September 30, 2019

View of the day-This morning...didn't last once the sun came up, but it turned to more rain for the rest of the day...

September 26, 2019

View of the day-No description necessary. Again.

September 25, 2019

View of the day-Combine drivers in training.

It did not rain on Wednesday, but there was a heavy dew and lots of clouds. There was only about 75 acres done, due to the dew and the high moisture of the grain. A short day.

Marilyn took advantage of the down time to try to get her basic pilot license for the drone. Transport Canada had implemented this requirement effective June 2019, and everything was online for it. The test was 35 multiple choice questions and the pass mark was 65%. There were so many vague areas to study up on and since there was only a $10 fee to write the exam and you could take it as many times as needed, she decided to "wing" it and just take the test. This would at least give an idea of what to brush up on. The test results are given directly after completion...Marilyn got 62%. So close.

There was a 24 hour wait until you could retake the exam, which gave enough time to do some actual studying. Even knowing some of the questions, it was kind of tough to find exactly what they were looking for. It didn't help that some of them were regarding things a professional pilot flying at 30,000 ft would need to know. 

After the 24 hour wait, she sat down to rewrite the test, with the help of three technical manuals and old buddy "Mr. Google". Only one of the questions was the same from the first go round, but this time she passed!


Thursday there was heavy fog along with the dew. The sun did come out and the wind picked up...it was looking promising, but the grain would not cooperate...never got below 18.5% moisture. Another day idle.

It rained overnight, so we both went to Yorkton. It was Marilyn's weekend to work and Al needed to do some toy rearranging. He had gotten a shipment which had been dropped at Minute Muffler so with that load and the bunch we had brought back from the North Dakota run, there was some rearranging to do.

The big Red Deer toy show is coming up in November...let's hope we're done combining by then...so we needed to make room in the trailer. We got most of them priced and repacked in the boxes, so Al would be able to work on the trailer on Saturday. He would have time, since it rained again out at the field.

Saturday, Marilyn went to work at Staples and Al finished pricing and loading all the toys into the cargo trailer. We should now be ready to combine to the last minute and just hook up and go. Let's hope that's not what happens.

Sunday, Al went back to Kipling and they got a late start around 4pm, at least it had gotten down to 16.5% moisture. There were only three machines running, but they still were able to go until around 11pm.

Monday, Marilyn had a theatre meeting in the evening, so she stayed in Yorkton and worked and extra day. The rest of the crew were able to start combining around 9:30am and combined straight through until 1am. Finally some action!

Tuesday, Marilyn came back from Yorkton, but not soon enough to get a picture of Al getting stuck. He wasn't the first one of the day, they all took a turn, but it didn't take long to get them out once the cart was unhooked from the tractor. They finally finished the spring wheat.

This brings us up to today. We got an early start by swapping out the headers and getting the straight head loaded on the high speed transport trailer...we're done with it down here...we think. We got the combine serviced and fueled, then waited for the parade to start out to the canola field about 10 miles from the yard.

The first field got all the kinks out...a new crop to get the settings just right. It was also a nice change to just follow the swath and not have to pay attention to the far ends of a 35 ft header.

It was a windy, dusty day...so bad that it was a good thing they could use autosteer when picking up going east. You could hardly see the swath! There was also a threat of rain for the better part of the day and we did get a sprinkle, but not enough to put the brakes on. The worst of it seemed to just brush by us to the south and by 5pm there were hardly any rain clouds in the sky.

Al's brother Jeff came down with his weigh wagon to see the yields of some of the seed he had sold this farmer. Once all the results were all tallied, he jumped in with Al for a catch up session.

The wind dropped ever so slightly, which didn't help the dust situation...now it just hung in the air. No matter, they kept on going, especially since there is rain in the forecast for tomorrow.

And the "S" word for the weekend...that's right...snow...

September 17, 2019

View of the day-A few final repairs before getting a late start in the spring wheat.

It was another hot day, unfortunately it was very humid. It was foggy in the morning and it never burned off until almost noon and even then there was a haze that wouldn't take off.

The guys got moved out to the field to start around 3:30pm...a later than usual start time. They were still able to clear close to 300 acres before shutting down around 10:30pm, when the humidity got back up to over 80%.

Lightning to the south and weather warnings tonight. Let's hope it goes around us...

September 16, 2019

View of the day-Finally, a perfect harvest day!

There was some oats combining on Friday...an early start for a change. A nice day, but it was slow going. Marilyn was on Staples work detail this weekend, so after getting Al's lunch out to him, she was off to Yorkton.

The guys had a good day combining, they wanted to get as much done as possible before the predicted rains came after the weekend. Their Saturday was another productive day on the oats...they actually got it finished and on Sunday, they moved back over to the winter wheat.

Monday, they got about 10 acres each done before the rain finally hit. Since it was raining anyway, Marilyn stayed in Yorkton to work some extra days.

Tuesday had more rain, so Al decided to go back to Yorkton to get a few errands done and get caught up on the latest gossip. Marilyn continued working as long as it rained.

Wednesday, Al got some yard work done...it hadn't rained in Yorkton, but down where the combine was...well, that was a different story.

More rain, so Thursday was road trip day. Al decided it was time to take a run down to Kenmare, ND to pick up some boxes of farm toys that he had bought over the past couple of months. Also on the "to do" list was to get our annual hats from the CaseIH ProHarvest crew, which were parked at the dealership in Stanley, ND.

We went to Stanley first, but since it had been raining, the guys had stayed in Minot...no one was in the field, for sure. They had the hats with them, so we took a slight detour and drove the 60 miles to pick them up.

We left Minot and stopped in Carpio to pick up the boxes of toys. It was a good thing we put the tonneau cover on the box, because the back seat was packed to the ceiling and the overflow had to go in the box.

We had a short stop at the John Deere dealership in Kenmare to finish a transaction or two with Pete in parts...he's our toy contact down there. After that was completed, we were on our way back to Yorkton with our treasures.

Friday, Al went back to the camper to wait out the rain...Marilyn stayed back in Yorkton and worked again. When Al had checked the rain gauge on the combine, it showed a total of 2.5 inches over the five days. Without any sun or heat, it wasn't going to go any time soon...and there was another shower over night which added another 0.2" of rain...more brakes on the winter wheat.

Saturday was a cleaning day for Al...rads and filters. Marilyn came back to the camper, done work for the week in Yorkton and ready to start combining...whenever the weather cooperates.

Sunday was an amazing day, weather wise at least. It was hot...a high of 28ºC/82ºF...hot for here, at least. But, there was no combining. With no wind to help dry down the wheat and the other combiners back in Regina and out Wroxton way, the farmer figured by the time they got out to the combines, there wouldn't be much combining time. It would give the grain another day to dry down.

Today, was "go" day. It was even hotter 33ºC/92ºF, but this time there was wind. We went out to the combine at 10am to get some servicing done and by 11 am the dust was flying.

Although the dust was flying, there were spots in the field that were a surprise to us. thankfully the grain cart was there to make sure we didn't have too big a load on, so no one got stuck. The tires did get a bit sticky, though. The combines went until 9:30pm and finished the winter wheat...finally after almost a month since starting on it.

Marilyn left the field just around sunset and passed by another farmer doing some pickup work. The swather cutting and laying a swath ahead of the two combines. This meant they didn't need a straight cut header, they could just pickup the fresh swaths.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another hot one...

September 5, 2019

View of the day-Al coming down the line through the oats.

We woke up to fog this morning. So much fog, in fact, that the guys hauling grain to the elevator could only see 1/4 mile in front of them and had to use the wipers to keep the moisture off the window. Fortunately for us, the sun broke through and slowly burned it off.

Al took off to do some servicing on the combine out at the field. The plan was to try a test around 3pm, so he just killed a few hours out at the field with one of the other combiners until it was time to cut. 

Marilyn was still working on the books while listening to a chickadee tapping on the back window all day. He was trying to pick a fight with his reflection in the window and refused to give up. The thought was, once the sun quit reflecting on that side, he would be gone...he was when the sun went down.

The guys got going right on time and although the straw was a bit tough, the oats were "dry" enough to continue on. Marilyn showed up at the field to bring Al supper and ride around a bit before going back to the camper just after sunset.

They didn't get to go much longer...once the sun set, it got real tough.

No rain in the forecast for tomorrow, so maybe there will be an early start...

September 4, 2019

View of the day-Not a lot of dust coming from the oats.

We were on our way to the field by 10am. Even though there had been a lot of rain, the windows still needed attention from the squeegee. While the rest of the guys were servicing the machines, the farmer took his combine out to do a test and according to their tester, the oats were dry enough to start.

They went out and cut a bit more and something plugged up...not the rotor or chopper, thank heaven. The straw was still pretty tough and there could have been moisture in the "return/rethresher" area from all the rain sneaking in thanks to the driving winds. It took some dismantling, but eventually it was cleared out and ready for action.

A second test of the oats showed the moisture was actually a lot higher than the original 14% on the tester. They all moved to higher ground to work on a quarter section that was drier. They finished that, then moved to the next higher field. The wind was blowing pretty good, but it was overcast and there were rogue showers off and on...not enough for it to run off the header.

Marilyn was back at the camper, doing a bit of outside work with the water filter/softener and sewer hose. She also got started doing some bookwork...a job that had seen some procrastinating for quite a while.

The combines went until 9:30 then shut down. There was lightning all around, but none of it brought anything to this area. 

Thankfully...

September 3, 2019

View of the day-Moving the combine from the barley field after all the rain.

The rain started around midnight on Friday, so we knew we would be having Saturday off. Al had made arrangements to meet a guy in Langbank to do a toy tractor deal and after the exchange and a long chat about all things toys, the deal was done.

We decided to take a trip down to Carlyle to visit with Marilyn's sister's family. Kim was getting ready to go out and do a test on some durum wheat. He had gone out with the combine, so Al got a bit of truck driving in when he took the tandem truck out to the field. The moisture was 15.2%, so they were going to do a couple of trucks full, so they came back to the yard to get the semi and the other combine, which Al was going to drive, giving Marg a break.

Within about 20 minutes, it started to sprinkle...then it started to rain. Done for the day. They got everything tarped before the big rain settled in, but even if the sun came out, there would be no more for the day. Gordie was swathing canola and managed to stay out for another 45 minutes before giving that up, too. We left Carlyle and came back to the camper to settle in for the night.

More rain during the night. Another day off. We had a visit from Al's brother, Jeff, who had ridden his motor bike down from his farm at Gerald. It was a nice day for that once the sun came out. 

Since the sun was shining, we decided we might as well try to get out to the combine and move it back over to the other farmers oats. We had left the combine sitting on top of a high hill when we had quit on Friday, but the bad part was that it was on the far side of the quarter section and we had no idea what the field conditions were. Shut up and drive.

It wasn't as bad as we thought it would be, and after starting it up, dumping out the 1" if rain in the gauge, and getting the raccoon $hit cleaned off the back deck, we started the move to the oats. After parking it next to the other combine and grain cart, we went back to the camper Just in time for some more sprinkles to start up again.

Monday morning we woke to the sound of rain. Again. We had a road trip planned for the day, since we knew we wouldn't be combining even before the rain came. Another toy tractor deal, but this time it was a bit further...we were going to Brandon, Manitoba...about a two hour drive.

We took a short cut across the grid roads, which weren't in the best of shape thanks to the rain. It didn't shorten the time, though. We met the toy man at McDonald's, had a short visit then grabbed a sub and headed back home, with a back seat full of toy tractors...all 1/16 size so it doesn't take a lot of them to fill it up.

More rain during the day and tornado warnings to the south of us, but nothing touched the ground. Another day off coming up.

Today we didn't do much of anything, except open all the windows in the camper to enjoy the sun and breeze after all that rain from the past few days.

The combines wait patiently out in the field, and the word from the boss is to be out in the field at 11 am. Fingers crossed...