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View of the day-The front yard shop is looking rather festive.
Kind of fell down on the job, but it has been so hectic over the past two months that the harvest would seem like a holiday right about now.
Since the last post, there have been toy shows, drama festivals, more toy shows, dinner theatres, harvesters convention...and work.
Al and Roger did the toy show in Regina, then headed down to Dyersville for the big show down there. They got back from Dyersville just in time to make it to Marilyn's performance at the drama festival hosted by the theatre group that she is involved with. Or, as Al refers to it when they need to borrow a trailer or something..."That effin, theatre group". He has been officially elected the president of that Paper Bag Players auxilary group.
Marilyn was acting in a short play about two women in an elevator, with another long time Paper Bag Player member, Teresa...her husband Allan is the vice-president of the effin theatre group. We did manage to win runner up to best play, or as Marilyn refers to it "first last place", we also got honorable mention for both actresses and our director got a nod as well.
With that out of the way, we had to scramble to get ready for the big toy show at AgriTrade in Red Deer, Alberta. A long drive, but at least the show is four days long, so it didn't seem like we were running in to ourselves on the road home. The weather was absolutely gorgeous this year, which made loading and unloading somewhat less painful, not to mention the great roads on the way home...no snow.
The toy show was in a different building this year...a nice change from having to take turns hauling stuff up the two person elevator that we had to use in the past, and the change of venue didn't hurt sales, which was a bonus.
We nicely got home after the toy show and it was time for Marilyn to get ready for the dinner theatre, the last two weekends in November...followed by the annual convention for the Association of Canadian Custom Harvesters...this year in Lethbridge, Alberta.
We got to Lethbridge...again with fabulous weather and that was a great change from the last convention there two years ago, when a terrific blizzard hit the area. The weather brought a good turnout, so we got lots of visiting in with everyone.
This wasn't a "big machinery" year, so we didn't have a lot of tires to kick, but we still managed to get a pile of information from all the vendors that attended. Marilyn was finally able to hand over the secretary-treasurer duties to Jenny Bashutski, one of the younger members who are still involved in the USA harvest run...one less iron in the fire for Marilyn.
Once again, there were a lot of cool items up for grabs at the auction...CaseIH came up with another original offering...a smoker make out of a muffler from a combine. Al was really wanting to get the neon MacDon light, but it went a little to high for his wallet.
We did, however, come home with a CaseIH flag, a jacket and toque(stocking cap for you southerners) and a 1/64 New Holland 9090 combine...special, because it is a rare, blue colored, chase unit.
We got home on Friday, then Marilyn had to take the toy trailer, which was loaded with set pieces, to Preeceville...about 60 miles northwest...for the final performance of the Christmas play. This was for Preecvilles town party, so it was a great crowd and once the booze starts flowing, everything gets funnier. That's booze for the audience, of course...not the actors.
Finally a break in the mayhem...for a week, at least. Marilyn and her theatre peeps treated themselves to a drama weekend in Saskatoon, where they got a backstage tour of Persephone Theatre, before watching a performance of a play they had done for Christmas a few years back.
We had Al's family Christmas on December 23 in Grayson at his brother, Ed and Sandy's place. Then did Marilyn's side, going to her sister, Marg and Kim's at Carlyle for Christmas day dinner. Marilyn had to work Christmas Eve day and Boxing Day, so we didn't go far.
For Christmas this year, we decided to get each other one big gift, so we are now the proud owners of a Phantom 3 Professional 4K drone...wait until you see the video and pictures this thing will take. We haven't done any flying with it yet...we want to make sure to do a lot of simulated flying with it before we actually send it up. Plus, we live four miles from the Yorkton airport, so we will have to get a bit farther out.
Marilyn did decide to test out the first part of the video she watched by putting it in beginner mode and starting the propellers. Everything worked just as instructed. She used the controls to lift it off the counter and hover about two feet...still worked perfect. Then, without touching any of the controls, it started to drift ever so slightly towards the patio doors. Rather than panic and hit the wrong levers to send it, God knows where, she decided to use the "return to home" button on the controller, which she assumed would set it back down where it had taken off from. Doesn't work that way.
The drone was close enough that she could have just grabbed one of the legs and just shut it down by hand, but that hadn't been covered in the video, so no way she was doing that. Al, meanwhile, was sitting at the table watching this unfold, ready to duck at any moment, should it aim for him. This whole episode took no more than 45 seconds, but at the time it seemed like a lot longer. Anyway, when Marilyn hit the return to home, she had not gotten to the part of the video, which states that when the button is pressed the drone rises to 98 feet to clear obstacles before heading home! So now it is heading for the patio doors and once it contacts the draw string for the verticle blinds, down it goes, then it lays there with lights flashing, buzzing like a mad wasp that had only been caught with half a swatter swipe.
Nothing was broken...the cable wound around the props helped to set it down somewhat gently. Unfortunately, the camera wasn't rolling. Several lessons learned.
January is here and we are back at the driving thing again. We had the toy show in Saskatoon the weekend of the 16, then we got home Sunday night and left for Brandon, Manitoba to set up the ACCHI booth at AgDays.
We set up Monday and looked after the booth Tuesday until 3:30, got spelled off by some Manitoba harvesters so we could get back to Yorkton for the Terrier hockey game.
Now we are getting into crunch time for the Yorkton Farm Toy auction, February 12, that Al is organizing. The toy show follows that on the 13th and 14th. For the past 8 years we have done up 35 "show tractors", this year was the 450 Versatile with Grouser blade. We create stickers for the tractors and boxes...here is the fleet.
Oh...and Marilyn finally got her auto-steer! We had to get a different combine to do it, since Al wasn't going to add an aftermarket system to the 7088. We bought a used CaseIH 8230 loaded with everything but field tracker. This machine was one of Al's toy buddy, Roger's, combines. They were upgrading, so the timing was perfect for us. It is the same year as our 7088 but it has less hours.
AND IT HAS AUTO-STEER...
View of the day-Technically, yesterday. Before and after. We officially called it "done" and washed the combine.
Al spent a few days driving around the area, checking to see if there was any work to be found. On the one hand, it seemed we should be doing something with the fabulous harvest weather, that just refuses to leave...and we're not complaining at all! On the other hand, it would take some doing to get back into the "zone" and we aren't feeling it anymore for this year.
We started washing the combine and watched across the road as the baler man finally got going again and just a mile south of that, there was canola being combined. We had nicely gotten everything hooked up to start washing, when the rain came and put the kibosh on that. Marilyn wanted to run the brush over the combine quickly so the rain would end up doing all the work of rinsing it off, but it started to pour, so we had to quit. As did the baler man and the combines. The sun came out about an hour later and we got the job done.
The last couple of weeks have been spent getting everything ready for storage. With the camper winterized and parked along side the General in the "shop", half the fleet is where it belongs. Al took the straight header down to its winter lodging...Kim's shed at Carlyle, so that is out of the elements for the winter.
The combine isn't so lucky, although it does get nestled between the house and the pines...after serving as a tree trimming platform.
And speaking of trees...it would appear there is a good crop growing in the eaves of the house.
While Marilyn is back at work and getting ready for a couple of theatre events, Al is getting in the zone for a toy show in Regina at the end of October, followed by a road trip with Roger and another friend, to Dyersville, Iowa for the National Farm Toy Show. Marilyn misses out again.
She does get to go to the Regina Show...
View of the day-Cleaning time and for a change, it is Al doing the cleaning instead of Marilyn.
We get home and the wheels fall off the blog, couldn't seem to find time to get yesterday's in until today.
Today was pretty much spent emptying the camper and cleaning the combine. It got blown off and greased up, but it hasn't had a wash yet.
Just in case we find more work...
View of the day-Al driving the combine on the trailer for the trip home.
We had an early morning lined up as we got into Yorkton to fuel up and meet with the trucker that was going to haul the combine home. After exchanging information, we hit the road.
We hadn't gotten far from town when we ran into some rain...and then through some really heavy rain that gave the wipers a workout. The oddest thing was that there was lightning...in October...something you don't often see in these parts. However, by the time we got to Kipling, dust was flying on the gravel roads.
We got to the farm, got the truck lined up and got the combine loaded and chained down. All we had to do was drive the combine on...the trucker did the rest while we watched. Al is really liking this part of the harvest. Once we had the sign up on the pilot vehicle, we were on our way. Marilyn in the pilot vehicle, the combine load, followed by Al in the General.
We made it to Yorkton...the rain had all but stopped, then got the combine unloaded and went for lunch before taking the combine back to the farm. Marilyn had play rehearsal, so Al caught a ride back into town to bring the General home.
And it's almost done for the season...almost...
View of the day-The turtle has its shell on and it on the way home.
We went back to the field to get the combine fueled up and hook up the straight header...which we didn't need after all. Al got settled up with the farmer and then we headed back to the camper.
We got the camper closed and hooked up, then Al hooked up the shop trailer and we headed for Yorkton. We took a lunch break at Whitewood, before dropping the hammer...and we had the wind at our backs, to boot.
We got the camper back on its unloading spot on the lawn, then Al parked the shop trailer and that was it for the day. Except for the unloading of the trailer...which didn't start until the dish was aimed, first thing, for the Blue Jays baseball game, which was postponed due to rain. At least we have TV.
Unloading the camper is a lot less stressful when it isn't loaded for five months of living. We still haven't got to the place where we can leave a set of everything in it permanently. Maybe when Marilyn gets her big heated shop and storage shed to keep it in, we won't even have to winterize it...ahh...dreams.
We keep buying lottery tickets and it might happen...
View of the day-The farmers combine trying to get the last swath of canola into his hopper before the sun goes down. Fortunately, Marilyn had enough room left to help out.
We were making dust before 10am and it was going through the combine "like butter". We made pretty good time and had another combine come into the field mid-afternoon to help finish off the last quarter on this section.
There was another encounter with a skunk today, but this time it made itself seen by running along the canola swath ahead of the combine. Even the hawks wouldn't take advantage of this delectable snack. It ran into the swath and Marilyn had thought of just moving over to the next swath to avoid it, but, the lord hates a coward, so she continued to the end. Didn't take the "stink cat" in and never saw...or smelled...it again.
We finished the field just at sunset and Al had a half a truck load to dump in the bin. Unfortunately, the bin would only hold a quarter of a load, so they had to change the auger to a new bin.
We are going to need the furnace tonight...
View of the day-Not one of our pictures, but one taken with a drone way back August 21 near Kennedy. We are the lower left combine.
Another early morning and a productive day. Still in the canola, but we are over on the hilly side of the field. Even with half a hopper it's quite a chug to get up over the ridge. Here is a shot of Al from the top of the hill...the picture doesn't do it justice.
We had one issue with parts today. When Marilyn got to the end of one of the swaths, she turned around and discovered a large part laying in the swath where she had just come from. This part came from the inside of the combine, just behind the auger bed under the rotor...it is the full width of the combine and the wire fingers on it are at least 18 inches. Since Marilyn didn't have time to take a picture, this parts one will help to illustrate.
The odd thing about this part, is that it actually came out the back of the combine with only one bent wire. How it managed to fit between the spreaders and shaker pan at the back is a complete mystery...and the spreaders show no sign of injury. At least it wasn't important enough to hold up combining production. The part went in the back of the pickup and Marilyn continued on.
At one point, there was the raw aroma from a skunk...a strong, rank smell. Out in the canola stubble you think it would be easy to spot...they don't really move that fast and in the wide open spaces it would really stand out. Not so. There was no sign of it, other than the tell tale smell...and it didn't go through the combine.
There must have been one visiting back at the camper, too...
