Home Sweet Home!

Well as most people already know - we are home! I know the first thing I should have done when I got home was to update this, but that didn't happen. We got home on Thursday morning. after spending a fun night in the camper in a gas station parking lot in Mankato...we finally got home the next morning. It was dark by the time we got to Mankato on Wed. night, so we had to stop (oversize load restrictions). So close yet so far!

The summer harvest is over just as quickly as it seemed to begin. For our first year doing this I think things went really well. We learned so much and have many, many memories - some bad and lots of good ones. Looking back at the things that worried me some: snakes, poisenous spiders, accidents on the road or with machinery, no one making it home alive because we would all strangle each other living in a camper all summer.....I have to say I have never been more THANKFUL, because we didn't have any major injuries.

We are getting used to home again. The humidity really hit us, we were liking South Dakota's mostly dry heat. Home has never felt so good though. Our own bed, bathroom, TV (what's that again?), counterspace, clothesline, yard, familiar people and places....life is good.

Thank you everyone who has been following our adventures and encouraging us along the wheat harvest this summer. It meant a lot to us. I will put some pictures of the fall harvest on here when we start that in a short whil, it will be fun to combine around home again! Here are some pictures from the last week:

Hanging out with my relatives for an afternoon! Katie, Cecelia, and Naomi
They came to South Dakota for a week and I met them in the Badlands and spent an afternoon with their family.


We saw lots of Buffalo, it is always fun to watch them.






Andy & Jon hard at work!


Jon & I with Ben combining in the background.

A LOT of updates!

Internet service has been bad in the camper, and never good enough to upload pictures on here. I was heading out to the field and thought I'd through in the computer for kicks and giggles, and on top of this hill in the field I am getting great signal! Enough so I was able to post a bunch of pictures even! There is a lot to look at and read, but it has been a while.

The Latest and Greatest Pics on Harvest

We wanted to play checkers but didn't have a board so Andy cut Jon's hair into one!



Scary clouds!!








Our crew chillin in the camper on a rainy night.






Grandma & Grandpa visited again for a few days :)


The sunflowers are just starting to flower here, it is so beautiful to see everyday.


I got all 5 in 1 picture!


Storm rolling in on Friday night


Jon in his element


Chris driving the farmer's tractor & grain cart, 1 cart fills up the semi!


Chris must want to be like Carl (will make more sense after you read the journaling from the past week)


There is a large horse ranch here with tons of horses, not sure what they do with them all!


A beautiful evening!

A few early pictures from Dupree

I went for spare parts shortly after we arrived here. The bridge over the Missouri River / Oahe Lake, it is on that bridge that the time zone changes back to Central from Mountain!


Combining Winter Wheat :)








This field is just West of the town, it was full of tin and debris from the tornado that hit the town on June 16 this summer, glad we did not combine that field.

Some pictures Andy took, a while ago!

The lineup back in Julesburg, CO.




Ben got stuck on the way to the road from the field. He sunk way down, had to get a small auger out there cause we couldn't pull him out loaded. It took hours to unload with that small auger.

Thursday & Friday of last week

Let's see....
Thursday of last week was Grandma & Grandpa's last day with us, luckily the weather was good and the wheat was gonna be good to go around noon. We ate a big, late breakfast of eggs and toast so we wouldn't have to stop for lunch. Grandma came with me to Faith (25 miles west) to get a bunch of groceries (we go through LOTS of food here!) By the time we got back the combines were rolling, so I dropped her off at the field to ride with Jon. I went back to the camper and unpacked the groceries and started supper. I grilled burgers for an early supper around 4:30 so Grandma & Grandpa could eat before they headed home. We had started combining with a farmer before all the rain on a big field but the wheat was mostly laying down. The farmer has thousands of acres, and he has 2 almost new combines, but he hires a little help with the wheat. So it was us and then a neighbor of his with 1 combine helping him. We finished that field and then started for the next field. All 5 combines, 2 grain carts, 4 semis, and a few pickup trucks paraded 20 or more miles on back gravel roads to his next field of winter wheat. We got a good start on that field and they quit around dark or a little after I think.

Then on Friday I did a bunch of laundry in the morning. I met a nice girl a couple years younger than me at the laundromat. She was also on a harvest crew. Her Dad's, and he's been doing this for 25+ years she said. She worked the summers in high school for him too she said. Right now she is saving up money to go to college at WYO-Tech I believe. She wants to be an automotive air-brush paint specialist or whatever that would be called. Their crew is the same size as us, run Gleaners, and are from around Bismark. It was fun to swap stories and I think we both enjoyed each others company being the only girl on each crew.

After I folded the clothes and got back to the camper I quickly made the guys sandwiches and headed to the field, then took the truck back to town for more fuel for the combines and tractor. After that I drove our tractor and grain cart the rest of the day till 10pm or so. The farmer was 1 guy short today so Chris was driving his tractor and grain cart (which is 1000 bushel, twice the size of ours!) and I took over driving our grain cart. The farmer said Chris was doing a great job and that made him feel really good and us too, the farmer and his family are really nice. It was a non-stop day in the field with the 5 combines on that long 700 acre field. The 4 semi drivers didn't have any wait time that day! Then around sunset a storm was quickly rolling in. It clouded up to both the north and south of us, but there was a clear spot in the middle, right over the field. There was a lot of lightning, it was a spectacular show, but too close for comfort at the end. We were spared of rain that night though, I believe you got that rain at home Saturday morning. It was a fun day and everything went really well.

A Surprise on Saturday

Saturday morning Jon & I headed to the field while the others got more fuel and the semis. I blew off the combines with the leaf blower then Jon started greasing. The other guys got to the field shortly. Carl, the farmer's father-in-law was the 1st of their crew to get to the field, he beat us there actaully. He did almost all of the servicing for their machines. He came over to me and asked my name and told me his. He said I am a Peach of a grain cart driver, that I did a wonderful job yesterday and must have had a good teacher. He said he had something for me, but had to get it from his old pickup. I did not know what to expect. He came back with something round wrapped in a couple paper towels. It was a peach!! It made me laugh and made my day! It was deliciously juicy too. He sure is a charming old guy :) Then he proceeded to grease up their grain cart. He started to climb up the ladder to grease the auger, Andy offered to do it for him, but he refused. He climbed right up there and shimmyed out on the auger like a nimble monkey while all the 20-something year olds watched and prayed he wouldn't fall. Andy asked him how old he was, he replied, "22!" Though we know he is actually 80!!

We finished up that field. The farmer sent us to a 250 acre field and he headed to another field. I went back to the camper mid-afternoon to get started on supper of venison, cheesy hashbrown bake, and chocolate zucchini cake. While I was in the midst of making this with dishes and ingredients everywhere, there was a knock on the door, my heart stopped for a moment, till I peeked out the window and there stood our dear neighbors Kenard & Jean! I was so happy to see them! After I finished putting the potatoes together and in the oven I took them out to the field. They had apparantly been to the black hills for a short vacation and decided to head home on 212 for a change of scenery. They stopped in Dupree for supper at the Ranch House Cafe (it is excellent), spotted Andy and our semi and the rest is history. Everyone enjoyed the surprise visit and we had lots of good laughs in the field, but they couldn't stay long and headed home before dark.

Sunday

Well there was a lite rain in the morning but after lunch the wheat was good to go. I rode with Jon in the evening till quitting time around 10pm. The trucks were full and the farmer had to move the auger to another bin, so we were done for the night. When everyone got to the front of the field and shut down, we all stood outside with our necks cranked up to the sky. It was a beautiful night. This big old sky was dark as can be, with no moon or clouds. There were more stars than any of us had ever seen, and brighter too! With no houses or yardlights for miles, and no glow of towns or cities on the horizon we had spectacular views. We spotted more than a dozen shooting stars, ooing and aahing over each one. Chris knows a lot about stars and constellations and educated us, he even pointed out 3 red stars, it was really neat. Nice and cool out tonight so we slept with the camper windows open.

Monday Monday

On Monday morning I washed the sheets and rugs at the laundromat. The guys finished up the last field of winter wheat we were doing for the farmer. We moved everything 20+ miles down gravel roads to the next farmer's field. We are cutting spring wheat for him. He is a nice young farmer. He & his Dad usually cut their own wheat and have 2 combines. But his Dad was recently diagnosed with Brain tumors and is undergoing treatment, so the son - who has another job also - decided to hire it done this year. We got the 1st field of 160 acres done and moved on to the next field. The young farmer was very happy with it. Andy was illin' most of the day, he had a real upset stomach. He felt better by suppertime and even ate something. Ben went to pour a glass of milk and chunks came out, yuck. We got rid of that. Maybe that's why Andy is sick. He, Chris, & I all had cereal for breakfast, but us other 2 did not get sick. It wasn't sour this morning, just warm. The fridge in this camper doesn't cool very evenly I've noticed. And it is all frosted up right now, so I'm gonna turn it off and let it melt, then hopefully it will be better.

Tuesday

Tuesday: Today, I think anyways, hard to keep track of what day it is sometimes...

Out to the field to service the combines, but starting raining before the combines could go. Enough to come back to the camper, there are a few things to fix on the semis though. I'm making a big lunch since everyone can sit down to eat. Should be able to get back and combine early this afternoon.

Living in a Communication Dead Spot

Well we have been living in Dupree, SD for almost 2 weeks already. The cell phone communication is so poor, it is very frusterating. We have Verizon and that is the best out here, which isn't very good. Chris & Andy have other providers and they don't get a bit of service out here. Our handy, dandy wireless internet seldom gets enough recption to work, and usually doesn't last long when we do get connected, so that is why I haven't been able to update this in a long time. I tried to post pictures first, but that wasn't going so well so maybe another time that will work better....

About the wheat:
We have been fortunate to cut around 800 acres of winter wheat (from 3 farmers) so far. I say that because it has rained about 1/2 of the days we've been here! ugh. Some bad thunderstorms, but thankfully no tornados or hail on us. We got some pictures, will get them on here when it works better. This town had several tornados go through it on June 16th of this year, still repairing roofs and some windows are boarded up. A lot of the towns debris ended up in a wheat field just east of town, I got pictures, it is crazy. Glad we didn't have to combine that field. The 1st 600 acres or so of wheat we did were great here, standing tall and yielding 50-70 bu/acre. At the field we are at now the wheat is mostly mangled and fallen over from wind and hail and it is just a weak stem, a different variety that isn't standing very well, not as good yielding either. This town has a rather small elevator with not a lot of storage, and they have been piling wheat on the ground since we got here, and with all the rain on it now I can't imagine all the spoilage there will be. But apparantly the Northern Plains headquarters doesn't see it necessary to build any more bins. More farmers around here have some of their own storage too, but this is one of the the only elevators in a 60 mile radius apparantly. The 1st farmer we cut for we hauled the wheat to his bins. The 2nd farmers bins were full from last year so we hauled 30 miles or so to Dupree's elevator, it was usually a long wait there too. And the farmer we are currently working for has his own storage also.

About the people:
We have really enjoyed cutting for these farmers, they have all been so friendly and we like hearing all thier stories about the tornados that went through here recently, and just hearing about their lives and experiences as well. We are actually inside of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation right now. 1 farmer told us that this was made a reservation only 15 years ago. It is probably around 1/2 to 2/3 of the population are Indians here, maybe more the farther you go into it. This is the biggest reservation in South Dakota. We have learned so much about these people and the culture here.

Holly's Grandpa & Grandma Bosacker are visiting us again for a few days! They got here Monday around suppertime and will head home on Thursday. Too bad it has been too wet to combine since they've been here! We are hoping that by this afternoon it will be dry enough to get in the field again.... We have all had a great time visiting and playing cards with them, and enjoying all the sweet corn they brought from our patch back home!!