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View of the day-It is, actually today and the end is somewhat in site.
There was not a lot of harvesting done after the snow, we went back to Yorkton for, what we hoped, was a few days. We got a few things winterized and parked away for the season and Marilyn went back to work at Staples until the weather turned around.
Thursday, Oct 2, Al had gotten a letter from a toy collector that was wanting to get rid his collection. After checking over the items on the list, Al decided it would be a good investment. It worked out that we still had to wait on the weather, so we made a road trip to Altona, Manitoba to pick up the collection...just a 1000+km round trip.
Friday, October 3, Al had hopes of combining, so he went back to Kipling. He had picked up an aeration fan in Yorkton for his brother-in-law, Kim from Carlyle. He met up with him to make the drop and by the time he got back to the field, it started to drizzle. No harvesting again.
Saturday, October 5, The next day was another cold and windy day with no combining. Since we weren't going to be using the straight header any more, Al got it all cleaned up...but not washed.
Sunday, October 6, they finally got going and had a pretty good day in the canola. Marilyn was still in Yorkton working, thinking about going back to the camper, if the weather held.
Monday, October 7, the guys were hard at it combining as much as they could again. Back in Yorkton, Marilyn got a phone call from her sister, Marg, that their youngest brother, Brian, had passed away suddenly from heart failure. He had just turned 55 in June and had no history of heart problems. It was a shock.
Tuesday, October 8, more combining, but this time they were trying to get ahead of the weather that was forecast to be on the way.
Wednesday, October 9, we woke up to snow and wind...pretty much blizzard conditions. We were going to have a few more days off, that's what 6 inches of snow will do...not what anyone wanted.
Thursday, October 10, Al and his toy buddy, Mike, took some of the toys he had bought to meet a buyer in Indian Head...already there was a turn around for the collection. Marilyn was back at Staples, since we were at home.
Friday, October 11 with more snow in Kipling, and not even an estimate of when we could get combining again, Al decided to get our hauler to take the combine up to Canora, 200km north of Yorkton. They didn't get near the moisture that we had in Kipling and we had worked up there in the past, so we had to do something to keep going.
Saturday, October 12, the Canora crew were able to combine and covered a lot of acres. With three New Hollands, one John Deere and Big Red, there was lots of horsepower, but no grain cart here. No matter, the truck driver would chase over to the combine and pick up on the go.
Marilyn and her sister drove to Moose Jaw to have a Thanksgiving lunch with their mom and dad. Their oldest brother, Tim and his wife, Naomi had come from Calgary and brought their brother Brian's wife, Christine. It was a day of being with family and realizing just how short life can be. Brian lived every day to the fullest and his sense of humor and amazing guitar skills will be greatly missed.
Sunday, October 13, more Canora combining. With the camper still at the farm in Kipling, the 45 minute drive from Yorkton cuts into the productivity...not that you could get an early start anyway.
Monday, October 14, Al was having air filter problems...having to stop and blow it out more times than he would like to. It rained in the evening, shutting down the machines around 8:30pm.
Tuesday, October 15, we picked up a couple of new air filters, hoping that would solve the problem. Al had talked to one of the service guys at the dealership and he suggested we take a look at one of the exhaust pipes to see if it was plugged. We did just that when we got out there and boy...was that the problem. After cleaning it out, there was never another issue with it.
Wednesday, October 16, a bit of rain put the kibosh on combining, so Al had time to put the dozer blade on the tractor...it went back on a lot easier than it came off.
He also went to do something that he had watched a lot of customers do over the past 30 years of harvesting.
He went to watch our land renters combine our canola.
Thursday, October 17, the guys got going around 1pm and after a long day, whittled it down to one more day to finish.
Friday, October 18, Marilyn drove Al to Canora for the last day of combining. They finished in the early afternoon, then Al started roading the combine back to Yorkton. The plan was to have it hauled back down to Kipling, but the trucker was busy hauling other equipment, so couldn't do it.
Saturday, October 19, a day off as the trucker was still busy. They did manage to get the combine loaded just at dark, ready for an early start on the road on Sunday.
Sunday, October 20, got the combine hauled to Kipling and started right in. Had a pretty good day, considering one of the combines had not showed up. Marilyn had to work at Staples and decided to wait until Monday morning to drive back to Kipling.
Monday, October 21, the crew got started combining early, then Marilyn showed up early afternoon with lunch for Al. Another long productive day...and another combine showed up. A Versatile, no less.
It's dang cold in the camper, the water freezes up...but, there is light at the end of the tunnel..
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...
View of the day-No description necessary. Again.
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
View of the day-It's been a long week of due to rain by the look of this growth on the header.
We did get the weekend off...and then some. Marilyn ended up staying in Yorkton until yesterday and Al came up for a couple of days, to do a few "rainy day" jobs. While we ended up with 1.5" of rain at the combine, some places were at the 4"+ range.
While Marilyn was at home, she decided to do a job that had been needing to get done for several years. Al has a lot of toys that belong in his collection stored in various closets and cupboards around the house. We have no basement, so storage space is at a premium.
The front hall double closet's top shelf has a short opening that requires the items to be lifted up and the new items put underneath for them to fit. This shelf was jam packed and Marilyn had no idea what was in the back, or at the top for that matter. We had also been wanting to catalogue all his toys, so with the days off, this was the perfect chance.
It took some doing to get them all out and set up in the dining room. This picture is all the items from the closet, with the exception of the two 1/16 Big Roys on the chairs and the gold Steiger on the top of the cabinet.
After opening each box, taking the tractor out, taking a picture, then repacking, Marilyn "restocked" the closet shelf. This time she decided to put the Big Roys all together by adding the 1/16 set with the 1/32 and 1/64. Everything was back where it belonged...since we don't have an extra room for displaying them properly.
Next on the toy extravaganza was to make a display with some of the Versatile tractors, which are the main style that Al collects. Marilyn had cleaned out the china cabinet in one of her "purge" sessions, so there was now some room to put them. The only problem now, was that she realized the Big Roys were the main ones she had earmarked a couple of shelves for...and they were packed at the back and bottom of the closet shelf.
Fortunately, the stacking job had been done in such a way that it only took a short time to dig them back out and replace them with toys from other cupboards in the house. After a few hours of figuring out where all the tractors that she had found were going to sit, her work was done. Sort of. Al will have to group them according to series, style, etc. Marilyn went by color and decal style.
This shelf had a a few Versatiles already, but the rest of the non ones got moved to make space for the Versatiles scattered on other shelves around the house.
This one has all Al's CaseIH and IH combines and Case related items...belt buckles, badges, notepads, etc. And his MacDon sign.
This is the main cabinet that has the Big Roys and a couple of other older Versatile tractors that he had spent time re-collecting after selling his complete collection a few years back.
It's true...it's not the "having", it's the "getting". Marilyn always jokes that whatever Al spends on toys, she gets the equal amount to spend on her "stuff". Al complains that she spends too much on her sewing/embroidery machines. Marilyn is pretty sure she has some catching up to do.
So that gets us to today. We finally got going in the barley and it was reasonably dry. At least dry enough for the farmer, so it was full speed ahead. We cut until dark, which was when the humidity was high enough to make it tough going and we quit for the night. Another factor in shutting down was there were a lot of hills on this land and we didn't want to take any chances on a wrong turn in the dark.
There is a threat of some rain again, but it is the weekend and you know what those weather reports are worth...
View of the day-Courtesy of Al's new flip phone, the last dump of the day, thanks to the rain.
After finishing yesterday, we knew we would have a week or so off while the canola swathing got underway.
Al made a phone call over to Langbank to see if the farmers we had cut for in the past and anything to combine before the predicted rain was supposed to hit. They did, so Al and Markus moved two combines over to the field...a short 10 mile or so drive. Marilyn went to pick them up and bring them back for their vehicles, so they would have a way to get back home.
After the guys got started combining, Marilyn went back to the camper to get a few things together to go back to Yorkton for the weekend. It was time for her bi-weekly shift at Staples and this time it was timed with the rain...which it did at the camper while she was getting loaded up.
It didn't rain out at the field, although it was threatening and we hadn't seen the sun all day. However, after a couple of hours of combining, it finally hit with a downpour...we won't know how much until we check the gauge on the combine...and the guys shut down and went home.
It sounds like this means the weekend off for Al...unless the sun shines and the wind blows...
View of the day-Time to get rid of all that itchy barley chaff.
Another early-ish start to the day. This one was courtesy of warm temps and a strong SE wind. We all got going around 11 and while there wasn't a lot left for five machines, what remained was scattered, so there was a lot of driving.
We finished around 3pm, then waited to see if the winter wheat was going to be dry enough to attempt cutting. While we waited, we had the shop trailer out in the field, so Al blew out the rads and engine compartment...the wind helped quite a bit with that.
We got word from the farmer the moisture in the wheat was way too high, so our day was done. After finishing the short cleanup, we headed back to the yard with the combine.
Now we wait to see if the rain misses us...
View of the day-All that barley dust makes for a very itchy day.
Got somewhat of and early start to the day...at least we had gotten the servicing done early. Al discovered a small leak in one of the fuel lines on the engine, so we attempted to repair it with some special "Rescue Tape". It was a return line, so there wasn't a lot of pressure, but with the diesel soaked chaff that managed to find its way between the wraps, it didn't hold very long...as a matter of fact, it was spraying onto the muffler, so combining stopped.
Al called over to Young's Equipment to see if they had the part and after they sent over a picture for confirmation, Marilyn was ready to hit the road to Windthorst to pick it up. However, the road trip was not necessary because the service man was on his way out to work on the 8240's diesel exhaust fluid(DEF) system, so he brought it with him. How often does that happen?
We got the hose changed, which cured the problem and were back in business. Shortly after we got rolling, the 8120 showed up at the field, then the 8240, all fixed up, made it back in the rotation, along with the John Deere, which had a late start as well.
The rest of the day was uneventful, as far as breakdowns go, and it was an early shut down around 8:30pm. We wouldn't get finished tonight and it was getting tough as the sun disappeared, so there was no sense in wrecking something.
Tomorrow the barley should get done and it will be before the rain hits...no jinx...
View of the day-Busy day in the field today.
We got started before noon on the winter wheat, having a good strong wind helped out quite a bit. We still had to do a lot of patching out of the green stuff, so once we had caught up to the worst of it, the pin got pulled and we moved back to the barley.
The barley was a LOT drier than it was a couple days ago, it was smooth sailing for most of the day...no patching out needed. No breakdowns to speak of either, which was pretty nice for everyone involved. This year there are three CaseIH combines, an 8010, an 8230, an 8240, plus a John Deere S670. Tomorrow there will be another CaseIH 8010 joining the crew.
After the sun set, the situation changed fairly rapidly and by 9:30, it was time to shut down for the night.
With rain in the forecast for Thursday night, it will be an early start and a long day tomorrow...
View of the day-Not often they all line up so nice with little or no wind blowing.
We got an earlier start to the day, but not in the barley. The decision was made to move down to Kennedy to try the winter wheat and see if it was any better. The farmer went first to do a test...no sense in moving all machines if we couldn't start...but after a look, they felt it was good enough to go.
Everyone got moved down and started in on the first field. Most of the time there was dust, however there was still a lot of green in various patches, so the hope was that it would blend off in the big cart. So we kept going.
Things went good for most of the day...except for the patching out of the green spots, which slowed productivity. Then about 6ish, Al hit a green spot and plugged the rotor. The hardest part about getting it slugged out was trying to remember the steps to cough it out. We lost about 45 minutes and did a bit of cursing at the level of tightening the service guys at Rocky Mountain used to bolt the concaves in.
We went until dark...which is coming earlier all the time, it seems...the shut down for the night.
The weather was perfect for harvesting today. Let's hope it stays that way for a while...
View of the day-It's a later start this year, but we are finally getting the rust off the cutterbar.
We have been parked at the farm at Kipling for a couple days now, but the combine had been hauled down last weekend. We worked on it, getting the settings tweaked, ready to jump right to work once we got the go ahead, but the weather refused to cooperate. So we waited.
Finally, it seemed like we were going to have a productive day, the sun was out and there was a strong wind blowing. We got started just after lunch and were able to get a few hoppers before the brakes got put on...a backup at the bins due to an auger issue gave us a mid afternoon break.
The barley is in various stages of ripening, so the moisture is still all over the place, this, combined with the high yield, would have had us backed up anyway.
There are four combines running and one 2000bu grain cart to fill the two super B grain trailers...thankfully it is only a couple miles back to the bin site.
After the auger was repaired and the trucks emptied, we all went back out to do a little more. Since it had clouded over and the grain was not getting any better moisture wise, we had to shut down for the day.
Back to the camper for an early night and more waiting...
