also scrambling to get our paperwork fine tuned so we could actually think about harvesting.

We thought we had everything in order and had filed early, so we could get the first load down to Oklahoma in plenty of time...wishful thinking.  After three tries with the Department of Labor, making minor changes to wording and the issues with Worker's Compensation, we figured we had finally got it right.  Every time there were deficiencies, they sent back the letter and we would have to FedEx it back with the changes...at least they had the courtesy to use UPS to send it back to us...more about that later.  The worst part is that there doesn't seem to be a contact number for us to get more clarification on what they want.


The Worker's Comp problem was the big one for us.  We have to show proof that we have workers comp coverage in the event that we hire a USA employee.  The way it works is that you have to have employees to get workers comp coverage, but you can't hire anyone without having workers comp...which came first the chicken or the egg?  For the past few years we had used the same company out of Montana that had drafted a letter stating that they had agreements with several other states, should we hire someone from the USA. Not good enough. So now we have to search around to get new coverage...at an added cost, of course.  We followed the lead of a few of the other harvesters and went with a company out of Kansas and they had the stuff to us the next day. Too bad we couldn't get a refund on the one we had already paid for but never used, because it wasn't acceptable...red tape.


The next step for us was to send the approved forms to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services...usually a rubber stamp after the DOL business...unless you forget a page in the application.  We sent the forms on the 18th, they received and sent them back to us on the 19th...in the mail!  We have always enclosed two prepaid FedEx return envelopes, one for the receipt and one for the approval notice...they sent the whole package back, including the two envelopes...by postal service...and we received it on the 27th!  They never have used the envelopes we send, but one year...just maybe.  So now we wait...they have cashed our cheque, so it's just a matter of time. And don't we have lots of that?


Our original date of need was April 23, no chance of even getting close to that and we have been getting calls because now the harvest is running 3 weeks ahead of normal.  For sure now we won't make Frederick, Oklahoma.

So now we are in limbo.  If nothing else, it has given us time to get some purging of useless stuff that has collected over the years.  The garage and house have more room than ever now that the treasures have found a new home at the local Salvation Army store.


But back to the beginning of April.  Al took a break from some of his tax work to help his brother, Jeff, get ready for his big farm auction.  Al had his eye on the CaseIH 7220 Magnum that was on the bill, but the way people were spending, he barely got a bid in before it went for $76K.  We hit another auction a week later where there was another Magnum for sale and managed to get one bid in...this one went for $56K...looks like the 2390 will make another trip south.


While Al was at the auction, Marilyn was spending her days from 8am to midnight at the Sacred Heart School theatre, being the stage manager for Theatre Saskatchewan's full length drama festival.  Seven days of full length plays from community theatre groups from across the province...lots of culture happening.  It was a long week with great performances, but it was really nice to have it finally over so we could get into panic mode and stress out some more.


Al worked on getting the pickup head and trailer loaded onto the combine trailer so we could take it down to get some canola work in Oklahoma.  Since the combine is waiting for us in Great Bend, KS, the trailer will be empty for the trip at least that far and then it is only about another 130 miles to Cherokee...spitting distance, really.  Al brought the cart trailer home with the Freightliner so we could get that hooked up and ready to run when we get the go ahead from Uncle Sam.  Marilyn will pull the new MacDon FD70 draper head on the first load, which we will pick up from White's Ag in Whitewood, where it waits patiently for the trip.


And Marilyn has actually started loading the camper...