August 10, 2012

View of the day-Al and his brother, Jeff, this morning before take-off.

We were up earlier than normal to see the boys off this morning.  After watching them dismantle their tents and getting everything in its proper place on their bikes, they headed north for home, back to Saskatchewan.

While we were occupied, the tarp place left us a message that the tarp was ready to pick up and once the guys left, we went over and got it.  We went out to the field and had to cut a bigger patch around the cart so we could get in close to the cart and have the combine out of the way.  We had hooked up the shop trailer and brought it out again, to use the air tools to get the old tarp off and the new one on.

We decided to switch colors this time from the red tarp that we had on the cart, to a black one, which the tarp man said would last longer than the colored ones would...we took his word for it.

We got the old tarp off without a problem, had the pickup close to the auger side of the cart and while Al stood on the box rails, Marilyn climbed into the cart to run the impact wrench to take the brackets off.  We took the pipes out of the old tarp, got one of them back in the new tarp and "attempted" to bolt the new one on the cart.  We just weren't tall enough, so we went over to the wheat field and brought the General over to give us a boost.

With the General alongside, we were able to put the stepladder in the box and get enough height to put the brackets on.  Once they were in place, we had the tarp draped over the cart and "attempted" to get the large pipe with the crank handle threaded through the pocket.  This was not a straight shot through as we had to cut a couple of strategically placed slots for the tie down straps to fit into, and around the pipe before it could complete its trip to the end of the tarp.  We got that done, then Marilyn started to line up the previous holes in the pipe and strap to screw the holders in...these keep the pipe from turning without the tarp so it can be rolled open and closed.

About the time Marilyn was working on this, we had a visit from Roger and the canola seed agent.  They were going over to check on the canola and see how it was coming along.  Roger came back and informed Al that they thought he might be able to give it a try on the north end of the field, so he cranked up the combine and went for a trip to give it a try...Marilyn stayed to work on the grain cart. The canola was feeding like a dream which was a relief.

It was a lot tougher getting the cart back together just right...climb into the cart, tie the cable, climb out of the cart, roll the tarp and find out the cable is too loose, climb back in the cart, tighten the cable, climb back out of the cart, roll the tarp again...this time too tight, crawl back into the cart, loosen the cable, climb back out of the cart...finally baby bear's  porridge...just right.

Next on the list was to drill four new holes...two on each end...into the endcaps so we could run ratchet straps as ridge straps to hold the tarp up between the cross ribs.  Since these were on the ends, we couldn't use the General, so Marilyn backed the Dodge up to the cart and used a step ladder in the box, to get high enough.  On the front of the cart, the ladder to get into the cart was just the right height for drilling.  Once the holes were drilled, it was back into the cart again to get the ratchet straps hooked in and tightened down.

With everything finished, Marilyn got the tools put away and closed up the shop.  Al was still combining and needed to unload, so Marilyn drove the cart over to the other end of the field, got the combine dumped, then jumped in the cab with Al to make another hopper.  Once we had the cart full, we both rode back in the cart to the other side of the field to dump in the General, then Al went back to the combine and Marilyn headed in to the camper.

Al continued combining until he had the General and the cart full, then got a ride home with Roger.  Not a bad day for not thinking we would be able to combine until Monday.

Back at the camper, we got ready to watch the CFL Roughrider game with some company...Al's other brother, Ed and his wife Sandy are in Bismarck for some retail therapy and would not have come for a visit if we didn't have the game on.

And the blog is done before 9pm...