Here comes the combine that no one likes around here.....that's right, the Great White Combine. There has been destructive hail twice since we have been here, both times north of town. It took out about 700 acres that we were supposed to cut unfortunately. In the almost 2 weeks we have been here it has rained some everyday except for 3 or 4 days. If it rains just a little to make us stop for the evening we are able to combine the next day no problem. But there have been several 1/2 inch to 2 inch rains that have held us up for a day or 2.
Since it has been so long since my last update this may not "flow" very well, but I will just type what I can remember for the last couple weeks.
- Jon got a 4th 2388 combine since we have a considerable amount of work in this area. The combine was delivered here but Jon & I had to drive to Watertown to pick up the head. It makes more sense for us to buy another one(that we could always sell later if need be) rather than lease one which is very expensive and you have nothing to show for it in the end. So with the added combine I have to drive combine or cart a lot more. Anyone back home that wants to drive combine for a day or a few, you are welcome to come out we could set you up!
- Some friends of ours are staying at the same campsite as us, it has been so nice to visit with them. He didn't have much work in this area and we do, so we had him help us out here with some acres and he has a lot in North Dakota, so hopefully we will be able to help him there. They are from Northern MN and started harvesting last year like us. Only they are about 10 yrs older than us and have 4 kids. So Lisa and the kids just come visit for a couple weeks in the summer as she works part-time in MN, they aren't with the crew all summer. Luckily they were visiting while in the same town as us so I got to hang out with her some which I really enjoyed.
- Several dinosaur bones were found years ago in the next county over and even an almost whole T-Rex "Sue" there is a little museum in a nearby town that I stopped in at with Lisa, an 8 yr old boy found a T-Rex scull in rock on his parents land, and named it Bucky. It is in the museum.
- There are once again a lot of grasshoppers here again. I saw 2 white caterpillers and a scorpian of some sort while I was out running/walking this morning.
- This is the poorest county in the U.S.
- We have had 3 flat tires(the big ones too) on 2 of the combines in the last week. That was frusterating, but they are fixed and going again.
We only had all 4 of our combines together for a couple days and I didn't get any pictures of that yet. The last 4 days Dan, Charlie, and myself have been working for 1 farmer while the rest of the crew is working with another farmer in the area. We are 5-10 miles apart in the fields, by road anyways.
So all in all things are going fine, just slower than we would like from rain so often. We are thankful our machinery hasn't been damaged by the storms and not a lot of wheat was downed from hail. We are getting to a point in summer where people kind of know the routines better, but everyone has been living together for a couple months and sometimes there are tensions and frusterations. But we still have a good time together overall.
Charlie & Winston (the high school graduates) riding on the back of the truck to check a field. I keep telling them they are pretty lucky, getting paid to be on vacation all summer, food included (and believe me they can eat a LOT of food if it is available!!!) They are both very polite and always thank me for the meals. They both usually drive grain truck and semi, but fill in driving cart or combine when needed.
You can't escape the camera Chris!! Chris has been driving the farmers grain cart and has been having a rough time of it with all this mud. He has gotten stuck several times. It is a 1000 bushel grain cart with a JD 9300 tractor on it (I think) with balding tires, the tractor doesn't have enough oomph for that big of a loaded cart to begin with.
Here's our nieghbor, Jim, a reliable combine driver and card player :)
Charlie & Chris "undercover" investigating the farmer's John Deere combine! he-he
Jon's Mom, Marg got out here today (Saturday) before 1pm (2pm home time). She said the drive was great with no hold-ups. She is going to stay here(in a hotel, we wouldn't make her suffer in a camper with 8 other adults!!) for several days to visit. It is great to have her come out here, we sure enjoy new company. It is only 8 hours from home :)
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