Happy Birthday Danny!

The happenings in the last few days:

- 11 loads of laundry in a laundromat with the AC that did not cool only blew air around in 105 degree weather. Only 1/2 the dryers worked, the broken ones were not marked and ate several of my quarters. But putting up with these unpleasantries was worth it to meet a couple interesting people, and it made the time go by faster. The 1st was the ex-husband of a lady that runs one of the biggest harvest crews in the U.S. He still works for her though and helps sub-manage some of her 30 combines and 90 employees. What a savvy lady! He talked non-stop and I could hardly take it all in. It was interesting to hear about such a large crew. They hire people from 6 other countries besides the U.S., I bet the language barrier gets interesting. They have to buy and cook whatever food they want and find time to do their laundry. (I wonder if our guys really know how good they have it?? ha-ha) He left and shortly after that an older gent pulled up in his old truck. He took a long time getting out, went to the back of his truck and got his wheelchair out. I noticed he had 1 fake leg. So I opened the door for him so he could get up the step and inside with his laundry and chair. It turns out he used to have 1 Gleaner A combine back in the day that he and a friend took from OK to ND with 1 grain truck that they used to harvest wheat for years. I could tell he liked talking about those days, it looked to me that these days are much harder for him, he didn't look so good and I really felt sorry for him.

- One of the fields that the 3 Red machines were on was quite holey and bumpy. We saw critters running around, woozels they looked like to us. (woodchuck/weasels) darn things are so destructive in the fields. Bryon (1 of the farmers) said that usually the gophers come in and then the badgers come after them, making the holes bigger. I guess Bryon and his brother have an alfalfa field that rodents have really messed up. They busted the front axle on a tractor and also an axle on a rake in the same day, oofta, that's a bad day. They will be plowing up that field soon they said!

- Thursday was the last day of combining for the Red combines in this area. We were doing some fields that the farmer rents from a guy that used to farm it himself but now is in his 90's. Anyway the landowner likes to come out to fields when the harvest is going on to see it yet. His daughter & son-in-law came from Colorado as well as grandson with his wife and 6 kids from San Antonio, TX. They come for harvest time most years and then spend time with their Grandfather. What a nice family, it was great to visit with them! Everyone got a turn to ride in the combines and some of the kids rode in the semi as well. After the last field the combines got blown off with the leaf blower and all the machinery was moved to the farmers yard.

- The Green machine crew up the road 70 miles finished the same afternoon. They then moved those combines and trucks to the next job 10 or so miles away in Kansas. We had started cutting some in that area last Friday and Saturday, but there were several greenish areas and the farmer was ok with us going to that other job for a few days and then coming back to finish. So that was our plan. When Andy, Danny, Charlie, & Winston got back to those fields they had a shock. The rest of the wheat we were supposed to cut was done already. Apparantly the farmer had someone else come in and cut it while we were gone for 4 and a 1/2 days. So we lost the rest of that job which stinks but there isn't anything we could do about that now. Redirect. Change of Plans. Be Flexible. Next option. We learned that well last year and go with the flow now.


Everybody was back at the camper by 11pm since both jobs were finished that afternoon, luckily because it rained quite a bit Thursday night. Charlie, Danny, Winston, Jon, Andy & I shooting the breeze. It was quite windy and there was a lot of lightning to the south of us. We could smell smoke. Then we heard and saw several firetrucks head that way, we were wondering if a field or some straw started on fire.


Jon & Danny chillin
2 men, 2 brothers


Danny keeps us patriotic!


Danny kicked me out of bed so he could snuggle with his brother before going home.


HAPPY 24TH BIRTHDAY to DANNY!!!
French toast and bacon in bed :)


Danny, Dan, Jon
Giving your son a skill is better than giving him all the money in the world. You have done well Dan, these boys have skills!! And love and look up to you more than you know.


Holly, Danny, Jon
To us family is open arms and being there for each other.


Dan & Danny had to retrieve their sunglasses and phone chargers before they head home to MN.


They will head home, Jon & I will settle up with the farmers then go start scouting for some work since the next job we have lined up won't be ready till around the end of June, Jim & Charlie will be cleaning our combines and doing any little fixing, Andy & Winston went to help the guy we leased those JD combines from for the day, maybe more, since he is short on help and is really busy right now.


It has been a blessing to have Dan and Danny here to help us out this week. We have never had this hectic of a week and we could NOT have done it without thier help. Not only are we blessed to have a Dad like Dan and a brother like Danny in our lives but also that they work alongside us. We are thankful for their help but more for the memories made. Jobs and money are fleeting but our memories are treasures cherished forever. Safe travels home and we will see you soon!

Red....Green???

Here are a few pictures from our 1st stop that I hadn't gotten uploaded earlier.


We could see the Red River from 1 of the fields.









The Great Salt Plains!


This round barn is not far from us, pretty neat!

Well it has sure been a non-stop, crazy, hectic week since we got back down here Thursday morning a week ago. We are in N. OK right now cutting for 2 brothers that farm together, they have their own semis so the red machines are just combining for them. They have had some really good wheat considering the year. Some fields have averaged 40-45 bushels / acre. Some fields weren't as good, but overall they have had a good crop. We have 1 good day yet to cut for them, maybe finish up tomorrow if not tonight. It has been going quite well here. First it was Dan, Danny, and Jim running the Reds, now it has been Dan, Jon, & Jim because we have another job 70 miles away that is ready at the same time....I guess other years this area is ready a week or so earlier than our next job but right now they are ready at the same time. So we leased 2 JD 9650's so we can have some people up at the next job. We have to haul for that farmer as well as combine. At first it was Jon, Andy, & I driving to the fields 70 miles away, then it was Andy, Danny, & I. Charlie and Winston (2 boys from MN we hired) got here Monday morning around 4:30am. So since then they have been going with Andy and Danny everyday to work on the farther away fields. The part that stinks the worst about driving so far everyday is that you are tired when you are done combining around midnight and then you still have over an hour drive back to the camper. But tonight should be the last night they will have to do that. We will be moving the camper closer tomorrow when we are done with this job.


You can see in the far background an rig drilling down for oil, there are many new oil wells going up in this area. Apparantly they keep finding more! We have heard there will be thousands more oil wells set up in the next few years in this area, it is really something to see. All night long there are trucks in and out of the holding areas.


The NEW trailer! It is wonderful except for the less than heavy duty hitch mountings for pulling doubles.


John Deere green, yup that's right. We are leasing 2 of them actually, for about a week or a little more. I don't have pictures of both of them since I was driving the 2nd combine when I was there with them. I was a little nervous at first but after a couple rounds I was comfortable and more than kept up with Andy. Driving the JD was fine, but I like the Case better, they don't beep for every little thing and our combines which are a few years older than the JD's we leased seem more updated in some areas. The field we started on that day for the farmer was unbelievable. It was tall and really thick wheat, averaging well over 60 bushels / acre!!! The farmer was thrilled and it was exciting to be there. Danny could hardly keep up jumping from 1 truck to the next back and forth to the elevator in town which was only a couple miles away!


Red? Green? we can all be friends. :)



There are several trains that go through town everyday.




Depending on the fields; whether they are big or small and we are moving the combines a lot and if they are flat or have terraces and washouts, we are usually able to do about 100 acres per day per combine.








It is RED for us in the end.

Movin on Up

I haven't updated this in a while, the past week just flew by. Last Friday the 27th, we finished up combining in S. Oklahoma late that night. The next day we got everything loaded up and settled up with the farmers, fuel co-op, and RV park. It was over 100 degrees and humid so we were looking forward to heading north in search of cooler temps??

Sunday morning we were up by 5:30 and our procession of trucks and trailers were leaving town by 6:15am. It was only about 4.5 hours to where our next job was to be in Northern Oklahoma. But as we were going through El Reno, Jon told Andy to find the next best place to pull over, something was wrong. So on the outskirts of town we discovered there was a hole in Jon's radiator. A pin-sized hole that had already leaked out a lot of coolant. Great, Sunday morning, nothing is open. I said I thought it looked like there had been cars in the O'Reiley Auto parking lot. So Andy & I unhooked the truck from the header trailer and buzzed over there. We were very happy to see that they did indeed open at 9am! It was 8:53 and we were waiting outside the door like it was Black Friday or something. There were at least 5 other trucks waiting in the lot, but we were standing by the door. 1 of the workers took pity on us and opend up a few minutes early. We picked up sealants and more coolant and rushed back to the stranded truck. Within less than a 1/2 hour we were back on the road. When we checked it later it was still holding, phew! We pulled into the farmers yard around 11:30. After taking off the heads, Andy and Jon left with the yellow straight truck and header trailer for Kansas. They were going to drop that trailer off and take a combine trailer home. (The 3rd combine was still in MN to bring down yet) Jim & I took Andy's truck and headed home!! I was tired driving from S. OK to N. OK that morning, but after being outside for an hour I was wide awake and ready to head home, adrenaline full throttle! Jim and I switched off driving a couple times, and made it home around 11:30pm Sunday night. It was sure a long day. But once I got home I wasn't even that tired so I went through all the mail and didn't go to bed till 2am, it felt so good to sleep in my bed! Jon & Andy got home around 3am.

Monday & Tuesday Jon was busy dealing with getting the truck fixed (radiator), the combine trailer needed brakes, fieldwork on Tuesday and getting Danny's pickup ready to go. Then Wednesday morning Jon, Andy, and Jim left the farm to head back to N. OK with the combine. I was home Mon-Wed. The days were jam-packed with our yardwork, working at my parents farm, tilling and planting the garden (it was really too wet and clumpy, but I didn't have a lot of options),errands, visiting all of my grandparents, and all the other stuff that comes up at home to take care of. I still didn't get nearly everything done I had hoped while I was home, but I wasn't home for as long as I thought I would be. It was just a really nice break from 1 life to the other for a bit, now we are back to the wheat harvest / on the road life.

Dan and Danny were able to do fieldwork and plant Tuesday afternoon and all day Wednesday. Dan, Danny, & I didn't leave Morristown until a little before 10pm on Wednesday night. Danny's pickup was PACKED FULL. Fuel tank, welder/generator, tools, air conditioner, 4 extra tires, a couple 2x4's, 2 (5) gallon pails of oil, a cooler full of meat, our bags, the computer, more food.....there wasn't much room, but none of us had a problem falling asleep in pretty much any position, the trouble was staying awake. We had 11 hours of driving ahead of us after we had all been going all day. The first hour we were talking but after that the eyelids were getting heavy. Even Mt.Dew,Pepsi,and Dan's magic caffiene gum was not much help. We traded driving often cause the co-pilots couldn't stay awake to keep the pilot awake. It rained in part of Iowa, most of Missouri, and part of Kansas. Meanwhile Jon was having a heck of a time with the combine trailer pretty much since he left home. It wasn't heavy-duty enough for that big of combine, it blew 1 tire and was dragging at times. Anyway, they were having problems and getting held up a lot, so we beat the other guys to the camper and finished getting it set up. Dan & Danny went to get the combines ready and out to a field while I had to get back in the pickup (yeay) and drive over an hour and a half to meet Andy. He was driving the Volvo semi pulling the grain hopper with the header cart behind it. The hopper trailer hitch wasn't heavy duty enough to pull that big of header cart and was cracking. So I pulled the header cart the rest of the way back. We got to the farmers yard around 2pm, went to the field and unhooked the header cart. Jon was only 1/2 hour away but the combine trailer had a crack in the frame and was dragging really bad, it was done. So Andy, Jim & I drove there to help Jon who just drove the combine the rest of the way. Then there was some welding and monkeying to do on the head that they had just picked up. I ended up having to go to the Case dealer after 7pm, they are there late for harvest thankfully! It was only 10 miles away! So it was a day of a lot of running around for some of us, but Dan & Danny had at least been combining right along all afternoon, and all 3 combines were running by evening. By 8:30pm we didn't have any supper and not much for groceries in the camper. I drove to the grocery store, which was smaller than the Kwik Trip in Faribault, with doubts that it would be open. Surprise! open till 10pm! They even make pizzas and subs in the back. Jackpot. I went and got fuel in the truck and back tank while the pizza was baking. I'm not sure what time we got to the camper for the night, after 11pm sometime, and it was closer to 1 by the time everyone got showered and to bed. Everybody was beat. We were asleep before our heads hit the pillows, I didn't even hear the train, the tracks are a couple hundred feet from the camper. We slept like bricks.

Thursday

Yesterday was a beautiful day, great for combining. Temps in the 80's, windy, full sun.....no HUMIDITY! Because of the good weather the combines were able to start around 10:30 or so after they were greased up and checked over. I took lunch out to the field and that was about the time they finished up a partial field that was left when it was raining and so we moved everything a couple miles down the road to the next field which was I think around 120 or 140 acres split in the middle by a creek. As we were moving the equipment along we had to go over a tiny little bridge that crosses a creek. There was a snake laying on the edge of the road, I stopped so I could look at it out the window better. It was dead, run over, head crushed. I said something over the radio but none of the guys had seen it when they were driving. What kind is it they asked? I knew it wasn't a rattlesnake, but other than that I didn't know. "Throw it in the back of the truck and we'll ask Todd when we get up to the field," Jon said. yeah, right. There just happened to be 2 sticks laying by the snake, so I decided I could use those to pick up the snake and would not have to touch it at all. So I did that, holding it as far from me as possible and set it in the back of the truck, it was at least 3 ft long. When I got to the field we were all looking at it and Todd said it was a Cottonmouth, extremely poisonous. Great! Just wonderful. He asked if I touched the head at all and I said no. A guy that worked for him had killed a Cottonmouth with a lasso-rope. He then wound up the rope to put it away. Something stuck in his hand and he thought it was a splinter so he pulled it out and tossed it on the ground. His hand puffed up like a balloon over the next few hours. It had been a fang, not a splinter. Todd picked up the Cottonmouth by its tail and threw it in the ditch for me, thankfully, I wasn't too keen on picking it up again. So now I thought I better look up snakes in OK, well there were 44 kinds listed, 7 venomous. ICKY!! And I know not to go in or by water, rocks, grass, trees, brush, swamps and anywhere even close to those areas if I want to avoid them all. Doesn't leave many options as to where a person can go. Always on the lookout I guess.

The combines had 1/2 of that field done with when Jim heard a different noise in the combine. A bearing was out. It was 4:15 already. Jon called his Dad to look up the part # for him, then called the closest Case Dealer and they did have it on hand. My first parts run of the year at almost 2 weeks into it, not bad at all - SUPERB compared to last year. So I was off to Wichita Falls, only 45 minutes from us. Plus it wasn't an expensive part or anything so that made the trip more enjoyable. When I got back they had finished the split field and had tested another one, but there was so little wheat I think from pigs eating it and trampling it that it did not pay to combine it. We moved across the road to another field. After we got the heads hooked up and made a couple rounds the sun was setting. There was a lot of green weeds in the field and it was really tough combining, it even plugged up the throat of 1 of the combines. So that was that for the night. Fueled and went back to the camper.

Go While the Going is Good

Last Thursday through this past Tuesday have all been days where "the conditions are right for severe thunderstorms and tornados to build rapidly." Or something similar to that is what we have heard over and over again on the weather band on our radios. Since we don't have TV we rely heavily on our radios, we get pretty decent internet service at the camper but not so much in the fields, and is still seems like it takes forever for the radar to pull up when you want to see it NOW! The thing about the radios is that they list towns and counties in the watches and warnings as I'm sure you know. Well we're not in Rice County anymore. So all of a sudden we need to be familiar with unfamiliar towns and counties ASAP. We have had a lot of practice with that in the last week. Now it seems that weather pattern has broken for the time being, it was beautiful yesterday, is beautiful today and the forecast is good for the next few days.

On Tuesday it was awful humid and the wheat was too wet to cut, though they tried several samples all afternoon it just wasn't fit. I made carmel rolls from scratch that morning (though they just aren't quite as good as Joyce's) and took 2 plates of them to Ralph, Judy, and Bill at the elevator / fuel store. They have been so kind to us. The guys did their own laundry and I did the rest of it. There was a string of storms popping up and we got some rain but the worst of it went around us and went on to El Reno and OK city where there was a lot of damage done again. Jon & I went to check on the combines. They were fine, but another storm popped up while we were out there, it had not even been on the radar when we left! We drove west enough to get out of it, just a few small hail and rain. We went to visit with the Pastor and his wife for a while, it was nice to get to know them and hear their stories of moving around. Then Jon & I went on a "date" to Sonic for a late supper.



Wednesday we had an early lunch so the guys could get to the field to test it. The field they were on was too wet but there was a different field down the road 10 miles that did not get much rain and was good to go, so they moved down there. For a late start it was a good day: combined 2 fields from 3:30 until 11pm or so. Loaded up the heads, moved to the next field, and hooked the heads back up took until 12:15. The excitement for the night was seeing a herd of wild pigs in the field. Andy ran over 2 of them with his pickup. We could hear coyotes howling as well, and they were close!!





I was riding around the field checking some wheat with 1 of the farmers mid-afternoon on wednesday, and he looked more solemn than usual. He told me that there is a Harvest Crew about 30 miles south of here, he wasn't sure of the name even. But that the man's wife was back home in OK city with their 2 kids. She and the 2 kids were in a closet in their home when the tornado hit on Tuesday, the baby died and they had not yet found the toddler, I'm not sure if the mother made it or not. More heartbreaking news. He said again, which he had said many times in the past few days, "I am just so glad that Todd's kids or anyone else was not hurt when that bin went down. This wheat doesn't matter, I am just thankful everyone is OK." Then he said, "What we worry about is 90% things that will never happen to us and 10% what we have no control over anyways."

An Eventful Few Days of Not Cutting Much Wheat

Since it had rained 2 inches Friday morning we knew it may be a couple days before we could be cutting wheat again, what were we going to do except go crazy?

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...

A couple good days and a torrential rain

Wednesday the guys saw a bobcat on their way to the field, I was so bummed I missed it. They said it was not very big. It got to at least 90 today and humid, 1st real hot day we have had. Todd (1 of the farmers) took us all for lunch to the local cafe in town, it was very good, the place was packed when we got there and packed when we left. After that the wheat was dry enough to get combining. It was going well. All that happened was that Jim's combine had a broken section and guard on the 2nd round of the 2nd field. Andy and Jim had that replaced in no time. When Jon got to the spot where it looked like it broke he spotted the cause, a bent T-post laying on the ground! He picked it up and was awfully glad it did not pop a tire or do much worse damage to one of the combines, a section is nothing at all.


Trucks waiting at the edge of the field.


Andy talking with Todd.


Jim unloading.


Going to the field.


This field we took the spreaders off so the straw would be in windrows. They were baling straw right behind us. The farmer doesn't need the straw but he said the FFA and school could have it if they wanted it, there were lots of people out there and a lot going on, a good time for everyone.


The high school boys loading the bales onto a trailer, they didn't have hay racks like we do back home.


Jon with his combine buddy! Raesh, what a bright little man! He is all rancher and farmer, born and bred. At 8 yrs old he could run their ranch and know how to operate everything they have, up at 5:30am with his Dad, he puts most kids and adults alike to shame. Wednesday was the last day of school for the year, only a 1/2 day and then he was out with his Dad and us till we were done for the day. He rode with Jon all afternoon, till 10 pm when he fell asleep. He talked and asked Jon questions the whole time, probably could run the combine now.


So yesterday, Thursday, was a good day all in all. It was humid, but not as hot as the day before, mid 80's I would say with a very strong wind. Jon & Andy took the trucks that were full from the night before to an elevator about 30 miles away. Jim headed out to fuel and start greasing the combines. I walked, then got $20 worth of quarters from the carwash change maker in order to do laundry. There is a small laundromat right at this RV park which is nice. It is probably 200 feet from the camper, so I just made several trips carrying all the laundry back and forth. It maybe would have been faster to load up the truck and back over there, but it hardly seemed worth starting the truck up for that. There are only 6 washing machines there and they seemed small to me, it was enough for all 4 of our clothes though. Towels and sheets can be another day. While that was washing I cut up watermelon and put together tator-tot hotdish (nothing says Minn-E-sOOta like that huh?) They only had 3 dryers in there, but since this spot where our camper is has 2 good sized trees I was able to string up a clothes line to hang the jeans and sweatshirts on at least. It saved $6 anyways, and I didn't have time for a second round of clothes in the dryers before lunch would be ready to take to the field. It worked out.
The wheat wasn't dry enough till about noon unfortunately. Then it was good cutting most of the afternoon. We kept taking samples for the moisture every hour or 2. After 1 field was finished we moved everything down the road a few miles to the next field. Since most all of the fields have cattle grates or gates we have to take the heads off of the combines as they will not fit in and out with the heads on unfortunately. It takes a little extra time, but we have gotten faster at it. Clouds had been building to the west all day and by evening the humidity was so high the straw was tough cutting, thankfully the wheat kernals weren't too wet to keep going, we were hoping to finish the field that night and we did. Jon saw a dead armadillo in the field and we all saw a couple coyotes running in there. We were listening to the weather on the radio and watching the sky as the afternoon and evening went on. By 9:00 the sky was full of lightning to the west, and the radio was saying there were tornado warnings and golf-ball sized hail about 40 - 100 miles to the west of us, moving very slowly NE. Both of which we hoped would miss us. And it did thankfully! But around 5:30 this morning it started to downpour, and kept raining hard until after 10:30, I guess they got around 2 inches here, north of here 30 miles they got 5 inches of rain! So everybody got to sleep in this morning and then we had pancakes and bacon. Boredom is setting in, must be time to get the cards out soon...


Some puddles outside our camper, and our neighbors.


Andy left ruts when he went to get a couple groceries for me this morning as I was making pancakes and realized I did not have everything.