August 15, 2015

View of the day-Al picking barley on the top of a hill...and there were a few of them.

Another early start...gotta do it while the weather allows it. We got the combine fueled and serviced, then Al was on his way at 9:30am. The green ones were just ahead of Al, since they fueled up when they got back to the yard last night...you know how the lineups are at the fuel pumps. With four machines needing 750 litres or almost 200 imperial gallons, it does take some time...so we wait until morning to do the trans"fuel"sion.

Marilyn brought lunch out and rode around the rest of the day. We had an issue with a rock...a big rock...so big that Marilyn couldn't get it unwedged from between the auger and the belts. Al came out and between the two of us, we were able to get it loose...one wonders how it fit in there in the first place. It didn't dent the auger, but two of the disappearing fingers that pull the crop in were gone...not far, mind you, they could be heard rattling around inside the auger.

We got the barley finished...finally finished and went back to the yard to assess the damage. While Al was pulling out the remnants of the broken disappearing fingers, Marilyn was in the hopper trying to figure out how why the camera would quit working every time the hopper was full. She discovered the excess wire loop had come loose and when the grain would fill the hopper, it would put so much weight on the wire and it had rubbed the outer casing in one spot allowing it to short out, but only when the hopper was full. A little bit of electrical tape and some zip ties and we were back in business.

With our shopping list for the CaseIH dealer in hand, we took a road trip to Moosomin to get the parts we needed for the repairs. We had supper at the Dairy Queen, then came back to the yard and got everything put back together...good as almost new.

Tomorrow we see what is keeping the hopper from opening up smoothly...