September 23, 2008

View of the day-Black gold...Al swings the auger out to unload a hopper full of canola.

Such a day! Al got the grain cart moved out to the field and got a ride back with the farmer while Marilyn got a couple loads of laundry done. We had to pick the combine up at the welding shop, so Al let Marilyn hook the header back on the combine while he did the dirty work...paying the bill.

Al drove the combine out to the field and Marilyn brought the pickup and shop trailer. After getting fueled up, Marilyn started combining canola while Al got the rest of the equipment organized. Marilyn had to go back to the camper, so Al took over for a while until she got back and by then he had a load to take to the bin.

Marilyn was finishing the outside round on the field when she rounded a corner near a slough...things were okay until she felt that unsettling feeling of the combine going sideways as she was going ahead...the water coming ever closer...the right side of the combine had sunk down about 4 ft...not good. After calling Al on the phone, he came out with the farmer and we proceeded to try and get the combine out of the mud...no easy task. We had a 4 inch wide tow strap which is now in two pieces, then we added a chain to the mix...a long one that was now 5 short pieces...we weren't having much luck at all. It used to be the first one to get stuck during harvest had to buy the beer for the run...we both drink diet pop and brought back several cases, so Marilyn has her debt covered.

After piecing the strap and chains together we were finally able to get it pulled out. The farmer couldn't believe there was any place to get stuck...he had swathed around the slough himself and you couldn't even see his tracks...it looked that solid. He believed it when he saw it sunk past the axles. Of course there was no "good" camera in the combine, just Al's cell phone, which he cursed at Marilyn for taking out of his pocket under the guise that she was just trying to save it from falling out...so excuse the quality.

Marilyn had planned on going into Yorkton for a couple of sales and a long overdue haircut...actually a hair repair after having an accident with the scissors a month back. Because of the holdup with the combine being stuck, she stayed at the field longer to help make sure there was enough canola combined to fill a semi for tomorrow, then took off for Yorkton. She got some shopping in and got her hair fixed but then found the main sale she went in for wasn't until Thursday...dang...another trip in...

On a side note, our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the 36 year old woman that was killed in a harvest accident near Kamsack, SK. She was working on a US harvest crew hauling grain when she became trapped under the grain in the trailer. Not many details have been released...a sad reminder to be extra diligent at harvest time.

What a day...better things to come tomorrow...