View of
the day-This canola has not even been down a week and Al is pretty sure it will
go tomorrow…we shall see.
We had
another hot day…you know it’s going to be bad when the weather app daily forecast
says “scorching sun”…and it was
scorching, topping out around 103ºF.
Al was
happy to be camping out at the farm instead of by the corner at the elevator in
town, this way he didn’t have to watch as the grain trucks would be driving by
with loads and we weren’t combining.
Today, he got to see one of the farmers just to the north of us, doing
just that…driving by the farm on his way to town with a load. Harvest has officially started in the area,
although there is still a lot of green wheat.
We
worked on the tractor and cart, Marilyn finished tying the cables out of the way
for the camera, then got the new plug in for the lights changed over so we
would have working lights on the cart.
We had
taken off the rear flasher lights on the tractor last night to find out why
they weren’t working. Once the lens was
off we could see the bulbs were broken and rusted in the sockets. Al had quite a task getting the remains of the
old bulbs out…they were almost welded in with rust…that, and a little issue
with the ladder.
We don’t
have duals on this tractor, so it is making it tough to work on the top of the
tractor…the ladder doesn’t fit in behind, or beside the back tire, so it is
pretty much useless. The tire doesn’t stick out far enough to stand on, at
least not enough to have any balance and the lugs on the tires aren’t quite
aggressive enough to use as a ladder.
With a bit of shifting, then realizing the sockets could be unplugged
from under the air filters, Al was able to get the bulb base out. And with new bulbs, we had working lights.
Marilyn
moved over to the combine to get the power running for the XM and Sirius
radios. We had finally retired the XM
radio that we had been using for the past 7 years and now Marilyn had to use
one of the other radios…and of course, the power cord to the base was the wrong
size. After trying to splice in the
right end…unsuccessfully…she found the original 12V cord for the radio and with
a couple of extensions, had enough to get to the power socket. There could be a new radio in future if this
doesn’t hold up.
Next on
the list was to get the bungee cord measured out and tied on to the grain cart
tarp. This cord helps pull the tarp
closed and also stretches when the tarp is opened to help keep the roll tight
and uniform. We had to find some shade
because the heat was really taking its toll on us…we were going through a lot of water and had to take several
breaks to go into the camper and cool off.
We got parked under a tree…we didn’t have complete shade, but with the
wind it was better than being in full sun…and with Marilyn using the roof of
the truck as a ladder we had that job done in no time at all. The tarp was better that new.
Now it
was break time, for sure. We took a
drive out to the field to see where we could park things when we got out
there. We found a good enough spot, then
came back to the farm to get the tractor and cart to move it out to the
field. After Al got it parked, right along that red dirt road, then we came
back to town and went to Pizza Hut for supper…no, we did not sit under the air
vent. After picking up a few groceries
to make lunches, we came back to the camper.
After all, the Stanley Cup starts tonight.
While Al
watched the hockey game, Marilyn took advantage of the cooler evening…relatively
speaking…it was down to 90ºF, to finish cleaning up the shop trailer. The wind had died down and the flies were
hungry, so there was incentive to get done quickly…and then it got dark.
It’s
official…tomorrow we do a test…
No comments:
Post a Comment