October 1, 2013

View of the day-Al combines in the background while his trucks are lined up waiting to be filled.

Al went out to do a bit of work on the combine and after servicing and fueling, got right to combining. We didn't get started until noon, because of the rain last night, but the gauge on the combine only had chaff in it...and it didn't even look wet.

While Al got started combining, Marilyn ran into Fort Qu'Appelle to pick up a few groceries. After getting a quick lunch together, she headed out to the field to take over in the combine. Al was just showing up with a hopper full of wheat to finish off the truckload and after switching seats, we were back in the groove.

The neighbor to the west of us was working on oats swaths, but he didn't make the scene until almost 4pm. He left his auger out, which made Marilyn think he was waiting for his trucker...who never showed up. Once she got close enough to see the combine, it was obvious the hopper was empty.

We got the field done just as the sun was going down and managed to get moved a mile over to the next field. Marilyn moved down the main road and wouldn't you know it, the last 20 ft to the field, there was a 28 ft opening between the trees that she had to get through. The header is 36ft wide.

Normally, wiggling through tight spaces isn't really a problem. With a bit of jigging and jogging, she can usually get through gates narrower than that...but, not when there is water on both sides of a road that is "just so" wide enough for the combine tires. The willow tree on the left side had been dead for some time, so she figured the branches were small enough that they wouldn't be a match for the header. There was a bit of snappage going on as she squeezed through and wouldn't you know, just as she wanted to get out and remove what branches tagged along, the oats trucker was waiting behind her to get down the road. No where to go but into the standing wheat.

Upon inspection, she could see one of the branches had jammed in the end of the reel, bending a couple of light weight braces. after getting out the crescent wrench and doing a bit of "in field fabricating", she had it in a workable state and it was business as usual.

Bob and Al were busy shuttling the trucks over to the new field while Marilyn combined. They decided to just fill the two tandems for the night, so Al took over combining and Marilyn got to get the slip tank filled with fuel, then go back to the camper.

Thankfully, there are a lot less potholes to deal with in this field...