May 6, 2014

View of the day-A throwback, actually. It all started with a handshake, this day, last year as we were getting ready to leave.

After years of listening to Al "suggest" it was time to retire from...as he likes to call it..."this lucrative business", we finally came to an agreement that Harvest 2013 would be our last run in the USA.  

While we had officially made the decision, we decided not to tell anyone, "just in case", we changed our minds...this had happened before.  There had been a couple of pre-harvest agreements, that there would be only five or three or two more years, then we would quit, but all those deadlines came and went. And we did the same...came to the US and went harvesting.

Knowing that we were firm in our choice, made the summer a lot more relaxed...sort of. We had some of our customers retire, pass on, or rent out their land, so we lost work during the year which meant future work. We still managed to get our usual acres from other sources, and even with the 52 straight days that we didn't combine, still came out okay.

The hardest part was having to let our remaining customers know that we wouldn't be returning this season. These were folks that we have known since before we had even gone harvesting out on our own. These were friends.

When we made the trek to Wichita for the US Custom Harvester's convention, we made a point of swinging down through Cherokee, OK and Great Bend, KS to visit one more time and officially say good bye. Although we hope to visit again at some time in the future. We have seen other crews retire and wonder how they could handle the transition in the spring, but life is a vacuum...when one thing goes, another takes its place.

We certainly didn't miss all the paperwork headaches that come with getting prepared for the run...and the cost involved. The mad panic to get everything in order and loaded to make two 1200 mile trips...without incident. If we were lucky. With everything we had going on at home, we would have been ready for the straight jackets, of course, we might not have taken on so much if we knew we would be leaving. There's that vacuum.

We will not be getting out of the harvesting business. We have always had lots of work to do here in Canada and actually found some winter wheat to do in the southern part of the province, near Carlyle, which means our season will just start a couple months later than usual.

Anyone who is familiar with our outfit, knows I never wanted to quit the southern run...it has been so much a part of what we have always done in the summer. I will miss those fields that we have combined year after year. Miss those towns we have lived in for months at a time...one day we will go through Al's journals to see exactly how many days we have spent in each place. On the other hand, we will forge new territory here at home.

Part of the deal to retire the southern run was that we would be able to do something we had always wanted to do, and that was take the camper and tour Newfoundland and the maritimes. We had planned to leave the last week of May and spend the month of June touring around...we were looking forward to it, although, Al would not drive unless we had each day's destination confirmed...he didn't want to drive too far and end up looking for a campground. There had to be a plan.

No problem with the planning until I discovered our date to leave was coming up in just over a week...where did the time go?!

Now, Al had been talking about the Lamoure, ND toy show in the middle of June, which would have thrown a wrench into the maritime tour..that's a long loop around. Then Al got a call from the CaseIH dealer in Chamberlain, SD, where we had purchased farm toys over the past several years. He had wanted to purchase a particular piece of advertising memorabilia and they would never part with it, but now they were planning an dispersal and were offering it to him before the auction...which was in June a few days before the Lamoure show. How convenient.

So we had decided to save the maritime trip for next year and do the ND toy show loop. Then we noticed that the weekend before the auction and toy show was...the Summer Farm Toy Show...in Dyersville, IA. Road Trip! This time we might get our Mississippi riverboat cruise. So now we will be taking three weeks to go to Dyersville, Chamberlain and Lamoure. 

What is tough now, is following Facebook and Twitter, seeing all the rigs that are heading south and starting the harvest. The bad part for them is the disastrous crop conditions that they are heading into. Another plus for us not going on the run...but not enough of a plus that it takes away the feeling that I want to be on the move, too.

For the past 10 years, I have hauled all our harvesting photo albums along, going all the way back to 1991. My intention was to scan them all and put them into our digital photo frame so we could "trip down memory lane" as the pictures scrolled through. Even though Al has the rule, "if it doesn't get used, it doesn't come back in the camper next year", they always made the run, tucked away in a place Al never looked. Now with all the time I have on my hands, I want to get the job done and post some of the past years on the blog, there are some classic harvest pictures that need to be shared.

So, just because we aren't harvesting in the US, doesn't mean the blog will stop. It might not always be about harvesting...at least until August and the Canadian harvest starts.

Countdown to June 1 and our "Farm Toy Tour"...

May 4, 2014

View of the day-This was a common sight for us this winter/spring...almost 4 months of it.

Well, it's been a long hard winter up here for us...and busy. Between trade shows, toy shows, work and road trips, during one of the longest cold stretches we have seen in a long time, the blog has been put on the back burner.

We had the Saskatoon toy show first thing in January 10,11 & 12. It was a new venue this year, so we were unsure if the crowds would be as good as they had been in the past if no one could find the place, but our (Al's) fears were unfounded and it turned out to be a great show...the weather even co-operated. Here is a before and after of our tables.

The Crop Production show was in Saskatoon the following week, so the Sunday of the toy show, we got the booth set up for the Association of Canadian Custom Harvesters, but this time we didn't have to man it. Lynn Prevost had said she would do the Saskatoon show if we looked after Brandon Ag Days the following week. Worked for us.

Our golf cart was delivered to Crop Production and was brought to Yorkton with Jeff Just, one of the CaseIH guys manning their booth...who is also a neighbor, sort of...from the other side of Yorkton. Big thanks to CaseIH for the delivery.

We got back from the Toy Show/Crop Production, just in time to turn around and head east to Brandon for AgDays, January 20.

We got set up and had a chance to look around before settling in to the booth. We only had to work one day as Brad and Rhonda Martens, harvesters from Gladstone, MB, took over the last two days.

The Minot, ND Triple T Toy Show was next on our agenda, on February 1. As usual, we managed to find a few deals and pick up the several boxes of toys that had been shipped to Pingree and Kenmare.

Al's Toy buddy, Roger Miller, had flown in to Minot from Arizona and was getting a ride back to Canada with us, so we made a point of stopping in Kenmare to visit a private museum that we had visited several years ago.

He was quite impressed.

Next on our calendar was the Yorkton Toy Show and Auction, Feb 7,8 & 9. We were organizers for the auction, which was held on the Friday night, so between getting set up for that and getting the tables set up for the toy show at the other venue...we were hopping! There were 225 lots that sold, most consigned, but a lot were cleaned out of the closets at home.

This is also the third year we have had a tractor painted up to raise money for a family in the area who is going through a rough time. 
This year we had a Versatile 2335 which was painted by Mike Kardynal from Minute Muffler in town.Another successful auction, with a lot of notes for next year...hopefully we find them when the time comes. Al came up with the idea of having a "show" tractor for the Yorkton show, so each year we have to make boxes and decal up the tractors. 
These are this year's model...and there are only 35 made.

Now, we were going to be able to be the participant and take it, kind of, easy...we were heading to Wichita, KS for the US Custom Harvesters annual convention.  Al had purchased a certificate at the Canadian Custom Harvesters convention, which included a membership, registration and rooms for the event. 

We took the scenic route on the way down, first to pick up some rims and hubs to dual up the Magnum in Aberdeen, SD, then we stopped in Waconda, SD to pick up some of the toys that Al had purchased online. We also made a detour over to Great Bend, KS and Cherokee, OK to have a visit with the farmers that we have been fortunate to have worked for, for the past 20+ years. The amazing thing about this trip was that we had snow on the ground all the way down, to Cherokee.

We had a good chuckle at the snowman that was built outside the newspaper building in Cherokee...it was even reading the Messenger!

Back in Wichita at the convention, it was great seeing our extended harvesting family, once more, but this time it was under more laid back circumstances.

We had a tour of the AGCO factory in Hesston, KS...we covered a lot of miles going between the buildings, but it was still pretty interesting...Al was even considering changing colors for a short time, but Marilyn said the cab was too small.

We got to enjoy their hospitality, took in the big trade show and learn a lot at the various sessions that were held...and we sat on our hands during the auction. No treasures this year.

Our travel time wasn't over yet. We nicely got back from Wichita, then four days later, we were on the road to Morden, in the southern part of Manitoba, for the last toy show of the spring season. 

Once we were back in Yorkton, living through the longest stretch of -40ºC weather we have seen in our time, Al was getting into the start of the tax season rush at H&R Block and Marilyn started helping out there, too, after she was finished at Staples for the day.

Marilyn had theatre business, with the preparations for a drama festival, clear across the province. It was a small cast, but the set required three bathtubs...with showers and running water. Nothing too it...on paper at least...finding claw foot bathtubs for the director was something else. 

Right in the thick of rehearsals, Marilyn got to go on a "sewing retreat". She had been invited to fill the fourth position for a trip to the garment district in Los Angeles, CA. Her friend, Brenda's sister, Colette, who owns Colette's Sewing Machine Plus(where she got her embroidery machine and serger) had a shopping trip planned through one of the ladies that had brought a workshop to Yorkton. Colette, Brenda, Marilyn and Monika, one of Colette's regulars, took off April 8 for a full week of, all things sewing.

We got to learn how to create our own personalized patterns, then we met some of the people that dress the stars. The shopping was amazing...streets lined with bolts of all materials imagined...too bad we didn't have the cargo trailer to haul our treasures home. The weather was great, we got to tour the usual traps and even got to see Book of Mormon at the Pantages theatre. 

Getting our purchases home was a different story. We had to buy extra cases, make sure we were under 50lbs per bag(no easy task, when you can buy material at $2.50 a pound). we did have to get our dress forms shipped to Kenmare, since they were being custom made for us. We're already looking forward to next year's trip. Marilyn just needs to get sewing.

Back in the real world we managed to get our play, The Drowning Girls...based on a true story from the early 1900's about a man who married, then killed three of his wives by drowning them in the bathtub...all put together...thanks to the spare water pump from the camper, as you can see from the monitor in the green room. All the hard work paid off as we came home from the 6 day/6 performance festival with the Technical Merit, Best Characterization, Best Novice Actor, and Runner up to Winning Entry.

One last encore performance May 17 in Yorkton, then Al can have his toy hauling cargo trailer back...minus the tubs and plumbing.

We got through the tax season in one piece...nobody got choked and we are still waiting for the weather to smarten up. We had lots of rain and there is still a snowbank on the north side of the house.

Bring on the summer...