May 21, 2018

View of the day-Not the day way back when, but the most current harvesting we had seen...and no where near home.

Really dropped the ball on the blog...there just didn't seem to be anything going on, then one thing leads to another and before you know it six months have flown by.

The last job of last season...

Well, we finally got to combine on our own land...canola, and it yielded not to bad. We rent out our land, since we don't have the seeding and spraying equipment, so when it got down to the wire, between the Kardynal's with their combines and us helping out, it did not take to long to get it done.

Once that was finished, it was back to the last two fields that were left, 275 acres of oats to finish their harvest. It was still standing, so the swather man started in, but it was tough for him to keep ahead of the 3 combines...we were right on his heels. The straw got real tough about 9:00 so we called it quits. We were down to about 150 acres, but the next day we awoke to heavy fog...then the next day we got 1/2 inch of rain, so no harvesting for a few days. We finally got going and were able to wrap it all up on Oct 6, a lot earlier then last year 

Al has noticed that in his travels around the back roads of Saskatchewan there are a lot of old pull type combines parked in the trees and fence rows. He has decided we should do something about that, so, to try and preserve the legacy of the pull type combine, Al has started collecting them. His goal is to get one of each model that each company made. He has 3 so far and another 3 that he has not moved home yet. Good thing we have a quarter of land to display them IH 914 Red Top, JD 6601, JD7721.

The winter toy show season starts with the Tisdale show.  It is a one day show and it sort of ties in with the show in Red Deer so we take it in. The day of the show was quite stormy and it was way worse back home at Yorkton we got about 10" back home but at Tisdale they only got a couple of inches. It was a lot of work for a one day show but it was fun and we packed up and started to Red Deer...about 470 miles west.


We like getting to Red Deer a couple of days before the show starts. And a good thing we did, it was the coldest temperature of the season...not very nice to unload boxes. We had 4 tables for the first time at this show and Al had really stocked up. This is a long show and you can easily have 15,000 people come past your tables in the 4 days...so you need lots of toys. 

We were honored to be invited to go to a fellow toy collector's home to see his display. Absolutely amazing! All high end rare items in a beautiful display.

The 4 days went quick and we were loaded up by 6:00 PM Saturday and started the ten hour drive home. The weather was good for the drive and we rolled into the yard about 4:30 Sunday morning but since we had the big storm earlier in the week most of the yard was blocked, we left the truck and trailer out by the road and walked in to the house. Al was busy blowing snow the next day 

Our next junket was to Lethbridge, AB for the annual Association of Canadian Custom Harvester's Convention. While we don't cross the border to harvest any more, we are still members and like to stay up to date on all things within the association. It's also great to catch up with those that do go south and with social media being such a big part of everyone's life, it's almost like being there. Minus the bad parts...

After a great couple of days and a thinning of the wallet at the auction...we did manage to get a beautiful fire ring custom made by the good folks at CaseIH...we were ready for our next big adventure.

Since Al hates flying...he says he knows how cattle feel when they are being rounded up...we decided to drive to Phoenix for a winter break. We had a good chunk of the drive out of the way...relatively speaking...and we would have our own vehicle while we were down there, so we were off. We took the scenic route on the other side of the mountains...a first for us...and we had perfect weather all the way down.

Although we were coming down to "get away from it all" and enjoy the winter in warmer weather that we are accustomed to, we had a full schedule to keep us busy. We had rented a house in Goodyear, a suburb in the SW of Phoenix. It was great to be 15 minutes from the hockey arena and all the other amenities the city had to offer.

We even got to watch some cotton harvest three blocks from where we were staying. We had a great chat with the foreman that was parked by the modules.

Our calendar was jam packed with NHL hockey, NFL and Cactus Bowl football and the Toronto Raptors were in town to play basketball. We also toured a couple of stadiums, then there was the culture...Carol Burnett and a Christmas pageant complete with high flying angels.

We had our friend, Brenda, from Yorkton come down and spend a couple weeks with us. Being a sports fan, she really enjoyed it...especially when she got to see her Toronto Maple Leafs in action. Al was glad to have her visit so she could get him out of the shopping excursions. He did manage to get a picture with the Coyotes hockey girls...

We took a couple of road trips, one to see Old Tuscon, where they filmed a lot of old westerns. While it wasn't a "real" town, there was certainly a lot of history, even if it was only seeing some of the costumes worn by some famous actors. We also did the Grand Canyon trip again, so Brenda could take in the breathtaking view.

The other road trip was to Quartzite to have a visit with Marilyn's cousin Jane and her husband Bob. It was great to visit them out "boondocking" in the desert, something they do every winter. They took us on a tour around the flea markets in the area...Al even found some toy tractors to look at. The treat for them was to see the look on our faces when we went into the Readers Oasis Bookstore and saw the bookstore owner Paul Winer...also know as the Naked Bookseller. Quite the eyeopener.

After five glorious weeks of great weather and lots of fun, it was back to reality...time to head back to the frigid north. We left on January 7 and took the other side of the rockies back home. We had to drop the hammer to get back home in time for the Saskatoon Toy Show on the 12th. Winter is not one of the seasons for our Three Season Room.

The toy show was the same as every year. Cold. But sales were good and loading up was a bit lighter...except for the toy auction items Al was bring back for the Yorkton show auction. There had been some rumblings of attending the Lethbridge toy show, but after all the travelling we had done, that didn't last long. Al did, however, take in the Triple T Toy Show in Minot, just for the day.

February we were finalizing the setup for the Farm Toy Auction that Al runs. This year, Marilyn talked him down to only 277 items for auction...down from 350 last year...and he had them all listed before we left the country.

It was another successful auction, with the Charity Tractor bringing in $1100 for a 2 year old girl fighting cancer. 

Another thing we were ahead of the game on was the annual show tractor. Marilyn had the tractors decaled and the boxes labeled before we left for our holiday. One major job that is finally getting done way ahead of time.

This was an "on" year for the Mini88 to come out of mothballs and go on display at the toy show.

It still gets the looks and it now has it's own cargo trailer thanks to the auction road trip we took to Iowa last summer.

Tax season was in full swing, so the 9am-9pm days started taking care of our days. We did take a break to go to Morden, Manitoba for their annual toy show. The weather always seems to be nicer down there for the toy show...the lack of snow this winter probably helped.

This show is so nice because they let you back into the building to load and unload, which is great and they have five or six guys that do all the box moving for us. Love that show.

Marilyn got tired of watching Al do all the toy buying...the rule has always been "whatever he spends on toys, Marilyn gets the same amount to spend on...whatever". That usually translates to "sewing machines". A gorgeous Brother sewing machine that actually has a camera above the needle, automatic threading and autosteer that works!

That's quite a load for now. Next post will have a lot of drone pictures...if Marilyn can find them...