June 11, 2011

View of the day-The hammer is down on the last field of canola, before the storms hit.

Al was up early to get the load of canola over to Dacoma, then back to the field to dump what was left of the field on the cart. He left the General out at the field by Alva and got a ride back to the camper with the farmer. We went out to the field to get the combine and Al drove it over to the field while Marilyn stopped back at the camper to pick up the new part for the combine that ProHarvest had dropped off…talk about service!

Out at the field, Marilyn got started with the outside rounds. The field looked flat as a table, which would be a nice treat after picking up swaths on the terraces of the last few fields. Looks can be deceiving. Carving through the middle of the field was a waterway canyon that ‘y’ed off in two directions…well, perhaps not a canyon, maybe gorge would be a better description.

We had been hearing reports of bad weather possibly popping up during the afternoon but most of it seemed to be going around us. Our luck didn’t hold out because right after Marilyn had given the farmer’s mother a ride around the field, the rain started. It wasn’t a gully-washer like the one that hit us a few days ago, but it was enough to shut us down.

Al had enough for a load, so Marilyn rode in to the elevator with him while we unloaded, then we hogged up the parking lot with the grain truck and had supper at McDonalds. We went back out to the field and by the time we got out there, the sun was shining so Marilyn went out and did a test…good to go again. We got another 20 acres done before the sprinkles started again, so we quit for good and went back to the camper.

There are all kinds of storm warnings out…tornadoes to the far west of us, hopefully not coming our way…or anyone’s way, for that matter.

And Marilyn was twice by Walmart today without going in…

June 10, 2011

View of the day-This poor spider had his work cut out as it made its web while Marilyn was combining. The wind never broke the web, even though it was spanning 3ft between the mirror bar and the hand rail. The bonus for the spider was that the lights were attracting all kinds of flying insects that didn’t have a chance.

We got to sleep in a bit because of the rain shower from last night. We did a bit of surfing at the library…Al had to get caught up with the blog since he had not read it for a few days. We had lunch and after that Marilyn headed out service and do a sample.

Al had the General in town from the night before so he had his own wheels and waited to hear from Marilyn if the canola was dry. He got the call that it was good to go so he headed out to the field. It had finally cooled down a bit…if you can call 90º cooler. Things were going good until Al got a call from Marilyn on the radio that she had no hydraulics…and she had to be in the farthest corner of the field.

Well after looking things over Marilyn found that a rod that holds the tightener pulley on the hydraulic pump had broken and the belt that runs the pump had jumped off the pulley. A quick call to the CaseIH dealer in Fairview only to find out they don’t have one. The ProHarvest truck in Pratt, KS did, but that was 90 miles away. We made a quick call to Butch back at Butler Welding and after a trip into Cherokee, he got us fixed up and going in no time.

After that, things were pretty uneventful…Al hauled in a few more loads to Dacoma and he took the General with the last load of the night in to the camper to catch the last few minutes of the hockey game.

Meanwhile, Marilyn finished the field and dumped the remaining canola in the cart for Al to haul in tomorrow. We will have to move about 25 milesto our last field of canola and if the rain holds off we just might finish it.

And the weekend is here again…

June 9, 2011

View of the day-Al picking up canola in the wind, yet again.

Al was up early to take his load of canola to Alva, then he went out to the field, serviced the combine and started on the canola. Marilyn came out later to take over and finish off the rest of the field.

We moved a mile down the road and started in on another quarter of canola…odd how this one is running almost 25bu/ac and it is just down the road from the last field that went around13bu/ac. Productivity was down a bit on this one as there were some ‘window-kissing’ terraces to work up and down…shut up and drive.

We had been listening to the weather band all day and the forecast was for more bad weather but we had high hopes that it would miss us. Al had taken the first load into the elevator at Dakoma which was a few miles closer than Alva, but still a jaunt. He jumped in and combined until he had a cart load, then waited while Marilyn made another round to top off the truck. While at the north end of the field, Al mentioned that there were some rain drops hitting his window on the tractor but Marilyn doesn’t quit until it is running off the header, so she was able to get enough to fill the truck…even though the wiper had to be used a couple of times.

More warnings were coming on the radio and Al was off to Dacoma again, with reports back that the highway was wet…and news on the weather band that Cherokee had two inch hail…ouch. Al called back to say he had hit a wall of rain and if Marilyn was near the south end of the field, perhaps she should bail out. She did just that as the rain and wind started, but she still had to tarp the grain cart after she unloaded the combine. She got that job done just in the nick of time and after driving the combine over to the pick-up, raced out to the highway as it let loose and just poured.

Back in Cherokee, she waited for Al to get back to town and swung by the camper to see if the hail did any damage…no signs of it anywhere. Once Al got back to the camper,we went to Miss Dotties and while we were sitting ther, the skies opened up again, with hail…pea size…and lots of rain. This should make the farmers happy to finally get some of the wet stuff.

Not so good for combiners, though…

June 8, 2011

View of the day-Repair job complete.
Al was up at the crack of dawn and on his way to Pratt to pick up the coupler that we needed to fix the header. Marilyn stayed back at the camper and got things ready to go once we were able to get started back in the field.

Al was able to stop for coffee with Lee Petersen, a fellow Canadian harvester who had just moved up to Pratt. Lee was on his way back to Canada to do some more seeding while his crew waited on some wheat around Pratt. Once Al got the part he was back in Cherokee by 10:30 and they went to work getting everything back together.

There was a bit of tweaking to do to get things lined up properly, but before long they had it assembled and tested for quality assurance so we were good to go. Al moved the combine out to the field and rode around for a couple of rounds to make sure everything was going to work as it should. Franklin, one of the farmers showed up and helped Al move the cart and pickup to the next field about 7 miles SE of where we were.

Marilyn got the field finished, then Al took the load to Alva while she moved to the next field and started in on it. It was another 106º day with a brutal south wind…again…that made picking up the swaths going north quite the task once the sun went down…you could hardly see the swath in the white out from the dust and chaff.

There were weather warnings to the north of us as the clouds moved in just before sunset and by the time we quit the lightning was flashing. Just as we parked the combine to fuel it, the wind switched to come out of the north and by the time we got back to Cherokee, the nasty stuff had moved NE leaving us unscathed.

The header worked like a charm on the 120 acres we did today…

June 7, 2011

View of the day-Another blaze just north of Cherokee.

We started off with good intentions, Marilyn took Al up to the combine and af

ter servicing the combine, left him there to start picking up canola again. It didn’t take long before her phone was ringing…it was Al and the header had given up the ghost. It was the same issue that we had worked on last fall in Carlyle…apparently the jerry-rig didn’t last too long. Perhaps the steep terraces had something to do with it.

We started looking for the part that we needed on the roller shaft…first online, then through our network of dealers that were close by. We figured it wasn’t going to be easy…and we were right…not a lot of call for pick-up heads down here. Straub’s out of Great Bend were able to order us one from Kansas City and it will be in Pratt, KS first thing tomorrow morning, so we have a road trip scheduled.

Al brought the combine in to the local welding shop to see if there was something he could do. The slot that the keyway went into on the roller shaft that drives the draper belt was all busted out from the sheave slopping around. We certainly didn’t want to have to put a whole new roller in, so Dr. Butler put his mind to the situation and fabricated a fabulous piece of work by cutting of the bad part of the shaft and building a coupler. Absolutely amazing…if it works.

While we were at the welding shop the fire sirens went off in town and after looking to the northwest we saw huge plumes of smoke…not a good day for a fire…the wind was blowing at about 30 MPH out of the southwest and, yes, the temperature was warm it was around 104 degrees.

We have a 150 mile round trip in the AM, then we’ll get the combine back together and start back in the canola…at least, that is the plan.

We could have done without this day off…

June 6, 2011

View of the day-Al working the terraces on the outside round of the canola.

Another killer day…106ºF and not a cloud in the sky…there was still a wind, but it helped to stir the heat…at least that is what we are telling ourselves.

John picked up Al first thing in the morning to give him ride to get the tractor and header from Carmen. Marilyn met him out at the combine and after servicing and moving across the road to the canola, we got started with the pickup work. We had some issues getting things set right and Marilyn is convince the yield monitor is still now quite right, but…shut up and drive.

With 21ft swaths, Marilyn was able to clip right along…except for the terraces. The swatherman had gone north and south on the field and on the far north end, the terraces were doozies which slowed down productivity. Al picked up the headlands and after Marilyn ran into town to pick up some groceries for lunch, it was time for her to take over.

The canola wasn’t running all that good, even though the swaths looked like they might be holding a lot. The moisture was down around 5% and at the high point of the afternoon the grain temp on the monitor was 129º! Marilyn thought the surprizing thing was that even though the heat had been brutal, there was no shattering in the swaths, no seeds sitting on the feeder house like usual with canola, and the pods that had collected on the header bracket had not been broken open either…someone sure has been working on adaptability. At one point, there was a dust devil that passed across the field and it picked up clumps of canola almost 100ft in the air. If you look close at the picture, you can see a couple of them…Marilyn didn’t get to the camera quick enough to catch the big one.

Al was hauling the canola to Alva, about 25 miles west of Cherokee. They were putting it into a concrete silo where it will sit until it gets trucked out to Oklahoma City to get crushed. He had an easy day of hauling with just two loads, but the heat didn’t make him very happy…he did get to take a break to watch a bit of the hockey game while he waited for Marilyn to get a load for him.

It was 120 acre day, even with the small swaths…

June 5, 2011

View of the day-Al waits by the barn for a load of wheat.

It was moving day and we were heading south…to do some combining, at least. We got things unhooked and ready to move, Marilyn took the combine, John pulled the header and Al brought the pickup.

Once we got to the field and got the header hooked up, Marilyn started combining while Al, John and Ron went back to get the rest of the stuff. Al had to dump the General and then go back out to dump the cart before he could come back to Carmen. Ron had the honors of moving the tractor and grain cart out to the field and even though he left before Al had gone to dump the truck in Cherokee, he was the last to get to the field.

It was another hot and windy day…broken record, but it’s true…over 100ºF again, which is perfect harvesting weather. The farmer wanted a load of seed wheat, so Marilyn started in the best looking part of the field and got 300 bushels squeezed into their grain truck, then it was full speed ahead.

With no major setbacks, other than a couple of trips out to dig the dirt out of the header, the field went faster that it had in past years, even though it was so short in places the header was travelling on the ground…hence the dirt digging. One good thing about mowing is that the stubble is so short that the bathroom breaks aren’t so painful…all that will change tomorrow when we start in on the canola.

We finished up around 8pm and after getting the header unhooked, Marilyn started the drive back to Cherokee…well, a few miles south of Cherokee…to the canola field. Al brought the General over once he had gotten it dumped and then Ron met us and took us back to the pickup. Tomorrow we go back for the cart, then get set to do the canola.

Could be interesting…