May 16, 2008

View of the day-...night actually...our twelve feet of front yard drive in screen.

Marilyn was off to work again at 7, while Al had Terrier hockey business to look after most of the morning. After meeting for lunch, Marilyn went home to prepare for the Paper Bag Players theatre group season windup and Al went to wash the pick-up. He also tried to remove a finger by slicing a chunk off it on the bug deflector...no sense going for stitches because the chunk was long gone.

Al went to Melville to have the glorious steak at Slow Helen's Steak to celebrate his brothers 50th birthday. Marilyn didn't have time to get the house cleaned up with all the packing making things worse, so the windup was held in the camper. After a barbecue supper, the inflatable drive-in screen was blown up, the projector lined up and it was showtime.

We viewed the final performance of the Kitchen Witches that Al had taped at our last performance in Churchbridge. It got a bit cool by the end of the show so the blankets came out to keep us warm. It is spring and although it was warm all day, the evenings still get chilly...at least the mosquitoes stayed away.

Tomorrow Al gets to spend the day selling lottery tickets for the hockey club and Marilyn will continue packing.

The time is getting close...

May 15, 2008

View of the Day-Al eyeing things up before unhooking the shop trailer from the pickup.

Another early day as Marilyn went to work at 7am, and Al worked at getting more things organized. He got the shop trailer cleaned out and straightened up, ready for it's trip to the Case dealer's ramp to get loaded in the back of the General grain truck.

We managed to get the trailer backed into the grain truck, relatively easy...not really a surprise although it was the first time this year. And with no hand held radio for directions! Before we headed back to the farm, we stopped for some ice cream and Al got to live his dream...if only for a short time...of sitting on a bench a one of the busiest corners in town.

Back at home, Al got the combine trailer hooked up, while Marilyn got her "drive-in" screen up and taken for a test run...more pictures tomorrow...

Where is the month going...

May 14, 2008

View of the day-out of the archives...cutting milo in Kansas back in the days when we ran two machines.

Another early day at Staples for Marilyn, while Al drove the combine into the CaseIH dealership in town. A somewhat sad day for him since it was the longest tenure for a combine with us. After 3700 hours on the engine, we had gotten pretty close...not without a few headaches, if you look at last year's blog entries. Still, it was bittersweet.

Once Marilyn finished work, Al picked her up and it was off to Grayson to see the banker and get a short visit in with some friends. After dropping off some boxes of clothes at the Salvation Army, we headed over to Esterhazy to get the final blow on our insurance for the season...always a painful task. We had to rush home so Al could get cleaned up to attend a press conference being held by the Yorkton Terriers hockey club, on which he is a board member. The group had a bit of music to face after the president of the association resigned, at the boards request. Quite a messy bit of business.

Al claims he got a lot accomplished today...Marilyn feels otherwise...

May 13, 2008

View of the day-well, not today, but darn it...it's the General Lee! At the Mopar/Classic car show in Great Bend, KS last week.

Marilyn went back to work at Staples for a few days to help get things ready for inventory on May 27...darn, she won't be there for the big day. Once back at home, it was major cleaning time and the Salvation Army will be pleased with the five boxes of "if it hasn't been worn/used in the last year..." treasures that will be dropped off tomorrow.

Al worked on getting things changed out on the old combine before driving into the dealership tomorrow morning. As usual, when changing out the concaves there is no way of parking where the wind doesn't blow the dust directly into your eyes.

A short entry...but an entry none the less...

May 12, 2008

View of the day-Getting things serviced and loaded in the front yard at home in Yorkton.

Whoops, missed a day or two...

It's not really "the season" yet, but missing a day just doesn't seem right.

Al has been working diligently at getting the General road ready...changing oil, cleaning things up...you know, that sort of thing. A little trip down memory lane as we emptied out the old combine of all the things we had collected throughout the five years we had it...two buckets full of treasures. The rain gauge mounted on the mirror so you know 'exactly' how much it rained at the field, the XM and two way radios for contact with the outside world, the dash duster for those squeaky clean windows that Marilyn insists on, the crap holder on the visor that always seems to have just enough stuff in it so that it spills when you want to get the sun out of your eyes, the bottomless buddy box under the passenger seat that contains various bolts, knife sections, zip ties, manuals, bulbs...and perhaps a cracker or two in case of emergency...and several items classified under the "so that's where the hell that thing is!" category.

Marilyn drove into Moose Jaw on Sunday to spend Mothers Day visiting with her mom and dad. It was a chance to get caught up with her cousin for coffee and also to get her parents computer cleaned up and running smoothly to keep in touch getting the summer updates. She spent the night then left in the rain for Yorkton but by the time she reached Regina it had all but stopped and the sun was shining by the time she pulled into the yard.

Tomorrow the A/C will get fixed on the pickup...it really wasn't even hot on our trip south, but it was sure missed...we have to have one vehicle on the road with A/C. We hope to get the shop trailer loaded into the grain truck and take it and the combine trailer to Carlyle this week so we will only have the camper to pull down next Tuesday after Al's hockey meeting. With the wide load already down there, we can travel after dark with the camper.

Now...back to cleaning and packing...

May 9, 2008

View of the day...well, yesterday...getting ready to cross the Missouri River in South Dakota.

Sorry about yesterday...couldn't get online to update. It was all pretty much driving anyway. We got through Nebraska and South Dakota, then got into Pingree, North Dakota around 9pm. So far we had driven in rain every day on the way back home.

We were able to get a visit in with everyone, then after a good nights rest, mentally prepared ourselves for the last leg of our journey.

Al had to collect all the toys he had purchased and had sent to Mike's house. Now, the back seat of the truck was already full, so he had to put everything into garbage bags so they wouldn't get wet on the back of the truck...it was going to rain again. We had lunch at the 281 Stop, then headed for home.

We did run into rain, and it did so pretty much all the way into Canada...we even had some snow around Kenmare. By the time we got to Alameda there were farmers in the field making dust. After a short stop at Carlyle, it was north to Yorkton and this time there wasn't any rain.

So now we are at home again and will start to get the rest of the stuff cleaned and loaded for the final trip next week. We logged just over 3800 miles/6115 km during the past week...and only one flat tire! That happened the day we left the factory at Grand Island.

A guy driving a cement truck was driving along side us honking his horn and pointing down, so we pulled into a parking lot and discovered the front drivers tire was flat. We changed it on the spot and as we were driving away, just a block away we found a tire shop! They were good enough to fix the valve stem on the tire, switch it with the spare and mount the spare back under the truck in it's special spot...all for $12...AND a pleasant attitude. Pretty rare for 5:15 in the afternoon.

Now, the blog has officially started and even though we are at home, we will try to have something interesting to put up...

Even if we have to make it up...

May 7,2008

View of the day-The wheat is a ways off in Oklahoma, but still looks good.

It was raining when we got up this morning, but by the time we got loaded up it had quit and we were left with an overcast, cool day.

We made it to Great Bend in time for Al to check in with the CaseIH dealer where the combine will be delivered and prepped for the upcoming season. He also found a toy he couldn't live without...but it adds to his collection. We had lunch with Ken, Kevin and their families at Pizza Hut, which made Al's day...a far cry from the PH at home with it's postage stamp size buffet table and the $8 price tag.

We had a good visit and then made our way out to the Great Bend airport where the 3I Show was set up. They have displays down two, mile long runways and in four huge display buildings. The weather didn't make the walk about very nice with the overcast skies and the brisk NW wind howling...just like home. We managed to see a lot of stuff we could have used, but the thought of hauling it around all afternoon wasn't an option. We figured we could pick it up on the way out, but since everything closed before we got through everything, we only came out with a bag of freebies...oh, and a new fuel pump for the slip tank on the back of the pickup.

After the show we stopped to do laundry and then headed north, stopping in Hays for another Walmart fix. Once we were done there we forged straight through to Holdredge, NE and the familiar sign of the Super 8. We haven't timed things right to get a swim and a hot tub in, but since the hotel only had two rooms left and one of them had a whirlpool tub, we made do with it.

Tomorrow we sail through South Dakota, and rain is in the forecast...