September 20, 2011

View of the day-The Freightliner is parked in the "shed" for the winter...back at home.

There was rain during the night and well into the morning, so we knew we would have the day off from combining. Al had his list made out and the first thing on the list was to stop in Melville to get a couple of things done, then head for Yorkton.

We got to Yorkton just before lunch so we decided to have an early one and went to Melrose Place for a much missed real pizza. After lunch, we went out to Yorkton Auction Centre to unload the tractor and cart so we could get that load ready for the off season. It was the first time the new tires on the front of the tractor had touched the ground...as a matter of fact, it was the first time the tractor was off the trailer since July 18!!

It took some doing to get the unit off the trailer, since somewhere along the road, one of the inside duals was completely flat. We didn't notice it while it was on the trailer, because the duals sit in a wide cradle, but when we start to back it off when unloading, only the inside dual rides on the narrower ramp. Al was in the tractor and couldn't figure out why he was on 'tilt' so bad and Marilyn had no idea what was going on since she was on the other side watching the hitch and the other tire. We ended up using one of the wooden ramps to raise it up a bit and backed it off...in a hurry...which got the job done. Ugly...but accomplished.

Once the tractor was off, we hooked the trailer back up and Al took it out to his friend, Danny's, yard where we usually park it. Marilyn took the cameras off the grain cart while she was waiting...lots of cable ties to remove from the thorough job of mounting them. After that was in the bag, there was more time to kill.

To kill that time, Marilyn stopped in at Walmart and was pleasantly surprised to see Folgers coffee was on for $5.97 for the big container...she drinks a LOT of coffee and the price has been ridiculous this summer, topping out at 14.97 for the same size container. With five containers in the cart, she took one look at the lineups at the cash registers...not to mention the notice that said, "no debit or credit card machines, sorry", and said screw it...put the coffee and cart back, then left empty handed. Too bad they aren't 24 hours, because she would make the trip back at 3am just for the coffee.

After that waste of time, she went out to our place to meet Al and get the Freight put away for the season, right over this 8 inch mushroom that was right on the path to the 'shed'. Once it was parked we went back to the tractor so we could get it moved back to the farm. We unhooked the grain cart and left it for Danny to pick up at a later date, since he would be using it for their harvest. After everything was where it needed to go, we went back into town, picked up a few things, fueled up and left for Balcarres.

Back at the camper, Al got cleaned up so we could go out for a dinner date with his 'toy buddy', Roger and his wife, in Fort Qu'Appelle. On our way out, we took a detour to check on the trap line in the General...one kill...a baby, so there is likely more to come. He needs to park it in the yard by the camper with the doors open, so the two foxes that are playing around here can clean house.

After a good gab session and some Chinese food, we came back to the camper...and it was raining again! We even heard thunder a couple of times.

That wasn't in the forecast...