September 14, 2009

View of the day-Another patch job on the pick up head...Kim does some welding while Al ponders the pickup belt dilemma.

Al was at work on the header first thing, the centre pickup belt was stopping in heavy crop so he decided to swap it out with one of the outside ones...that didn't change anything...the new belt started slipping too. While we had the belt off we could see there were a couple of cracks in one of the braces so before Kim could get too far away we got him to fix them up.

We needed to pick up a few things for the combine so Marilyn had to go on a parts run...she just had to find out which dealer had all the parts on the lists that Al and Kim had made. Fortunately for the guys, the dealer that had everything was not in the bright lights of Estevan...home of a Walmart among other stores...it was in the opposite direction. Marilyn wasn't looking to shop anyway...it's like napping...if you can't do it for at least three hours, it's not worth laying down...or pulling a cart from the rack.

The guys went out and finished the canola field they were on, then moved over to Kim's dad's canola to test it...too wet. Al pulled the 'portable combine' and they went over to test some wheat...too wet...then they went over to check some barley...just right, but since it was late in the day they figured by the time they moved it would be quitting time, so that was it for the day.

We were in a severe weather watch for most of the day and even though it seemed like something was brewing, the sky cleared off and we ended the day with no precipitation...lots of humidity, though.

No word where the bad stuff hit...

September 13, 2009

View of the day-Some do straight cutting a bit differently. The swather cuts ahead of the pull type combine with the pickup head on it...there was an older New Holland combine working with these two.

Ahhh...communication...the exchange of thoughts, messages, or information, as by speech, signals, writing, or behavior...sounds simple, doesn't it? Without being a mind reader, there is no way of knowing the way you have successfully done things for the past 17 years just doesn't cut the mustard...or the wheat in some cases. C'est la vie...

We moved our rigs back to Kim and Marg's to start in on their canola. They had extra truck drivers so Marilyn had the afternoon off...sort of. Marg is getting a deck put on the house this week and the camper was parked very close to the construction site so Marilyn had to move it to a different spot behind the house. After closing up the slides and getting everything battened down for the short trip, we got lined up in a nice spot...we even get sewer service at the new site...bonus.

Al was pretty happy to get a day full of football on the radio and TV...his Seahawk killed, the Riders won the second game of the "Banjo Bowl"...very satisfying all around.

After getting the camper put back together, it was close to supper time so Marilyn ordered pizza for the crew...a large deluxe and an extra large meat lovers. Marg had gone to the casino for some 'relaxation' and came home with winnings in the high triple digits, so she offered to buy with her winnings. Marilyn was at the restaurant waiting for the pizza already, so when Marg showed up they went inside to pick up the pizzas...$77!!! For two pizzas?! We asked if that was right and the young girl gave us a bunch of jibber jabber..."the large is this much and the extra large is this much, then we add on $15 to the extra large..." WTF? Marg will be inquiring to management tomorrow...more at 11.

We had a lovely supper just the same, with the rest of the crew...

September 12, 2009

View of the day-The farmer in her Cat combine unloads into the cart...there was a lot of that going on today...we kept the buggy man busy.

Al was up early getting directions and organized for the day. It's later in the year now, so Marilyn thinks the 8am rule should be stretched a bit, especially if we can't get combining right away...staying up until 2am doesn't help either.

After getting the shop trailer hooked up we went out to the field to service the combine. The farmer had it fueled up and we just had to do a bit of adjusting on the pickup head. We tightened the new chain that had stretched a bit, and adjusted the slip clutch on the auger because it kept plugging off and on in the heavy swaths...just enough that a quick hit of the reverser would clean it out, but it still meant stopping, which cut into productivity.

We finished the field we had started yesterday and moved south down the highway to cross the creek to get to the next field. The dust was flying all afternoon and evening so by 9:30pm we had the quarter cleaned up and the rigs parked for the night. After showers and a quick catch up with the campground landlords we were ready to call it a night.

The weather today was perfect for combining and the forecast for tomorrow is more of the same, so once we move to the next field, there will be dust flying again.

We are hoping for another 100+ acre day like today...

September 11, 2009

View of the day-Al and Kim put the finishing touches on the pickup head.

Al was up early getting the header fixed...well, he did the heavy lifting while Kim did all the welding and fabricating. After getting the needed parts in town they were able to get it put together and it is now better than new with all the reinforcements.

After stopping for lunch, Kim went out to combine wheat and we got the combine serviced and moved it out to the canola field. After doing a sample and taking it in to get it tested...it was 7.3% plenty dry for canola...we went over to Kisbey to get the General.

Once Marilyn got back with the pickup, she started right into combining...with 36 ft swaths and tough straw it was slow going to start with, but as the rest of the day wore on things improved and we were able to make some time. Al hauled to the same bins the farmer was hauling to...they were combining canola in another field...so he was held up a couple of times, but we had the cart for back up so there wasn't any waiting.

We combined until 9:30pm, filling the truck for the morning, then went back to the farm to clean up and watch the football game...where did the day go?

At least the rain missed us...

September 10, 2009

View of the day-The old 'header shuffle'. Al straps down our hurtin' pickup head on the trailer, while we get to use Kim's header to finish the job at Kisbey.

Al was up early rearranging headers on the trailer...Kim was good enough to let us use his pickup head since he was straight cutting wheat, so he brought his combine back to the yard after unhooking his straight head out at the field. After taking our straight head off the trailer then putting the pickup head on the trailer for us, his work was done...for us anyway.

We took the header out to the field and swapped it out with the broken one, then Al took the truck to the the bins to dump and Marilyn commenced to combining. We finished the first field then moved over to the last piece we had to do. The combine was having some random power issues...rpms would drop down and the alarms would go off and Marilyn wasn't even in a heavy swath. All the belts were fine, the rads were clean, so we chalked it up to fuel filters...and of course the new ones were in the shop trailer at Carlyle.

After Al had an empty truck for Marilyn, he took the header back to Carlyle and brought back the new filters. Marilyn just took it easy and it seemed to work just fine...until just before Al showed up with the filters...like the combine somehow knew they were coming. Al decided this time to change both filters instead of just the water separator one...which is the easier one that usually gets swapped when there are power issues...most likely because the one in the engine compartment requires being a contortionist...for some reason that engine compartment has shrunk in this newer combine...and it is damn hot!

We got the filters looked after and the combine ran like a top for the rest of the field. The farmer passed through with his rig...he was working on organic oats while we were on the organic wheat. After we finished both fields we went to the yard to get fueled up, since up here in Canada the farmer supplies the fuel. We had quite a lot of time to kill because the fuel tanks are just about the same height as the combine tank and while we waited we noticed a pickup truck that had passed on the highway had stopped, backed up and pulled in the yard.

The young man that got out was the grandson of the custom harvester that Al had started his cutting career with back in 1989. We had a chance to catch up while we fueled, it was a nice visit and it was good to see him again.

Marilyn took Al back to the General at the field and then dropped the pickup off at the bins before driving the combine back to Carlyle. Once Al had the General dumped he came back to Carlyle in the pickup and then we started the header shuffle all over again...getting Kim's taken off, the straight one put on the trailer and the sick header back on the combine. Marilyn thinks we need one more header trailer to avoid all the switcheroos.

We took the outside pickup belt off the header to try and get to the spot where the two breaks were. There were no mobile welders available, so Kim has volunteered to try and fix it since he had to do the same thing to his header last year...let's hope there isn't too much swearing.

The sky was cloudy all day and those clouds were building into something all around us. It sprinkled a bit after we got back to the yard but it looked like the worst of it was going to the east...and it was getting progressively worse as the night wore on.

Let's hope it is well past us and we can make some more dust tomorrow...

September 9, 2009

View of the day-A nightmare for some of the drivers passing through Carlyle today. Marilyn stopped to take a picture, then turned and went the other direction...which is where she was going anyway. A couple of miles after turning the corner she met four houses being moved down the highway taking up over 3/4 of the road...we wonder how they made out trying to get through the roadside check.

What a night...down to 34ºF/1.4ºC...a bit nippy in the camper and no space heater to take the chill off. Good thing Marilyn always packs extra blankets. Getting out of a warm bed in the morning was tough to do, though.

Al was up early and into town to pick up oil and filters for the pickup, then when he got back to the camper, got the oil changed and waited for Marilyn to make the move so we could get things unloaded.

We unhooked the cart trailer, but didn't unload the tractor/cart...we weren't sure if we would be needing it right away. We unloaded the combine and got it ready to go...greased, fueled, windows done...everything in order to start making dust once the grain was fit.

Our first job is 20 miles to the west, so Al drove the combine over to Kisbey and Kim went over to pick him up. Marilyn was on a parts/satellite run to Storthokes/Redvers...parts for Kim's CaseIH 2388 combine and a new satellite system for the camper and home.

Al did a test before coming back to get the General...it was good enough to go, so he started in when he got back to the field. About 20 acres into the job the side of the pickup head that holds the back roller cracked in a couple of places and will now need to be welded.

Marilyn went over to pick Al up from the combine and to inspect the break on the header...it doesn't look good, but hopefully we can get a mobile welder to put things right so we can finish up.

And only 18% humidity...nice...

September 8, 2009

View of the day-The camper and shop trailer get dropped in the pasture so we could race back to Kenmare and get both loads into Canada in one day.

We were up early getting the camper closed up and the tanks drained before heading to Wilton to get the General/combine and shop trailer. It had rained during the night so that made for a sloppy mess trying to get things hooked up, but we finally did and after fueling both rigs up started on the way north.

It rained off and on most of the way but it never amounted to much, we waved at the Freightliner on the way past Kenmare and made the border around 2pm. We stopped at the US side to check everything out of the country, then at the Canadian side to declare our purchases...everything went smooth as silk. We continued on to the farm at Carlyle, then unhooked the camper and returned to Kenmare to get the Freightliner/tractor/cart and header.

We stopped long enough to fuel up and have a chat with our Kansas harvester who was parked at Kenmare...waiting for things to dry up after the rain, then we headed back for the border. The second trip through was even faster than the first one, but we didn't really have to declare anything since it was all done the first go round.

Back at the farm in Carlyle, we unhooked the shop trailer from the camper, planning to just leave it in the pasture where we had parked, then hooked the camper up to the pickup to get it set up by the house. We pulled up beside the shop and Kim asked us if we were going to leave the shop trailer by the bins and we told him we left it in the pasture...he said, "but it's still hooked on behind the camper". We looked in the mirrors and sure enough there it was tailing along.

When we started to unhook it, Marilyn thought it was mighty convenient that we only had to crank it up a short way before removing the safety chains and flipping the latch. The front end of the camper was raised to unhook it from the truck making the back a lot lower....of course, when the camper got hooked up, the back end raised up...and the shop hitch dropped right back onto the ball.

We had a pretty good chuckle over that one...