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View of the day-Hot, sunny and 0%POP...riiight...
Dust was flying by 9:30am and Marilyn was the only combine rolling in the field. There were still serious issues with the other combines header. She got about 80 acres combined, which was enough to finish the field, then she moved across the road to start on the next field.
It had been sprinkling off and on as we watched a weather system slowly moving up from the SW. Nowhere in the forecast was there any precipitation until at least Sunday and it seemed like sprinkles were all we were going to get. That thought lasted until about 4:30pm...then it started running off the header, so it was shut down time.
We know not to trust the weekend forecasters...
View of the day-Line up at the field elevator. Al was kept hopping today hauling grain.
Yesterday, Marilyn drove down to Carlyle to hitch a ride with her sister to Moose Jaw to have a birthday lunch with their mother, who was celebrating her 86th birthday.
Al was left to do the combining, but due to a truck shortage, our combine sat while he hauled grain away from the other combine. Once their truck was back from hauling canola to the elevator, Al was able to start combining again.
Today, we had an early start and perfect weather. Sunny, hot and windy. Al started out while Marilyn ran into Kipling to do a few errands. She took over combining as soon as she got back and that is where she stayed for the day.
We finished the quarter section we were on and moved four miles SE to the next field. We went until the trucks were filled for the last time, then called it a night. The other combine had straight header issues, so he left it in the field and went back to get the pickup head on and do some of the canola that was in swaths.
More beautiful weather in the forcast for tomorrow...
View of the day-Second last truck of the night.
We got the word that to start back in the straight canola after lunch. We cut through Kipling to grab lunch before heading out to the field.
Before we started, Al noticed a hydraulic oil leak on the side of the combine, so we had to remedy that. It was just a matter of tightening a couple of fittings, but the hardest part of the repair was trying to hold the side shield up. We have another gas shock failure. We didn't notice it because we never need to open that shield anymore for servicing. We used a rachet strap to help keep it lifted while we did the repair. Something else we now have on our "need it" list.
We went to get the General started so it could air up, but it refused to turn over, so we put the quick charge on it to give it a boost...no problem after that. Well, at least not until Al went to start it to bring the first load of canola in from the field. Just not enough juice to turn it over again. Marilyn called into the parts store in Kipling and they had three truck batteries in stock. Al took the old ones out and went in to get the new ones. That makes 5 batteries purchased in a week. Once he got them installed, she turned over like a top. Problem solved.
We combined until we finished the second of three, quarter sections of the straight canola. By then it was to late to start the last one, but it looks like we are going into straight wheat tomorrow anyway.
Thankfully, after all the rain that fell, we didn't find any mud in the field.
The road out to the field, on the other hand, was a different story...
View of the day-The stationary chopper blades midway through repair. Didn't take a picture of before, when they were all hanging down with loose bolts. They all kind of looked like the sample on the left, instead of the ones on the right.
Today was fixing day. We went out to the combine with a list for the day. Blow out the air filters, take a couple of links out of the clean grain elevator chain, replace all the burnt out bulbs...and they were burnt, not just a fuse as we had hoped, and the biggie was the chopper blades.
Al worked on the elevator chain while Marilyn looked after the filters, then we both went to work on the chopper. Marilyn had to crawl inside and work in the narrow space under the blades to get them out. We took them to the shop trailer to get them back into shape, rather that try to maneuver inside the combine. We pretty much had to take them all out to repair them, but it was mostly loose bolts, which was an easy fix.
We had a couple of broken blades, so we drove over to Windthorst to pick up a couple replacements. Once we had them in hand and got back to the combine, it didnt' take long to get everything back into shipshape.
There was no combining going on anywhere, but it was another great drying day. There was 1.10" of rain in the gauge on the combine and the ground was still pretty wet where we were working on it. Another day of this kind of weather will do wonders to dry it up and maybe we can get moving again.
And there is no rain in the forecast for a few days...
View of the day-Yard cleanup day.
Yesterday we went to Yorkton in the rain. We stopped at the CaseIH dealer to pick up some bulbs for the combine that we assume are burnt out...could be a fuse since they are all on the same side, but just to be safe, we got some to take back with us.
Al was having some pain in his shoulder and back, so he stopped at the walk in clinic to see a doctor. He came out with a shopping list of drugs to help out with the pain. Then we were off to get a couple of new batteries for the pickup and a few other things on our list. Once we had everything on our list we headed out to the farm for the night.
Today we got to enjoy the brunch at the casino in town...and that was the only cash we dropped there. Neither of us is a casino goer...Marilyn figures the $40 she would lose at the slot machines will buy her a bag of stuff at Walmart that she can't live without.
We had to take the old batteries back to get the core fee, then Marilyn had to have a visit at Staples. We went back out to the farm to do a bit of yard cleaning and to try to get the grain cart PTO shaft loosened up so it could be connected to the tractor. It was seized up from sitting so long and the last time we were home we lubed it up as much as we could and even had it hooked on to the pickup to try and get it to telescope. We finally got it to break free when we hooked up a loadbinder...haven't needed to use one of those for a really long time...then pulled with the pickup and tightened with the binder. A few shots up the length of it with a large tool and it finally came loose.
Al got the grass cut and Marilyn took down the gazebo cover. With a strong NW wind, the leaves were piling up as fast as we could sweep them off, so we gave up on even trying. Not that we ever did anything with them before...there will be another big wind come through and move them somewhere else for us. Or they will spend the winter rotting where they are.
We got the tractor and cart parked back in a corner, then loaded up what we needed for the trip back to the camper. It was a good drying day today with the sun and wind, but there was a lot of rain over the last two days.
Maybe it only rained one tenth at the field...
View of the day-The only thing we saw today.
More of the same tomorrow...
View of the day-The very last of the barley getting unloaded at the bin. Al is well out of the dust with his remote control for the hoist and endgate...that was a great investment.
Even though the day started out cloudy and cooler, the barley was good to go right off the bat. We were alone for the first couple of hours as the farmer had to do a few header and auger repairs, but once we were both out there, we didn't stop. With no grain cart and the trucks not coming out too far into the field, we had to do a lot of driving to dump the combines.
We finished the field around 8pm and got everything moved back to the farm yard...glad to see the last of the itchy barley. The farmer switched headers and went out to pickup some canola swaths before the forecasted rain could put a stop to it. We came back to the camper to call it a night.
Tomorrow we start into the wheat...unless it rains...
View of the day-Hot, sunny and 0%POP...riiight...
