October 17, 2013

View of the day-Al finishes off yet another bin of flax.

We were both out at the field this morning to get organized for the move to the next field. Marilyn had to get retrained on how to service the combine...it had been quite some time since she had last handled the grease gun and fuel nozzle. It all came back in no time at all and once the combine was warmed up, we were ready to make the move.

We got the General moved first after it was unloaded, then came back for the combine. Once we got to the field, Marilyn started cutting to see how it was going to work. It didn't. After going about 10 ft, the flax wrapped around the auger and Al was back to pulling straw. We figured we would take a break, since it was still only 11am, and went down to Fort Qu'Appelle for lunch.

The Dairy Queen was our choice...we had eaten at the one in Yorkton just last week and they have a couple of specials that are reasonably priced...for Canada. We had finished our lunch and were topping up our beverage and the pop machine that was out on the floor for the customers, when the "soda cop" comes running over and says "refills are $1.05". What?? Apparently all DQ's are not the same...usually when the pop machines are out for the customer to fill, refills are free. We dumped our cups and gave them back to her.

Back at the field, we tried several strategies...changing directions, staying out of the downed flax, nothing worked...10 ft and we were pulling again. This was not going to work today. After talking to Bob, he suggested moving over to another field to see if that would make any difference. Boy, did it ever! This flax was going through like butter and Marilyn was even able to see the top side of 3 mph. Considering we never got started until 3pm and we were still able to get almost 70 acres done.

Once Marilyn was on a roll and Al got the truck unloaded one last time, he went back to the camper to watch his Seattle Seahawks make short work of the Arizona Cardinals...a good end to his day. Marilyn got one truck filled before it started to get tough, then Al came out to pick her up.

There could be a light at the end of the tunnel...

October 16, 2013

View of the day-Weird cloud around a bright moon.

More of the same today. Al went out to service and unload, letting Marilyn know that noon would be plenty early for her to get to the field. She was just about to go out around 11am when she looked into the storage compartment under the camper and found a lot of water. Apparently another pinhole had rubbed through the small hose running to the water filter for the fridge.

It took about a half hour to get the water cleaned up with the shop vac and once the water had been shut off, she was on her way to the field.

Al had been having issues with the feeder chain jumping a link on one side when a wad of flax straw would go through, so we set about trying to work around it. We got the feeder chain tightened just slightly more than where we had usually had it adjusted, then we figured we should tighten up the feeder clutch springs, to see if that would help with the plugging. It did...a lot. So we were off to the races...if we were a turtle.

The rest of the day was spent trying to get the field done and at about 8pm, Al figured we had better call it a night. Marilyn thought she could see the end of the field, so we chugged along until it was finished...with no plugging to speak of. It was slow going though.

Let's hope we don't get the "s" word, as forecast...

October 15, 2013

View of the day-Working on the second bin surrounded by the lumpy flax swaths. No one wants to bale it, so it will be raked into piles and burned.

Al was out early with high hopes of starting at noon. He got the combine serviced and fueled, unloaded the trucks, then gave it a try. He got about 20 ft and the feeder plugged. He then called Marilyn and told her there was no rush to get out to the field and he would call after he got the first hopper...whenever that would be.

That worked out good for Marilyn since she had discovered the fresh water holding tank was empty and she was going to have to work on getting the hoses to the hydrant thawed out. Once she got them all unhooked, she dragged them out to the road in front of the camper and waited for the sun to work its magic.

Al finally got going and gave Marilyn a call to come out to the field, just as she was getting the hoses hooked back up and the holding tank filled. By the time she took over in the combine, it was already 2pm...that cuts the productivity down quite a bit. It was going to get even shorter for her as she was leaving to go to Yorkton at 5:30 for a drama rehearsal.

The beavers have been busy around this field, chewing down trees and trying to survive in the ponds that are slowly drying up. Would have been nice if they would have felled these the other direction, or at least dragged them to the hut.

After making sure the trucks were empty for Al to fill in her absence, she took off for Yorkton and left Al to combine. He managed to get one of the trucks heaped and the other one started, before the feeder plugged and the chain jumped a link. He decided to leave it for the morning, since it was already 8pm and the straw was tough...again.

Marilyn enjoyed the view on the way to Yorkton...another beautiful sunset...

October 14, 2012

View of the day-Short haul to the bin for this field, as Al does the early shift cutting flax.

Al went out early to service and unload the truck. Bob had been out to set the auger up at the first bin in the lineup, so it was good to go. Marilyn was supposed to be out at the field around 11am, but after Al tried to cut a bit, he called back and changed it to noon.

Marilyn took the opportunity to run down to Fort Qu'Appelle to refill one of the water jugs at the grocery store and get fuel in the pickup. She got half the job done, realizing as she was 10 miles back to the field, that she had forgotten to fuel up. Oh well, the alarm wasn't going off, so we should be good for a few more miles.

Marilyn rode along while Al combined the General full, and it was a good thing she was along. During the first six or so rounds, the feeder would plug and she had to jump out to do the pulling. Good exercise, but it did cut into productivity  Combining went really well during the sunny heat...if you can call 60º "heat"...of the afternoon. No plugging and it was cutting really nice...if only it could stay like that. We could really notice the difference when the sun went down. 

Al got the General emptied out, then after getting the south patch done, we had to move to the north end of the field. By this time the temperature had dropped quite a bit and it was getting tough, even though we were cutting around any of the raggy downed flax. 

Al took over combining and Marilyn went back to the camper to see if she could still get any water from the hose to fill the holding tank in the camper. Nope...just a trickle. Hopefully it will thaw out in the morning before she has to go to the field and she can fill it then. But tonight the showers will be quick to conserve what we have.

Al tried to continue combining, but it had gotten really tough and after cleaning out a couple plugs of the feederhouse, he quit for the night.

A little wind would sure help the cause...

October 13, 2013

View of the day-Not a ripple on the pond means no wind and slow drying.

We had gone home for a night due to the rain and stayed at home, which meant most of the electronics were back at the camper...hence no post yesterday. But here's what happened...

We were up and at 'em early to get the toy trailer unloaded and the packing list "refreshed". Marilyn had come up with a way of keeping track of where all the farm toys were packed, just in case someone would ask her for a specific toy when Al wasn't around. With the list, she was able to find it without any issues at the toy shows. Unfortunately it is a pain in the a$$ to put them back in the same boxes, since a lot of them get sold and it is easier to consolidate them...which means a new list every toy show. The biggest problem is that after the last show, it doesn't get done and then to top it off there are all the new toys purchased from throughout the summer that need to be added in. It's all done now.

While we were doing the cataloging, Al had Marilyn take pictures of the toys he was going to put in the auction in February. She also had to get them up on the JAKz website...but that had to wait for a return to the camper and the laptop. We got everything tucked nicely away and the lists all made up, ready for the first show of the season...next weekend in Regina. Al is pretty sure we will still be combining, but he will take a bit of time off to help Roger get set up at the show, since Roger is finished his harvest for the season.

We were going to stay overnight again and go back to Balcarres on Sunday, but since they only got "a tenth at the field", we thought we might have to start combining earlier than anticipated. So we went back to the camper, even though it meant Al was going to miss seeing the return match between the Terriers and Millionaires in Melville. Too bad, really...the Terriers won this time.

Today, Al finished getting the guards on the header...the JD guy must not be able to count, because we were 4 guards short and had to use the best of the used ones. We had a quick lunch at the camper, then went out to the field to do a test...it was plenty dry. The new knife and sections really made a big difference in the cutting, now we hoped we wouldn't have an issue with the wiry straw wrapping.

Since the piece we were on was only 15 acres, Al wanted to combine so he could listen to his Seattle Seahawks NFL game on the Sirius radio. Marilyn went back to the camper...only a couple miles from the field...and waited for Al to let her know when he was finished.

After she got the call, we moved 15 miles to the next field, then went back to get the General. Al had to unload the wheat that was in it from the last field that Bob had used it on, then he came out to the flax field, where Marilyn had started combining.

By this time the sun had gone down and the straw got pretty tough. Marilyn had been out a couple of times to pull straw, then when Al took over combining, he was left with the job of pulling straw...in a blur. We figured we might as well shut it down for the night and head for the camper.

Tomorrow that flax is "going down"...

October 11, 2013

View of the day-Rain, rain and more rain...at home in Yorkton, at least.

Al was up early to finish up changing the guards and sections on the header. He was down to the last three feet, when he had to go get the General out of the field before the rain started. By the time he got back to the header, it had already started to come down, so he put his tools away and came in out of the rain.

We decided to get a few things done in Yorkton during the day, then Al was going to the Yorkton Terriers/Melville Millionaire game in the evening. We went out to the farm and picked up the toy trailer that Al uses for his winter hobby...farm toys. There was a moment of panic on the way to town when Al realized that the keys to the locks on the trailer were back at Balcarres in the little Dodge. Fortunately, he had only set the lock on the back door to "look" like it was locked and we were in the clear...and in the trailer.

We backed up to the garage to unload some of the boxes to make room for the load that had been delivered to Minute Muffler, that Al's farm toy "cohort", Mike, owns. We were able to get squeezed in for an oil change on the dually before loading up the 20 odd boxes that were there. Apparently, we didn't get enough boxes moved out of the trailer...or it could have been that Al was doing the packing, instead of Marilyn...either way, one of the big ones had to go into the back seat.

The first toy show of the season is next weekend in Regina, Al isn't sure he can make it, so he is getting things organized so his buddy, Roger, can take over in his absence.

While the Dodge was getting it's oil changed, we walked down a few doors to H&R Block, to have a visit with Al's co-workers from his off season job as tax preparer. Curtis, his boss, was working hard at trying to get Al riled up over the hockey game, since he is a Millionaire fan and Al is a Terrier fan. These two teams are from neighboring towns and there has always been a healthy rivalry between them...Al and Curtis had a huge wager on the game. The loser was going to have to buy the cookies after the game.

We met for steaks before the game with Curtis and Marilyn's theatre friend, Pam. The girls were going on a prop/furniture finding mission for the upcoming production, up at their storage locker at Ebenezer, 10 miles north of Yorkton.

More toy trailer cleaning and preparing tomorrow, so we will stay in our house tonight.

And Al had to buy the cookies...

October 10, 2013

View of the day-The flax looks like it is almost ready...except for the green stems...could be trouble.

Al went out to get the trucks unloaded and the combine serviced, while Marilyn waited at the camper for further instructions. Then it started to sprinkle...then rain. This was not in the forecast.

After about half an hour it quit, but even though it was only a short shower, Marilyn was pretty sure there wouldn't be any combining for a while.

Al showed up just after noon with the news that Garth had jumped across to finish the last few acres that we had left before the rain came. We were done with the wheat and the only thing left to do was flax, but unless the sun came out and it dried up, it didn't seem like it would go today.

We got the combine moved back to the yard and did a bit of work on the General's tarp...it didn't seem to want to open evenly. Got that looked after, then went back to the camper to wait it out.

Bob wanted a test done on the some of the first flax he had planted, so we moved out to the 15 acre patch which was a mile from the yard. We took the spreaders off, since the straw is going to be baled...and flax straw does not spread worth a damn.

Marilyn started the first round and plugged the feeder within 10 ft of starting. Part of the reason was that the stems were still kind of green and some of the grass from the outside round had made it into the feeder as well...and it had rained this morning.

Al took over and cut enough for a sample, which we took to the elevator. It was 9% moisture and that was good, since dry is 10%. We went back to see if we could finish the patch, or at the very least, make a couple rounds.

Al got 1/3 of the way around and only had to stop three times to unplug the knife. All the green straw was jamming it solid, so we took a good look at it and decided that if we were going to do 400 acres of flax, we had better invest in new knife sections and guards.

We went to the John Deere dealer to see if they had what we needed, and they did. They had the MacDon brand for a mere $18/guard, or the jobber brand for $14/guard. We figured the jobber brand was good enough for us and we needed 65 of them, so it did add up. We also needed to change out the 140 sections that cut against the guards, so we picked them up as well.

We went back to the farm and started changing the guards and sections. We would take about 5 guard and 10 sections off at a time, replace them, then move down the header, repeating the process. We had already done about a third of the header, when we looked at the guards and discovered that they were the MacDon brand instead of the jobbers. Had he charged us for the jobbers...which we requested...and given us the MacDon ones by mistake?

After taking a look at the bill, we could see they had sold us the MacDon ones at the MacDon price. We certainly weren't going to take off the 25 we had already put on.

Well played, John Deere...well played...