July 9, 2011

View of the day-St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Leibenthal..made out of post rocks.

A day of laying low...Al decided to pass on the auction sale, but Marilyn didn't change her mind about shopping in Hayes. Al passed on the shopping trip as well because he had a 3pm date with the satellite and the Saskatchewan Roughriders...unfortunately they let him down...another loss.

Marilyn covered the mall and WalMart before stopping at Pizza Hut and grabbing some take out for Al. Air conditioning was the only way to go today...100º+.

Now it's early to bed so we can be on the road to Hamill, SD with the first load. AIS is 6:30am...

July 8, 2011

View of the day-A trip to the Barton County Fair and a viewing of the wash bay as the steers get a shampoo.

A road trip to Great Bend was the main thing on the agenda today...get a few parts, maybe do some shopping, check out the fair...that sort of thing. We got everything but the shopping done...Marilyn was just not in the mood...shocking, for sure.

We went out to settle up with Ken and Kevin, then Marilyn insisted on getting a picture of Kevin's son, Maitland's, entry into the barbed wire sculpture for their county fair...a tornado. Nobody better steal his idea just because she posted a picture...it was just to awesome not to share.

There is an auction sale in Leibenthal tomorrow that Al wants to check out, so we thought we would see if they would let us have a quick peek...no chance...everything was closed up tight. We took our purchases out to the shop trailer, then Al decided he should take the shop trailer tire, that had the leaky valve, off and get it fixed so we wouldn't have to deal with it on the road.

We got back to the camper and had supper, then Al buckled in for a couple of CFL football games and Marilyn took a walk out to the bunker to see how the covering had progressed. It was a perfect evening for a walk...light breezed, mild temperatures and most importantly...no bugs!

Al has the auction and a CFL Riders game...Marilyn will force herself to go to Hayes for some 'retail therapy'...

July 7, 2011

View of the day-Cleaned off from the rain and all loaded...ready to head north. If you look really hard to the left of the header, you could see the purple Massey.

Marilyn had hopes of getting to the restaurant next door before the egg cut off time of 10:30am, but Al decided to let her sleep in. With only 15 minutes until the menu change, Marilyn got Al to run over and order breakfast...something he wasn't to keen to do since the waitresses weren't the friendliest yesterday when we went in for lunch. Apparently 10:30am is really 10:15 in Kansas time...but Al managed to persuade them with only 4 minutes to go and we got our damn eggs.

After we had breakfast, we went to the card lock to finish loading the rigs. It had rained during the night...anywhere from .30" in LaCrosse, to almost an inch where we had the equipment parked...which washed everything down quite nicely. It was cooler and cloudy, perfect for loading but the sun was working hard at melting the clouds, so we got right down to business.

We got the tractor and cart loaded and hooked up to the Freightliner, then loaded the combine and got it hooked up to the General. We had a bit of dressing up to do as we put new warning flags and oversize load signs on the General's load, then got the camera hooked up in the combine so Al could do some maneuvering to get the shop trailer hooked up behind the combine trailer. Once that was done we were finished for the day...and not any too soon since the clouds had pretty much dissipated and the heat was rising.

We stopped in Leibenthal to check out Pat's Beef Jerky...sorry Pat, it's good, but it doesn't hold a candle to Ottenbreit's in Grayson. When we got back to LaCrosse, Marilyn had decided she couldn't handle her hair anymore...way too many hat days...she got Al to drop her off a local hairdresser who was able to take her right away. After the haircut, we drove past the bunker of wheat to see the guys getting the pipes set to go under the tarp. Probably hoping to get that job done before the mercury rises past the 100º mark the rest of the week.

After getting cleaned up, we went to Rush Center to have supper with Ken, Kevin and their families, then went back to the camper. We were just getting ready to turn into the campground when Marilyn spotted the Schwan's truck over at the gas station, so we drove over so she could get a catalogue and fill up the freezer. We have been down here for almost two months and we have yet to find a truck that was not going in the opposite direction that we could catch...not anymore.

Tomorrow we take a road trip to Great Bend...

July 6, 2011

View of the day-A unique custom combine, almost ready for the Demo DerbyWe woke up to clouds and a lot cooler temperatures...a perfect day to do some machinery cleaning. We had lunch, then went to Rush Center to get the General from the Coop.

Earlier, we had tried to get fuel at the card lock where we had the rigs parked, but it wouldn't take credit cards and since we had an old account there from several years ago, they suggested we get some cards made up. We went to the main office and had our new cards within 15 minutes...what a difference from at home. There they want everything but your first born, a new application every year and a limit based on a percentage of your fuel usage. Two fills of the grain trucks and the combine and you are way over what they figure you need...and that's a Coop as well. At least somebody wants our business.

By the time we got out to the card lock, the sun had chased away the clouds and the east wind was blowing hard...which was going to help with the cleaning. Marilyn started blowing off the combine and header, which took the better part of the afternoon, while Al got the oil changed on the pickup, then we loaded the header onto the trailer and strapped it down. Marilyn wanted to get everything else loaded and hooked up so we would be done with it and be able to relax, but the clouds had disappeared so the heat was taking it's toll and it didn't take much to change her mind.

While we had been doing the cleaning, Marilyn noticed a farm yard just across the way from where we had parked and notices what looked like a purple combine...kind of a Massey-looking purple combine. A sprayer pulled out of the yard and came over to the card lock to fuel up so Marilyn went over to talk to him about what it could possibly be. He told her it was a Massey combine painted with the Kansas State colors and remade into a demo derby combine...so we just had to take a look at it before we went back to town.

When we got over there, we were able to talk to the driver of the combine, Kyle Zimmerman, and he proceeded to tell us all about the changes he had made to it. He also told us he has other combines that he runs in the demo derby's...one which is coming up in Hayes on July 22. Now we are trying to figure out how far along the South Dakota crops are and how we can work out coming back to check the derby out. It sounds like it would be a blast.

Back at the camper we got cleaned up and went out for supper to a local sub joint, then came back to the camper to wait out the storm...if it ever gets this far.

But we know better than to underestimate the power of mother nature...

July 5, 2011

View of the day-A stack of post rocks sit next to all that's left of the fence line.

Al was up early to get the semi and grain cart unloaded so the farmer could settle up and get on his way back home to Dallas, TX. Once that was looked after, we stopped for lunch, then went out to rescue the General from the other field and get it unloaded.

While Al was unloading the truck, Marilyn went out to the bin site and got the Freightliner started and backed into position to hook up to the empty trailer. She also had to load all the ramps, boomers, chains and straps into the box of the truck...all this in 103º heat, with no real wind to help move the sweat around. Al showed up just as she was getting the last of the second pile moved into the truck, then he backed in with the General so we could use the hydraulics to lift the trailer high enough to hook up the Freight to it. We usually have the tractor loaded on the trailer and use its hydraulics, but it was still out at the field 30 miles away.

We got the trailer hooked up and ready to go, then hooked up the combine trailer to the General...then discovered the inside back dual tire was flat, due to a nail sticking in it...that would need to get fixed. We hooked up the high speed transport header trailer to the pickup and headed for Rush Center, where we would stop at the Coop to see about getting the tire fixed.

Al talked to the tire man and he couldn't get it done right away, so Al figured since there wasn't really any weight on the tire, we would just run it up to the field north of Leibenthal where we were going to do all our loading, drop off the trailer and bring the General back to the tire shop...which we did.

After dropping the General off, we went out to the field to get the combine and header moved to the loading field, then went back for the tractor, cart and shop trailer, moving them to the same place so they could get cleaned up and loaded. Once we got back to the camper, Al took the semi back down to Ken's farm, then got a ride up to the bin site to get the Freightliner and trailer to take them to the loading spot.

With all the moving done in the unbearable heat, it was great to get back to the air conditioned comfort of the camper and get cleaned up and get the satellite dish aimed. Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler...highs of 89º, cloudy with a chance of rain.

Let's hope there is a strong wind to help with the cleaning...

July 4, 2011 - Happy Independence Day!

View of the day-The church at Leibenthal, KS in the heart of Post Rock Country.

What is the point of shooting fireworks off at 7am…it’s daylight, so you don’t get the full effect and you waste your evening fun, plus you pi$$ off the neighbourhood. Oh well, Al did want AIS at 9am with the camper hooked up and ready to go…and it was.

We didn’t stop anywhere on the way out of Great Bend with the camper and made it to the campground in LaCrosse in no time at all. The landlord was just mowing what little grass had grown so we had to wait a bit to get parked, but once we got backed in and had everything hooked back up, we were set for a few days.

We grabbed a snack, then headed for the field, did a bit of servicing and then Marilyn cranked it up. Al got Kevin to bring his semi out and it didn’t take long to get it filled since we had a heaping cart load from last night. Al got hold of the elevator guy and they were good enough to dump us twice during the day which left us with enough room to finish the field well before the sun went down.

Al brought the semi into the campground and Marilyn scouted out the new loading spot that we had found just north of Leibenthal. It is always interesting to think about the number of times we have passed through some of these little towns along our tour, wondering about life carrying on in them as if we don’t exist…and we really don’t as far as they are concerned…then all of a sudden you are working in the area becoming one of the locals for a short time. What town will be next?

Back at the camper, we watched the Independence Day celebrations from Washington, DC…wishing we would have waited just one more day in Great Bend to see their fireworks show.

Not to worry, it sounds like we might get a local flavoured show here…

July 3, 2011

View of the day-A ring of wheat outside Lacrosse, KS.

Today was the day to move to the last field we have to do in this area. We went out for lunch, then headed out to the field to get the combine ready to start roading over to the next field…about 20 miles away.

Al went ahead with the header and Marilyn followed in the combine, it took a while to finally get there but it was nice to see some different countryside at slow speed. We got to the field and after cutting a patch to see how the moisture was, we went back to get the tractor, cart and shop trailer.

Marilyn went ahead with the shop trailer, but had to stop on the side of the road to air a tire up on it that had gone low…good thing the compr

essor was in the trailer. By the time she got back to the field and fired up the combine, the farmer had stopped by for a ride, so away they went to open up the field. They rustled up a herd of mule deer that were hiding in some deep grass…they even stood long enough to get a picture.

Al showed up with the cart just as Marilyn had a full h

opper, so after dumping the grain and her co-pilot, she carried on combining until the cart was full. The General had a load on from the last field and we wouldn’t get to dump it until Tuesday, so it was out of commission and the cart was all we had for the day.

Because we are at least 53 miles from Great Bend, we decided to pack up the camper and move to the campground at LaCrosse tomorrow, so the drive out to the field will be cut down. We will also be loading the rigs on the trailers at Leibenthal, which will help even more because it is even further north.

Now if only the elevator would be open tomorrow…