Al and the rest of the crew...a Massey 9790 and a CIH 2588...combined, and finished, the canola around 3pm. There had been some ground condition issues earlier in the week, so our tractor and grain cart had actually shuttled down earlier in the week for the farmer to use. With the canola done, they made the move to a new field, then shut down at 8pm.
The next day, they were able to get the last of the canola finished and get things changed over to do the wheat. With only one straight header between three machines, the swather was called into duty. In order to get well ahead of the combines, the swather went solo and the combines got parked for the night.
October 24 was the last day for combining as we got the wheat finished and Al brought the combine home. He even managed to get it blown off and washed while Marilyn was at Staples working. While he is able to do most of the work Marilyn usually had to do, he still has not gotten the urge to take any pictures, even with autosteer. One reason is that he doesn't keep a camera with him...that 1 megapixel flip phone that he carries doesn't take great pictures. Except of the inside of his shirt pocket...and lots of them.
So this year, the combine is going to be under cover for the winter. After getting it all cleaned up, he drove it back up north of Canora to park it in the farmers storage building. The sparrows will be so disappointed they won't have anything to crap on this winter.
So that winds up the season for us. We have a couple of toy shows coming up. The first is a one day show in Tisdale, which is a killer...setting up for one day with all our stock is a lot of work. This year is especially tough since the fellow that was a big part of organizing and an even bigger customer and friend, took his own life less than a month ago. It was such a shock...you just never know. We couldn't see backing out, but we know it won't be the same.
We get back home Saturday night after the show and throw some things together for the Red Deer, Alberta show. We had been setting up in conjunction with their annual farm show, Agritrade, but this year, the powers that be decided to change the setup. They wanted the toy guys to set up in 10x10 booths and pay the big bucks. Toy displays don't work that way. Fortunately, one of the toy guys lives in Red Deer and he took it upon himself to find us a new venue apart from Agritrade. This will be a learning experience for everyone involved. They cut it back to three days from four, which means we will get back home a day earlier.
We will need that extra day to get back home, then pack up for an extended stay in the sunny south. We will be going back to Phoenix for a couple of months, to enjoy some shirt sleeved NHL hockey games...among other things. Our first game of the 15 we have tickets for, is Nov. 15, so it won't be a leisurely drive down.
Our last game is January 6, which will be followed by a mad dash home to get the toy trailer and head up to Saskatoon for the toy show on January 11, 12 and 13. It will be a rude awakening to hit the -40ºC after all the lovely desert warmth.
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