July 31,2008

View of the day-Al picking up on the go in his new ride...we kept him hopping.

We got going around noon after getting the servicing and fueling done. It was a beautiful day, wind from the west for a change and in the high 80's. You could sure tell which side of the parked machinery was out of the wind...the mosquitoes congregated and waited to attack as soon as we entered the calm.

The John Deere had a bit of fixing to do, but Marilyn was able to start combining and with only one machine running for the first hour, Al was able to keep unloading so there was no stopping. Once the JD got rolling he fell a bit behind but it wasn't his fault...it was the truck driver's. With two tandems, a semi and an 800 bushel grain cart, it was all the farmer could do to get back to the field. We even had to sit and wait once while Al took one of the full trucks to the yard and brought back the semi. The crop is running around 60 bu/ac which is the main reason for the backlog.

We finished the field we were on and moved over to the last winter wheat field which was right across the two track trail that divides them. It's surprising the 160 acres we had just finished was a relatively flat piece of ground with a couple of water runs in it and the one we moved to has got rolling hills and there isn't a flat spot on it...or so it seems. On the first round, it did have what we like to call a "window kisser" ...the hills that throw you out of your seat when you are cutting them.

Now those of you from the Washington area...and we include any of the surrounding states that have the real hills/mountains to combine...probably are laughing at what we call "steep" hills. Please remember we are flatlanders who, when we were young would call a gravel pile on the side of a road, a mountain...

We got our 100 acres in today...not bad for starting at the crack of noon and quitting early because the auger at the bin lost a bearing. If everything is up and running we will have the winter wheat wrapped up and be able to start in on the rye...the crop...not the beverage. North Dakota called again and they will be looking for us in about a week.

The spring wheat here won't start until then...

July 30, 2008

View of the day-Marilyn making the rounds on some 65 bu/ac wheat near Gettysburg, SD.

Boy, is there ever action around here! It's almost like Oklahoma...combines everywhere, trucks that look like they are in a convoy...a steady stream to and from town...harvest is in full swing here.

Al went out early with the shop trailer to blow the dust out of the rad, air filter and to service the combine. Once he got all that out of the way, he came back into town to pick Marilyn up so they could get started before lunch.

Both machines were cutting up a storm, with the crop yielding so high, it was only a matter of time before we had everything full and had to wait...only a short while. Everything was getting hauled to the bins on the outskirts of town, and the farmer was hauling with both his tandem trucks while Al ran the cart. Al did run one of the trucks into the bin when we were backed up, but then we got back into the rhythm after the John Deere took a break and we were able to catch up.

Marilyn went to dump in the grain cart which was parked at the end of the field and noticed the JD was parked near it with smoke coming out of the engine compartment. After stopping and giving them our fire extinguisher, they were able to stop the smoldering and clean out the chaff that had collected near the manifold that had started the incident.

We were combining right along the intersection of the two major highways and the harvesting traffic was unbelievable. Most of the winter wheat fields are now cut on the way into town, and there are all colors of machines...the Masseys from the other day, New Hollands across the road, CaseIH and John Deere...as Al likes to say..."This is ACTION!"

We finished the field we were on and moved north a few miles to start in on another one. The bin was full, so we just filled the cart, since the trucks were still at the other field waiting to get dumped.

The weather was threatening for most of the day...storm warnings all afternoon, and those big thunderheads to the north and south. They stayed away from us and we had a pretty productive day...100 acres for our machine. It didn't sound so good up in North Dakota. Al had a call from our farmer in Tuttle, ND...they will be starting barley next week...we just started here.

Surely we won't be shut out in ND this year...

July 29, 2008

View of the day-Black dust comes off the combine...it looked like the combines were on fire...but they weren't. All John Deere today...we aren't prejudiced.

We were up really early...for us...7:30am, awaiting the arrival of the phone man. He was pretty much on time, got us hooked up without a problem and was on his way.

We got off pretty lucky last night with all of the bad weather going around us. There was a tornado just south of Hamill and some hail...good thing we missed it and there was no damage in town.

It was still pretty wet and humid, so we were going to wait to go out to the field until after lunch. After doing a bit of servicing, we did a test and it was still too wet, so we went back to the camper to wait it out for a few hours.

We finally got started around 3pm and made dust...literally...until we finished the field. We were working alongside the farmers combine, but the field was big enough that we never ran into each other. Al was relegated to cart driver, but he had a nice tractor and brand new grain cart to work with. We kept him busy and he did such a great job that we never had a chance to stop for a break or to unload...we made good time.

Looks good for tomorrow...

July 28, 2008

View of the day-Al unloads into the farmer's trucks...he doesn't have to haul anything for the first farmer...so he takes over the combining.

Al got up early to get some running around done...errands that needed to get looked after and people to visit. When he got back to the camper a thick fog had rolled in putting the kibosh on any combining for the day...unless the sun showed up.

Before we went for lunch we stopped at the local truck repair shop to find out about getting a new radiator for the Freightliner. We found out we could get one from Aberdeen, but we would have to take the old one up there...Marilyn volunteered to do it once the rad was out...big city with big stores...how convenient.

After lunch Al went out to change the fuel filter on the combine and Marilyn strolled through the stores downtown. There had been some changes on the main street, a beautiful antique shop, giftware galore, but Marilyn walked home empty-handed. She got lots of exercise on the walk back to the campground...swatting the mosquitoes that were rising in clouds from the grass. With over 8 inches of rain in the last two weeks, the conditions were perfect for breeding the little buggers.

With the humidity and clouds sticking around, we killed some time in the camper then went down to the Firehouse for their annual Harvest Appreciation Supper...steak and free beer. We got in before the rush...there are a lot of harvesters in the area and not a lot were cutting today...and had the best steak in a long time. We had a good visit with some of the locals who recognize us from our years of staying in Gettysburg. As a matter of fact, if you added all the time we have worked in the "Burg" it would be well over a year!

Back at the camper we turned on the weather channel to discover that we were in a tornado watch until 11pm...the way the day felt, it wasn't really a surprise...we knew something was going to come of it. We just settled in for more TV and slow internet.

High speed arrives at 8am tomorrow...

July 27, 2008

View of the day-Massey's lined up in a field outside Gettysburg...apparently they line them up down here...

After getting the camper all battened down, we hooked it and the shop trailer up and left Hamill at 10:30am.

We got to Highmore and stopped to pick up some extra fuel filters from the Case dealer...he happened to be in on a Sunday...imagine that. We also ran into another harvester that we had last seen in Frederick, Oklahoma and had a good gab with him before grabbing a quick snack for the road.

We made Gettysburg in good time, got the Freight parked by the General and then went to the campground to get the camper set up. Once the A/C was pumping, we were just leaving to unload everything when the farmer showed up on the step to let us know it was testing 12.9% moisture so it was go time.

The temperature was getting up into the high 80's and it felt like the humidity was about the same...it was really awful trying to get everything unloaded without passing out. We finally got unloaded, then headed out to the field, stopping at the gas station to fuel up the combine on the way out...again.

We didn't need our trucks since the farmer had two tandems of his own and was already combining with his John Deere combine, so Marilyn got to go back to the camper to get the dish set up while Al combined.

After the camper was in order, Marilyn picked up some supper to take out to the field...it had been a long time since the snack at Highmore. With the humidity getting higher as the sun sunk lower, it was only a matter of a few rounds before it was time to quit and head back to Gettysburg. We are only five miles from town, so it's not too long of a trip.

Back at the camper Marilyn had the choice of heading over to the motel to get wireless access to do the blog, or get the dial-up functioning at the camper, where we have phone hooked up already...the truck didn't move...and neither did the dial-up...very fast anyway.

High speed tomorrow...

July 26, 2008

View of the day-The Hyde County Turbines we pass on the way to Gettysburg. There are 27, 1.5 megawatt turbines, each one is 213 ft tall to the centre of the blade hub. Each blade is more than 110 ft long! The tower diameter is 12 ft and each turbine weighs more than 190 tons. They don't look that big in the pictures, but they are huge when you get right up to them.

We got everything loaded and started on our way around 11am. It was nice to have the wind behind us...well behind and to the side, with a SE wind...it helped none the less. We stopped a couple of times to check the loads and made Gettysburg around 2pm.

Once Marilyn got to town, a check of the parking spot for the trailers was in order. Now, because we aren't on location for long periods of time...things change. Someone had cleaned up the lot and had two bin bases poured, so it looked like we were out of luck to park there this year. We parked behind the Cenex temporarily so we could find a new place for the rigs.

We went by the campground to see if our lot had been given to someone else and were pleasantly surprised to see that it was empty and our next lot neighbor was our old friend from Kansas that we had last seen in Frederick, Oklahoma. After having a half hour chin-wag with him, we were able to secure a new spot to park everything.

We went back to get the General/combine and the header to move over to the new spot, got it parked just as one of our farmers pulled up to let us know that if we needed a spot to park, we could have gone over to his bins. We decided to stay where we were for the time being...a large lot big enough to turn the rigs around without digging up too much turf.

We had a leisurely lunch...not by choice, but courtesy of a young unambitious waitress...well, she had enough energy to be constantly rolling her eyes every time a customer asked her for something...no tip there. After that we headed back to Hamill...via Winner.

We had to go into Winner to pay our fuel bill...not that it wasn't depressing enough to pay the big bill, but we noticed the .20/gal that it had gone down while we were here hadn't happened up north...still $4.79/gal. Good thing it's a short haul for us there.

Once we got back to Hamill, we stopped at the landlords to pay our camping tab, and collect for cutting...and ended up visiting for couple of hours...no sense in getting ready to move too early.

He told us checkout time was 7am...

July 25, 2008

View of the day-Al finishes the second last field of the Hamill stop, against the Hamill Buttes.

We went out to do a test around 12:30pm and the farmer said it was "go time". Al got to start the field as Marilyn went back to the camper to throw some sustenance together for the day.

It was another day for wildlife, as the road out to the field had a dead fawn that the buzzards were picking over, and they kept scattering every time someone passed. There were pheasants of all ages in the wheat...Marilyn actually had to stop to let some wee babies get out of the way of the killer tires. And rabbits...boy are there rabbits...from tiny young ones up to "Jacky" who Al herded over to the camera.

The road into the field was a bit rough, so the farmer had a harder time keeping up...that, and the bin was getting close to full. The guys kept the combine running and after moving up to the last field, we ended up with enough to fill the bin and all the trucks...the farmer even had to take a load to town with his truck.

The cart had a small load on it so after Marilyn took the combine back to the yard where the trailers were, she got the Freightliner running and took it out close to the field where the cart was. The field was up through some pastures on the way up the Buttes, and it just wasn't fair to trundle the old girl...that's the Freight, not Marilyn...all the way to the cart. If you look in the "V" between the trees on the picture, you can see the cart waiting at the field...remember if you click on the picture, you can get a larger view. After a walk back to the first field to get the pickup, Marilyn went back to town to wait for Al to come back from Winner with the General.

After getting the cart emptied and moved back into Hamill, we both went in to Winner with the last load of the stop. Big news for the Freightliner...it was the first load of grain it had hauled to an elevator since Oklahoma! It was getting busier at the elevators with more and more combines in the fields making dust. We did have a wait for one truck, but his holdup was the elevator pit getting full which meant they couldn't open the tailgate very wide.

There was a pile of corn under cover just across the street from the elevator that has just under 200,000 bushels. The elevator man told us when they had the big rains, the water had flooded the area and the water was halfway up the metal sides of the pile...the sides that have aeration holes in them...they haven't looked inside to see what has been happening...

After supper at Subway and fueling up the Freightliner...by the way, fuel has gone down .20 a gallon since we have been here...it was back to Hamill to call it a day.

Tomorrow's a loading and moving day...