On Saturday after an early lunch we went to the field to just test some wheat. Well just shelling it out and biting it revealed we wouldn't be combining today, the wheat kernals were mushy. Bummer. Todd (1 of the farmers we cut for) asked if he could just unload our truck that was there into his bin, of course that was fine. So after he got that done he brought it out to the field where we were, plus he had all 3 of his little kids in there with him! His wife was at a funeral so they were all with him. 2 boys, 8 and 5 yrs old and a girl who is a year and a half I think. We were just pulling the keys from the combines getting ready to head out of the field when Andy locked the keys into the white straight truck. So we spent 10 or 15 minutes getting in there and retrieving those keys. Then all of us including Todd and hid kids piled into our pickup for a ride back to town. With it being too wet we were all wondering what we could find to do for the afternoon. Pulling up to the bin site we didn't have to look too hard to stay busy......
This is what we saw. In the 30 minutes since Todd finished unloading the truck and bringing it to the field his bin which was almost full with over 3500 bushels of wheat had collapsed. The concrete was from previous bins and couldn't hold the new hopper bins weight, the concrete cracked, the footings pushed down 3 feet on the 1 side and it buckled. It was a terrible sight, it made a person feel sick. But a few minutes either way and any of us or his kids could have been right there. All afternoon we stayed and helped with anything we could; getting an auger set up at a neighbors, cleaning out a bin there, and starting to load up all of the spilled wheat. Todd's wife Heather brought us all supper of fried catfish and french fries, it was good!
Setting up the auger to move the wheat from the downed bin.
Raesh & Foreman helped us all afternoon!
Combines sitting for today
Thunderheads building
On Sunday the guys helped Todd for a couple hours then we went to Irving Baptist Church. The Pastor here also works at the elevator which is where we get our fuel from. He had mentioned his church to us earlier in the week and then even stopped at our camper on Friday to tell us the time and that they were having lunch after church this Sunday. So that is where we decided to go. Just a small country church with only 20 or so people in the pews now days, decades ago it was booming as we could tell by the picture in the back of the church. We have never felt more welcomed, we were greeted heartily by EVERYONE! It was so nice, they were all so kind. Pastor Bill gave a great sermon, he is a wonderful speaker and so down to earth we really liked him. This little old country church reminded me so much of home. This church in particular reminded me of Kilkenny's St. Johns Lutheran Church my grandparents go to actually with a few less pews though. I miss home, but am glad we were able to be here as well. Sometimes I feel like I could just sit down and cry for all of these little country churches, so many are gone. So much "progress" is made everywhere but yet we are losing our country's heritage. After church, literally everyone invited us to stay for the meal, which we could not decline. It was delicious and the fellowship was good for the soul. Plus they sent extra desserts back with us! As we left they thanked us for coming and told us we blessed them by being there, which stunned me. I was feeling very blessed by being able to attend their church.
After we had all changed out of our church clothes, got back to the field, and cut a sample, it was 11.5% moisture - good to go! Andy was unloading the trucks into a bin from the previous day. Jim & Jon got to combining right away. The edges of the field were really thin but it was better in a little ways, still only averaging 15 - 20 bu/acre. Things were going really well, the hours were passing quickly. We knew there was a 30-40% chance of thunderstoms for the afternoon and evening, it was getting blue to the south but was sunny over us and we figured we'd be able to finish that field before the rain came since it was well over 1/2 done. Around 7pm I was riding with Jon and talking to Marg on the phone about mail and bills when the phone beeped that there was another call waiting, it was Todd. I told Marg I had to go and would talk later. He said the storm was getting close and wanted to let us know we may want to stop soon. We were on the opposite side of the field as the trucks. In the few minutes it took us to get around the field the sky was black. The 1 grain truck in the field was full and Jim was able to roll the tarp shut just in time before the rain. Jon & I were almost up to the truck to park the combine and I saw red dust flying from the ground up to the sky, it looked like the start of a tornado if I ever saw one and it was less than a 1/4 mile away. Jon was trying to reach Andy on the CB but couldn't and yelling at Jim to get out of the combine. I started to open our door and the wind flung it open. We jumped off of the top of the platform and hit the ground running, the wind was fierce and the rain was pelting us. The 3 of us jumped in the pickup truck and we tore out of the field, hearts pounding and hands shaking. In an instant it was raining so hard we couldn't see. Then it started to hail, starting out with pea size then quarter size and some golf ball size. The field was only about 4 miles out of a little town, and as we got closer we spotted a guy out walking a little dog, both soaked, still 1/2 mile from town. We stopped so they could get in. The guy didn't have any shoes on, we asked what the heck he was doing walking a little dog in this weather, he said it snuck up on him. As it did with us, I have never seen a storm come in that quickly. We drove to the farmers bin site on the edge of town where there is an old cotton gin, we could pull at least 1/2 the truck in there out of the hail, if there was a tornado we weren't in such a good place though. By that time we got ahold of Andy on the radio, he had been at another farmer's bin site 10 miles in the other direction and said it did not hail there. After a few more minutes it seemed as though the worst had let up. The guy with the dog got out and walked home, we headed back to the field.
A beautiful rainbow, a welcome site!
Some hail stones I picked up in the field, the biggest ones we saw were around golf ball size.
The combines were still here in the field, with no dings or damages to them. Trucks have no dents in them surprisingly. We were feeling very thankful. Later that night when we got to the camper the power was out for a while, then we found out that storm went on kitty corner across the state and destroyed Joplin, MO. Our hearts go out to all of those people.
Late Sunday night before we went to bed we heard several sirens. Then we heard engines roaring. We saw what looked like a small car speed by the RV park (which is on a highway) followed by 2 partols, going probably 80 - 100 mph, and we are in town! I wish we would have been closer to the RR tracks a 1/2 mile down the road to see them fly over those! We found out on Monday that is was a stolen car. Apparantly there had been tack strips down but that didn't stop him, the patrol car had to hit the car's bumper and spin him out of control to stop him.
Monday the wheat was too wet again. It has been very humid everyday. Storms every afternoon and evening possible. The guys helped Todd all day work on cleaning up the mess from his bin, I went there in the afternoon and helped. It got pretty dark and cloudy but the rain and storms just missed us on Monday. Todd's boys really wanted us to come over to their house, they ask us every time they see us! Todd invited us over and since it wasn't too late we decided that sounded pretty good. He said we could take a real shower instead of a camper shower for a change if we'd like even. Todd and Heather have been so wonderful to us, it has been nice to get to know them and thier family better this year. Todd had been on the rodeo circuit for like 15 years so he and Heather knew all about living in a camper!
Well I better stop now as there is a storm approaching. Who knows if the power will go out or if we will have to head to the storm shelter, I sure hope not though - there is 4 inches of water in it...
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