October 26, 2016

View of the day-The combine waits to finally get the straight canola done...almost a month after we left it.

Well it has been a while since we had an update but when it is raining you don't do much harvesting and there's not a lot to tell. 

The last entry had us finishing the hard red spring wheat, which left us with a 135 acres of Canada Prairie Spring wheat...but once again the weather decided when we would harvest it. 

We hung out at Carlyle for couple of days...there was no improvement on the weather...the farmer tried it and the wheat was 20.2% moisture.  We decided to head back to Yorkton on Tuesday the 18th and wouldn't you know it...the next day we got the call that the wheat was at 19%, close enough. With more rain predicted for the upcoming weekend it was go time. 

With both combines and Al driving the cart we got the last of the wheat done by 10:30 Wednesday night on the 19th.  This left us with 45 acres of standing canola for the next day.  

The farmer still had 375 acres of canola left, which was in swaths, but a neighbour had come over to help him get that picked up.  We finished the standing canola about 5:00 Thursday the 20th. 

We thought we were finally done...however, we got the call from the farmer that they could use our help picking the canola swaths. We changed headers and moved over to where they were working. 

It was a late night with the 3 combines and we managed to get it down to about 200 acres left for the next day. But, once again, about 6:00am on Friday morning a small rain shower went through the area. Fortunately the sun came out and we had a strong wind so at 2:00 we got going the canola was 12.8% but it was close enough because the forecast was not good. 

Again, with the 3 combines and Al running the cart, things went well. At 8:00pm we finished the half section and moved to the last field...it was a section but the farmer had most of it done.  The problem was we were not sure where the swaths started or stopped and the dust was incredible from the 3 combines. At 11:00pm we got the call from the farmer that we had gotten all the swaths picked up and it was a wrap.

Done. Good thing. The next day, Saturday the 21st it rained almost 2 inches!  Back to Yorkton for good.

On Monday we went back down to Kipling from Yorkton to clean up the header. We brought the General and shop trailer home to park them for the season. The next day, Tuesday, we got another inch of rain. 

The combine should be coming home Thursday and then the header gets put away at Kim's at Carlyle...where it usually winters.  This year it will be travelling down without the high speed transport trailer...Al has decided to finally get a different style. Not that it has to make the 2000 mile run like the old days.

There is still so much crop out, but the weather just won't cooperate and with all the rain, field travel with the equipment is continuing to be a real problem.  We have gotten so many calls from people looking for help, but being this late and with conditions the way they are, Al thinks we are done for the 2016 harvest.

So now we work getting the house ready for the winter season...the eaves need cleaning badly but the grass looks pretty good considering Al likes cutting it now with the riding mower. We still have a couple of trees that refuse to let go of their leaves and they are the ones that fill the eaves the worst, so that job is on the back burner.

We had satellite dish issues the last few days at the camper at Kipling and it continued when we tried to set it up at home. A bad time of year, especially with the baseball playoffs and NFL in full swing. We finally ended up buying a dish to mount on the house, instead of the auto one that had LNB problems. 

We had to jury-rig a mount, but it worked out fine and even after being out of the dish-aiming game for so many years, Marilyn got it aimed in time for the World Series. We did have to do a bit of tree trimming to get the best signal, which prompted Al to say…on several occasions throughout the effort…“why do I keep thinking this will be shown on “The Science of Stupid” show?” A ladder in the box of the pickup with an electric sawzall…what could go wrong? And for a change…nothing did.

Marilyn is going back to Staples next week for a few days, then we are on a toy show run. There is a one day show at Tisdale on Nov. 5, which should be interesting...Al has so many toys jammed into the new trailer and we only have so many tables to set up...for one day only! Pretty sure there will be some colorful words thrown around.

From there, we will be driving to Red Deer, Alberta for the Agritrade show. This one is four days long and we are going two days early, so the set up will be leisurely and we might even get to look around a bit. Once we get back, Al will be back at the grind at H&R Block, so harvest will be officially over.

We still have the dreaded job of cleaning the combine...

October 16, 2016

View of the day-Finally back at it again and you have to love the autosteer...the perfect one pass width left.

We got the camper winterized and parked, then started to get the house back in order while we waited for the weather to smarten up. Since it rained and snowed all week, it was looking like we wouldn't be seeing the combine until at least Monday the 17th.

We had all our plans in order to start that day, and then we got the Friday morning call. The farmer was going to try the standing wheat out and let us know how close it was to combining. Forty-five minutes later we were scrambling to get some stuff together to head for the combine.

With no time to get organized, we decided to get down to Kipling in a hurry, get started combining, then Marilyn would come back to Yorkton to get some necessities for a stay at Carlyle. 

We got out to the combine, moved it to the yard to fuel it up, then headed for the field to start combining. We had been concerned that the ground would be a bit soggy from all the moisture that had been falling, but surprizingly, it was alright and we were able to go through almost everything...that common sense would allow...we never would have driven through some of the low spots even when it was dry.

Al had been relegated to cart driver until the regular driver got out to the field around 5pm, so Marilyn was in the combine, but after that, she went back to Yorkton, loaded up and came back down to the field, getting back just as the guys were filling the last load for the night. An 80 acre day which was not bad for starting at 3pm. We were bunking down at Carlyle, but by the time we got there from the field, everyone was in bed already.

We had a great day on Saturday, we were rolling by 10am and the weather was perfect...sunny, warm and very windy. Al was back in the cart again and he kept the combines running. There were a few issues with the auger at the bin which required the farmer to leave his combine sit while he went back to get things fixed at the yard. Marilyn combined until the cart and combine were full, then sat for about an hour until an empty truck came back.

Even though we had some waiting and a move, we still managed to get 130 combined. A pretty good day for October, but another late night getting to bed.

Sunday we were up early and off to Kipling, eager to get closer to the finish line. It was windy, cloudy and cold...relatively speaking...not a drying day. We got out to the combine, let it warm up, then drove back to the yard to fuel up before moving to the next field.

It was sprinkling off and on, but never looked like it was going to hold us up too much, but that changed after doing a test. He decided combining today was not going to happen, so we headed back to Carlyle for a day of NFL on TV.

It rained a lot heavier around Carlyle, but the radar looked like it was going to miss the field...if the weather future cast was any indication.

Marybe it only rained a tenth at the field...

October 10, 2016

View of the days-Not doing too much these days, just waiting out the snow. This one was from last week.

We came home to spend one night, but after the snow, it turned into three nights. We went back to the camper, then decided we might as well bring it back home and winterize it. When the combining starts again, we will camp out with Kim and Marg at Carlyle and just drive back and forth from there.

We were invite to Carlyle for our Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday, so we thought we would see if we could get out to the combine to check out the rain gauge. There were a couple of soupy spots, but we made it in and were pleasantly surprised that the rain gauge only had a half an inch in it. Could that much have evaporated? We'll never know.

We got the camper moved home and now we work through the snowy, wet, mess to get it cleaned out and winterized.

Hopefully it dries up soon...

October 4, 2016

View of the day-A fast way of loading a semi...two augers, no waiting.

Rain...and lots of it. This last round was over two inches.

Yesterday we went to Yorkton to get a few things done. Today we went to Minot, picking up toys at Kenmare and Carpio. The back seat is full of treasures, so tomorrow we go to Yorkton again to get the toys put away in the trailer for the next toy show coming up in early November.

There is snow in the forecast...

October 2, 2016

View of the day-What a difference a day makes...the view out the camper door.

We got up to a sunny day with lots of hope. The plan was to be out at the combine by 10am, so we were ready to head out around 9:15, when Al got a call from the farmer. It was raining down at the field and Al should come down to get the truck out before the road got to bad.

But the sun was still shining at the camper. Most of our windows face east and north where we are parked, but when we looked to the west, we could see the sun wasn't going to last very long.

Al went out and got the truck moved to the yard to dump. The road out to the field is classed as a "summer" road...basically a two-track trail, that was just healing from the last deluge that hit. He got the truck unloaded, then came back to the camper just as the skies opened up. There were some loud cracks of thunder along with the downpour, too. We were done before we even got a chance to start.

We watched the Blue Jays win their baseball game and caught some NFL games while it rained. We took a road trip to Carlyle to have supper with Kim and Marg, and watched the Sunday night football game. Well, half of it...it was a blowout, so we came back to the camper. The drive back was quite the experience.

They are redoing a lot of the highway on the way to Carlyle, so with the new pavement, they only have the occasional yellow dot for a centre line. This made driving in the thick fog extremely difficult. We made it back in one piece.

Mouse #15 was discovered in the cargo hold trap...

October 1, 2016

View of the day-Checking out the vista while we wait for the moisture test on the wheat.

With yesterdays rain, there was no chance for an early start today so we went into Kipling for lunch before going out to the field.

We serviced the combine, then drove it back to the yard to fuel it up. We went back to the wheat field to take a test cut, but were disappointed with the results...18% moisture.

We moved back past the yard to give the last field of straight canola a try. It was 9%, so we were able to crank it up and do some cutting. We got about 65 acres done before shutting down for the night.

Hopefully we finish the canola tomorrow...