July 31

View of the day-One of several little deer that have been chased through the fields while combining.

Another productive day. We were able to get started shortly after 11am, and finished what was left of the field, about 65 acres. Al was concerned because one of the workers at the elevator said they would be closing at 6pm since not a lot of trucks were coming in. After talking to the boss, he found out they would be open until 7:30pm, so he was somewhat relieved.

Marilyn moved the combine to the next field and started in on the first round. The combine was sorely lacking power, even in the thinner swaths, so Al decided a change of fuel filters was in order. We had just changed them in Hamill, but we must have gotten some more contaminated fuel along the way and they were plugged up again.

Since the elevator was closed, Al took over combining and filled the grain truck up for the morning He claims the fuel filters did the trick and the power was back to normal. Marilyn got to go back to the camper and get the laundry stuff together again.

We went to the Firehouse for supper, and what a difference a week makes. Last week you couldn't get a parking place and this week there was one truck and one motorcycle parked out front. One other crew did come in just as we were leaving which must have made the cook happy. We raced down there after calling in and finding out they would be closing the kitchen in 15 minutes.

If it doesn't rain tonight, we could be done here tomorrow, and then the cleanup begins...

July 30

View of the day-Al dumping one of the last loads of winter wheat in the bins at the elevator.

Mission accomplished! We finished the winter wheat today. We actually got rolling around 10:30am, and went all day without any breakdowns.

Al was making it back to the field in good time so he would get to drive the combine for part of the load. His cell phone was keeping him pretty busy with calls from ND farmers looking for harvesters. We always send posters up to the elevators in the area's we will be passing through and have gotten good results.

Al also talked to the agriculture reporter for our local hometown radio station CJGX 940 in Yorkton. He has called in for the past few years to give a harvest update on the custom run. If you're in the area you can probably hear him sometime this week during the ag report, they also have a live feed on the internet and you can listen online at http://www.gx94radio.com/.

We got started in on the spring wheat and managed to get a couple of rounds done before the straw got too tough. The farmer had broken the hub on one of the wheels on his swather and he was trying to get parts in a hurry so Marilyn doesn't have the chance to catch up to him on the next field. We hope he does get it fixed tomorrow because we won't be able to cut it straight with our header 140 miles away. Two fields to go.

There is light at the end of the tunnel...

July 29

View of the day-Al finally gets into the wheat swaths.

Such a day. We went out for an early lunch to beat the church crowd and then went out to the field to get the combine and retrieve the pickup head. It had been dropped off in a pasture a mile away from the field, when we moved through in May.

First off one of the small gauge wheels had gone flat over the month or so that it had been sitting there. That wouldn't have been so bad if the valve hadn't dropped inside and the tube inside had twisted, making it almost impossible to pump back up. We just set that aside for the time being to get the rest of the header greased and the chains oiled.

Then we notice one of the eye bolts that tighten the belts had broken but was still lined up due to the pressure from the rollers. With nothing open in town for parts, we were able to add another nut which fit over the cracked bolt and stabilized the tightener.

Woo hoo we thought, now we can get rolling, we just had to test it. Well apparently it was tightened just a hair too much, and the outside belt started riding over one of the dividers and split at the lacing where it joined together. We decided to take the belt right off, after all there are seven of them, would we miss one on the end?

Marilyn managed to spin the tube in the gauge wheel until she found the valve stem and we were able to pump it up, although we could hear the air leaking, we decided to just "shut up and drive".

We finally got rolling around 3pm...so much for a productive day, at least the swather man was getting ahead of us. Al started out combining, and for a change, nothing got wrecked (not counting the first three hours of the afternoon). Combining worked without the belt, and because the swaths hadn't had time to settle too much and were big and fluffy, the gauge wheel didn't have to ride on the ground to pick everything up.

We still managed to get 50 acres done before the sun went down and Al was able to keep up with just one truck, making it back before Marilyn had to wait with a full hopper. At the end of the day, Al got to go in early with the full truck but couldn't dump it because the elevator closed early on Sunday. Marilyn combined a full hopper for the farmer to save for seed, although they decided not to bring out their truck until tomorrow. Not to often we leave wheat on the combine over night, but there is no forecast for rain, and the grain was testing 9% for moisture...boy, how quick things turn around.

Tomorrow we finish the winter wheat, or else...

July 28

View of the day-Wheat getting swathed so we can maybe combine tomorrow.

We started out getting ready to make part of a move to Sterling. While Al fueled the Freightliner, Marilyn went to the last rye field to get the straight header trailer and drop it off by the combine. Once back at the trailers, we got the tractor and grain cart loaded on the trailer and hooked up to the truck.

We went over to the combine to take off the straight head and load it on the trailer, since we wouldn't be needing it here anymore. Once everything was chained and strapped down, we headed off for point north.

There were a few crews moving north as we travelled along US 83 up to Sterling, ND. It was only 140 miles, which meant we could leave later and make it back home during daylight. It looked like there had been big winds hit some of the fields as the crop was leaning over at about 45 degrees. It seemed strange that it didn't break it over completely, just made it look like Mother Nature had used some gel to give it a funky hairdo. It actually looked dry in some places.

There was the odd field being combined closer to Sterling(which is 25 miles east of Bismarck on I94), but there were a lot more combines on trailers in the parking lot. We had to get harvesting permits for ND, so we got a trooper to meet us at the truck stop and got what we needed. After parking everything next to all the other crews lined up, we headed back to Gettysburg.

We made it back around 7:30pm and driving past the field where the combine was, we could see it was completely swathed.

Maybe tomorrow it will go...

July 27

View of the day-Marilyn praying to the God of electricity to get the truck and trailer lights operational.

Today was a fix it kind of day. Al took one of the tires off the tractor/grain cart trailer to get replaced, then we started in on trying to get all the lights working.

One of the trailer's lighting cable had four splices in it, so after redoing all the bad connections, we decided to just go and buy another 15 foot piece of 7 wire cord and rewire to the first splice. Talk about a "make work" project. The other trailer had no juice going to one of the signal lights, that problem came from the plug on the grain truck missing a couple of wires. By 6pm we had everything lit up like a Christmas tree, we just hope the rough roads don't jiggle something loose.

We drove past the field we had parked the combine in and the farmer had about 1/3 of it swathed. He had finished the first field and moved over around 3pm, so he was making good time. The weeds weren't as bad in the second field so hopefully we will be able to start in on Sunday.

We only have pickup work left to do, so we will be moving the tractor/grain cart and header up to Sterling, North Dakota tomorrow. With the truck and cart out of commission for the rest of the SD harvest, hopefully Al will be able to keep up with the hauling with only one truck. The field is only one mile from town, and in the past the elevator has even sent one of it's big trucks out for us to fill on a Sunday.

The cell phones are ringing with people looking for harvesters in ND and even in Saskatchewan. It seems too early in the season to be thinking about getting back into Canada.

After all, it's still only July...

July 26

View of the day-Sunflower season!

We woke up to the sound of rain, which continued off and on until after lunch. Not much accumulated, but it was enough to shut things down for the day. We sat around watching TV and messing around online, then decided to take a run into Pierre, about 50 miles SW.

There were a lot of spring wheat fields along the way that looked like they were getting ripe enough to cut. There were a few crews parked in the fields and some were loaded and ready to move north. We picked up some parts at Runnings, had supper then Al dropped Marilyn off at the door of WalMart, while he waited in the parking lot watching his portable mini TV.

Just as Marilyn grabbed her cart and breathed the first whiff of WalMart air, she ran into another harvester they had last seen in Oklahoma. He was combining about 90 miles west of Gettysburg, and they had gotten 4.8 inches of rain last night. They only had 190 acres left and would have finished it today, but that dang rain. He was on his way out with a cart full of goods, so he hunted Al down in the parking lot and had a good gab, catching up with all that had happened with his harvest season.

The front has passed and now we are in the clear for rain for the next while, that should dry things down. We will kill some more time fixing a few things and maybe move the tractor/grain cart and straight header up to North Dakota, since the rest of our work here only requires the pick-up head.

As long as the rest of the wheat gets swathed soon...

July 25

View of the day-Well hidden cactus and thongs, don't go together.

Al took the Dodge into the shop to get a new slave cylinder put on for the clutch. He got it out of hock at 11 and then we had to find out what to do with the 250 bushels of 15.8% moisture rye that was on the truck from the night before. The farmer decided to just dump it on the ground and use it for feed.

We moved the combine over to the winter wheat and took a test. Because of the weeds the moisture was 16.8%, but after they took the weeds out it was 13.8. Al heard a ticking noise from the engine compartment and after inspection found one of the small jacks holding up the engine cover had lost a bolt and was dangling into the engine fan. It managed to carve some notched into the fan blades, but that was the extent of the damage.

The farmer decided to swath the rest of his wheat so the weeds would dry down and not be so much of a problem. We helped him get his swather hooked up, which is where the cactus was hiding, and he started in on the winter wheat.

We went to get the grain cart from the other field and found the batteries were dead because Marilyn had left the flashers on when she moved from the rye field. We managed to get it boosted and moved over to the combine to empty out the sample. We moved it back to town by the trailers to put the battery charger on to get it back up to charge.

The temperature got up to 104 again and there was a chance of rain in the forecast for tonight. The clouds built up in the west, but cleared off after sunset, so we have our fingers crossed that it doesn't rain. We have to wait a couple of days for the wheat to cure so there might be some cleaning going on. The good news is the cold front is supposed to be coming through so there will be a "cool down".

It might not be too bad to work outside, for a change...