October 7, 2013

View of the day-Al is on cart duty for part of the day. He followed us around the half section to make sure we could open it up. Garth is unloading into the cart.

Beautiful day out, warm, sunny for most of the day and windy…perfect harvest weather. We were working in the fields around the yard today, so the hauling was all done to the bins via the grain cart. Al had a few shifts in the cart, then spent the rest of the day unloading the semi at the bin.

Marilyn drove combine…and drove…and drove…covering 120 acres. Now that’s productivity. It really helps when the wheat is standing nice and there are wide open stretches with no turning. And the grain cart is a must…no time to stop for breaks.

The only time we took a big break was to fuel the combine and even then it was only 15 minutes before we were back in business.

More of the same tomorrow…

October 6, 2013

View of the day-Brent is keeping an eye on the bin out in the field, heading up the ladder to see how much room is left. It is the camera that makes the bin look like it is on tilt.

Al got the usual unloading, servicing and fueling done, then started combining until Marilyn made it out to the field around 10:30am. After switching out, he went back to filling bins and moving augers…which there was a lot of with the smaller bins and the big yield…getting close to 70 bu/ac.

We finally finished the section of wheat, then moved a mile down the highway to the next quarter section of wheat. Marilyn had been having issues with the feeder plugging and after inspection, Al decided to put the new chain on the reverser. He had been wanting to do this for over a week, but couldn’t get time to do it, but now he had to make time. Once the chain was replace, the problem was solved.

The cat tails are plentiful and really explode when the reels hit them. It’s almost like a blizzard…but let’s hope we don’t see that for a couple or three months.

We kept combining until supper time, then we went into town in two shifts for a delicious supper of turkey with all the trimmings. Jean had worked her magic with the turkey and brought it in to Balcarres to Bob’s mom and dad’s for us to have a feed. Did we mention it was delicious?

Back in the field, the goal was to finish the field and hopefully have enough room for all the grain. We managed to do just that even though we had to leave a bit on the combine.

No sign of rain, so it should be alright…

October 5, 2013

View of the day-It was a bit chunky washing the windows at the fuel pump with all this ice in the bucket.

Al went out to do the servicing and unloading then started combining. Marilyn ran down to Fort Qu'Appelle for groceries, then came back to the camper to get lunch ready. After going out to get something out from under the camper, she saw that the water hose had thawed out...and blew the blue plastic housing off the bottom of the water filter. We'll need a new one of those.

There was no rush to get out to the field since Bob's combine was getting some work done on it, which meant the hauling would be slow to start with. Once Marilyn got out to the field, she took over combining from Al and he went back to hauling grain.

The rest of the day was the same as the other days and with both combines running, we kept going until everything was full, the quit for the night.

Four acres short of 100 for the day...

October 4, 2013

View of the day-Al watching the fueling of Bob's combine as we get set up for the day. Don't let the blue sky fool you...it was pretty chilly out.

Al was out early to do his usual jobs...unloading trucks, fueling, servicing...and Marilyn made the scene around 10:30 and got right into the combine to get started. It was still pretty wet, so the going was slow, but you know the drill. Shut up and drive.

We were short a truck driver...rather, we could have used another truck driver...but once Bob got into the tractor to run the cart, some of the pressure was off Al. The run to the bins was about 16 miles, so he was constantly on the road and unfortunately, the motor that runs the swing part of the auger that goes under the hopper on the semi trailer had quit and Al had to move it manually. Not an easy job when you are used to a remote control doing the job.

Jean brought out supper in the field and while we were getting ready to eat, Al spotted something in the field. A bull moose! It was about a 1/4 mile from where we were set up and we watched as he loped across the field, stopping occasionally to see what we were doing.

By the time we finished eating, the sun had pretty much disappeared and it was cold...really cold. Good thing we had hot cups of tea to warm our hands. We were done for the night.

It took all day for our water hose to thaw out. Looks like tonight will be another hard water night...

October 3, 2013

View of the day-Al had a new ride...for a while, at least...until Phil came out to take over.

Cold, cloudy day meant we wouldn't be starting early. Al was out for his usual unloading of the trucks and servicing the combine, but after a call to Bob, he found the wheat was too wet to go, so he came back to the camper until later in the afternoon.

We had lunch at the camper, then went out to the combine around 2pm and got started. There was only 20 acres left to do in this field and that didn't take very long. 

While Al got the trucks unloaded, Marilyn moved over to the next field about 6 or 7 miles to the NE. This was a full section of wheat, which means no moving for a while, plus we will be working with Bob and that means we have a grain cart. Productivity should go up.

Al got to run the cart for a bit until Phil showed up, then he was back in the semi hauling grain to the bins. We combined until around 8pm, then shut down once everything was full. After stopping in Balcarres to fill the slip tank, we headed back to the camper.

Forecast is for 26ºF/-3ºC...hard water in the hose in the morning...

October 2, 2013

View of the day-The skies cleared off and it's going to be a crisp night.

Al was out early to unload trucks and service the combine. Marilyn got lunch ready and got out to the combine just as Al was getting it warmed up, then it was hammer down and start cutting.

Lots of combining going on all around us again and we just kept on cutting and hauling until the elevator closed at 6, then Al hauled one load to the bins. Once he got back with the truck, we fueled up the combine, then he left Marilyn to combine the trucks full. He stopped in Balcarres to fill the slip tank for the morning, then went back to the camper.

Same old, same old...

October 1, 2013

View of the day-Al combines in the background while his trucks are lined up waiting to be filled.

Al went out to do a bit of work on the combine and after servicing and fueling, got right to combining. We didn't get started until noon, because of the rain last night, but the gauge on the combine only had chaff in it...and it didn't even look wet.

While Al got started combining, Marilyn ran into Fort Qu'Appelle to pick up a few groceries. After getting a quick lunch together, she headed out to the field to take over in the combine. Al was just showing up with a hopper full of wheat to finish off the truckload and after switching seats, we were back in the groove.

The neighbor to the west of us was working on oats swaths, but he didn't make the scene until almost 4pm. He left his auger out, which made Marilyn think he was waiting for his trucker...who never showed up. Once she got close enough to see the combine, it was obvious the hopper was empty.

We got the field done just as the sun was going down and managed to get moved a mile over to the next field. Marilyn moved down the main road and wouldn't you know it, the last 20 ft to the field, there was a 28 ft opening between the trees that she had to get through. The header is 36ft wide.

Normally, wiggling through tight spaces isn't really a problem. With a bit of jigging and jogging, she can usually get through gates narrower than that...but, not when there is water on both sides of a road that is "just so" wide enough for the combine tires. The willow tree on the left side had been dead for some time, so she figured the branches were small enough that they wouldn't be a match for the header. There was a bit of snappage going on as she squeezed through and wouldn't you know, just as she wanted to get out and remove what branches tagged along, the oats trucker was waiting behind her to get down the road. No where to go but into the standing wheat.

Upon inspection, she could see one of the branches had jammed in the end of the reel, bending a couple of light weight braces. after getting out the crescent wrench and doing a bit of "in field fabricating", she had it in a workable state and it was business as usual.

Bob and Al were busy shuttling the trucks over to the new field while Marilyn combined. They decided to just fill the two tandems for the night, so Al took over combining and Marilyn got to get the slip tank filled with fuel, then go back to the camper.

Thankfully, there are a lot less potholes to deal with in this field...