Well, we didn't go combining this spring after all. With both of us doing the tax thing at H&R Block, and Marilyn at Staples during the day, we just couldn't get it done for the farmer before the May 1 deadline. We weren't terribly broken up about it, we have had "spring combining" experience in the past and really didn't need a repeat performance.
Once the main tax rush was over April 30, Al packed his bags and moved south to Carlyle, help brother-in-law, Kim, with his spring seeding. This was a nice change for Al, getting to run a big 4WD tractor...with autosteer, but he still managed to get stuck a few times. There would be no pictures of any of these occasions, since he won't take any and his "flip phone" only seems to take shots of the inside of his pockets. After spending a couple of weeks at Carlyle getting Kim down to a manageable amount of acres, it was time to return to his tax job...at a much slower pace than when he left.
Al decided since we have the duals on the combine now, there is no need to keep the combine trailer, so he hauled it over to Yorkton Auction and had them put it on their spring auction. He was pleased with the result of the sale...and one less piece of equipment to maintain.
We made a road trip to Minot for the last of the estate toy auctions for a fellow collector that had been killed by a drunk driver a few years back. It had taken 6 separate auctions to get rid of all of his collection. We went to Carlyle on Friday night to stay over and get an early start...the auction was set for 12 noon on Saturday, so it was just going to be a day trip.
We left our overnight bags in Carlyle to travel light across the border and got the the auditorium around 11am to look around. It seemed odd that there was only about 20% of the toys on display and the guys didn't seem to be in much of a hurry to get the rest of the stuff out...stopping to chat with us at length. Then we found out the auction was on Sunday.
So now we are past all the snowy, rainy weather, things are turning green and it's time to get the yard in shape. This is not an easy task since the combine, tractor, graincart, two cargo trailers, General and the camper are all parked in the front yard. The combine has all the shields up as we get it spruced up for the coming harvest...tomorrow is wash day for it, then there is some maintenance that needs to get done, now that the shop that is our front yard is warm and dry.
Marilyn is really missing the southern harvest...this is the time of year when we would have been well on our way south...however...we have been watching the news lately with all the heavy rains that have been hitting Oklahoma and Texas, thinking how bad we feel for the farmers who were finally going to have a decent crop, only to have it flattened or flooded. As much as we loved the harvest down south, we are thankful that we are at home, out of the mess and mud.
Our biggest decision now...where to take the camper for the first run of the season...
