September 14, 2012

View of the day-Al climbs into the hopper to grab a sample, hoping it will be dry enough to finally get going.

We got out to the field around 11am to do a test, then took the sample to the elevator...plenty dry enough but too much fusarium, so they wouldn't take it.  Al didn't want to be "that guy" and give him a piece of his mind, so we went back to the camper where he grabbed the semi and headed out to the field while Marilyn made lunch.

By the time Marilyn got out to the field, Al had been combining and had gotten the General full.  Unfortunately, the combine was not moving and one of the shields was open...apparently one of the hydraulic hoses on the header and sprung a leak and there was oil all over the front of the combine.  Marilyn just can't trust Al alone with the combine.

Since we were having to bin the wheat, we needed to get the auger moved from one farmyard to another, then set it up at the bin.  This is not something we do very often, so it probably didn't go as fast as it would have if the "pros" were doing it.  It didn't help that we weren't familiar with the tractor or how the auger would move...but at least the bin was cleaned.  After we had it set up, it was repair time.

Back at the combine we managed to get the hose off...no easy task with the tight quarters and spaghetti mess of intertwined hoses...then went in to the John Deere dealer to get a new hose made.  Once we had that...and a new bucket of oil...we went back to put it back on the combine.  Success.

Marilyn got back to combining...getting a nice layer of dust coating all that sprayed oil...and Al took the General over to dump in the bin.  And we carried on that way until well after dark, getting 90 acres done, even with starting at 4pm.  Then it was back to the camper for the night.

The weather is still promising and the wheat is dry, so we should be able to get an early start tomorrow.

But we will need fresh water in the window washing pail, that's for sure...