Well it sure has rained a lot in NW Kansas lately, and the mosquitos are THICK. I thought those buggers would stay in MN, but unfortunately they are here as well....
Thursday for lunch I made 1 package of bacon and 4 batches of pancakes, thinking there would be a lot of leftover pancakes for breakfast the next day. They must have tasted good because there was only 7 or 8 pancakes left!
We have really slow internet here and sometimes it won't even connect for us. But it seemed ok now so I thought I would try to get an update on here.
Yesterday afternoon was the first day since I've been back that some combining was done. The ground was pretty muddy in some areas yet though. On Monday of this week the guys had taken 2 combines and heads to where our next stop will be 100 miles away in NE Colorado since we only had about 20 acres to finish up here when the ground dried out. They kept the combine with rear-wheel assist here as it has been muddy. We only have 2 combine trailers so we always have to back-track anyways when we move. Since it has been rainy they thought they'd move them up there ahead of time. Well in the past few days we have had a few more local farmers stop in or call us to see if we could help finish cut their wheat. It has been great to pick up a few hundred more acres to cut here, so this morning Andy, Jim, & Winston went to bring back 1 combine and head to help finish up here. It rained a little last night again but now just finishing up lunch they are going to go try combining again. Hopefully it will go good all afternoon.
We try to keep an eye on the weather everywhere we have jobs and stay in contact with the farmers when we can. Southern Oklahoma is still in a severe drought. That was our 1st stop of the season and it rained some while we were there but hasn't rained at all since around the 20th of May. We wish we could send some rain down to them. They need moisture desperately or they may not even be able to plant winter wheat. In town they will have to water their grass and that is what most people complain and think about, but for farmers and ranchers it is very serious as their livlihood is dependent on the weather. I know you do not know them, but you would like them if you met them, they are kind people trying to make a living in simillar ways many of you are back home. So please think of that area and those people in your prayers, that they be blessed with some timely rains.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Slow Going
Long overdue updates are finally here!!
The hydro was going out in the newer combine that Jon had bought this spring. He bought the parts and the local Case dealer let him use part of their shop space so Jon, Winston, & Charlie could replace it themselves and save big $$ in labor costs. It was super nice of them. There were a few other repairs on trucks and machines all in short order as well. We finished up in central KS and moved to NW Kansas where we had a few hundred acres to cut in 2 towns about 3 hours apart. It wasn't quite ready so we didn't have to rush. The 1st farmers fields had hail damage and didn't do that well, but he had something at least, averaging around 17 bu/acre. It has been raining in NW Kansas every few days, the ground is saturated, and there is water standing in many areas. When they moved to the next town 3 hours away the wheat was excellent, averaging 55-65 bu/acre. But with all the rain they have had a lot more down time than combine time. There was a pretty severe storm one night that blew rain right in the edges of the door on the camper. Hopefully tomorrow the combining will resume.
I was hoping to make it home for the 4th of July as I missed it last year. The plan was that when Dan came out with the car I could take it and go home. But Dan ended up having to replant some soybeans and didn't make it out as early as he had planned. My Grandma & Grandpa offered to take a road trip to come visit and bring me home for the 4th, aren't they the best?! They are very interested in the wheat harvest and like to visit anyways. We got home on the Wednesday before the 4th. It did feel good to get home for a few days, though it was very hot & humid!
Laura, her boyfriend Felipe, and I re-painted the church sign by Hwy 60. We wanted it to look nice for the 4th of July Celebration that our church hosts every year. I took a before picture but it is on our computer at home unfortunatly. It was looking pretty tough though! It took WAY longer than I expected, re-doing all of those letters by hand. We are glad its done and hope it lasts a good LONG time! The 4th of July Celebration this year was one of the best turnouts we have had, it was great weather that day which helped. It was such a fun, busy day I didn't take any pictures and now I wish I had. The pie stand sold around 1000 pieces of pie - all homemade and donated by church members! I had a great time visiting with so many people.
I was home for a week and a half and really got a lot done. Aside from the busy-ness of prep and take-down for the 4th of July celebration, and our re-painting the sign, I cleaned up my flower beds (I was home to see the lillies bloom this year! Last year they were mostly done when I was home), helped with hay and chores at my parents farm, weeded the big vegetable gardens at my moms house really well (it was getting so you could almost not tell the garden from the lawn, not good!) caught up with some of my bookkeeping clients, picked 7 cake pans of strawberries from the garden (that I made some pies and jam with and froze the rest) which Laura had already picked a lot in the week before I got home, plus I got to spend some time with friends and family which was overdue and wonderful.
Jon's Dad, Dan, & I left home on Sunday after church to meet up with the rest of the crew. Dan was very anxious to get out there as he had missed most of the wheat harvest this year already (except for 1 week with us) due to late planting at home and then some replanting from flooded areas. He really enjoys the combining and traveling so he was happy to finally be heading out to join the crew for the rest of summer. Instead of driving straight to the camper, we went to South Dakota first to meet with the farmers we work for there, see how the wheat looks, and get a feeling of when it will be ready. The winter and spring wheat look great as of now, with the winter wheat just starting to turn yellow on top in the area we have work. So we are thinking about 2 weeks until that will be ready and a few weeks after that for the spring wheat. They will have some great crops if no bad weather destroys it, we hope and pray that doesn't happen.
Some pictures a little north of where we work in western South Dakota. It is beautiful in this valley. They have been having similar weather as us this spring, with a lot more rain than they normally have. They are having bumper hay crops and may get a second cutting this year, that's right, second cutting. They normally only have 1 cutting of hay a year in this area. And we easily get 3 or 4 cuttings of hay back home.
Dan & I narrowly missed 3 good storms on the way out but got stuck in 1 bad storm late Monday night. They were popping up all around us. We drove through pouring rain for over 30 miles and at times were going less than 40 mph because the rain was so heavy we could hardly see. The lightning was constant and so bright it was like strobe lights every few seconds, our eyes were hurting. But the hail and 70 mph winds were just north of us thankfully.
Jon's "New Look"
It makes him look older anyways! While I was at home Jon told me that there was a surprise at the camper but I might not like it when I got back....hmmm....I asked - another tattoo?? no he said. the camper is a mess? yes it is right now but it will be clean when you get here he said and it was which was great.
So when Dan & I rolled in close to midnight on Monday and Jon met us at the door I screamed and said his "surprise" scared me! I wasn't expecting that at all and it took some getting used to. He said he will probably shave it off soon as it was kind of bugging him but we will see. We hadn't seen each other in almost 2 weeks and had really missed each other. Love you Jon!! The guys survived while I was gone (I had no doubt) but apparantly they are very sick of eating burgers, brats, hot dogs, sandwiches, mac 'n' cheese, and ramen noodles. Both of my WONDERFUL Grandmas sent along dozens of cookies and treats with Dan & I for the crew. They are probably already 1/3 gone....
One of the farmers we work for thought Jon & Andy were brothers with their matching looks!
Jim, Jon, Andy, Dan, Winston, & Charlie enjoying the day with temps only in the mid-eighties. The RV park in town was totally full of harvesters so the farmer we are harvesting for let us hook up the camper here at the Threshing Association grounds that he is a member of. He gave the guys a tour through the many buildings of over 200 antique tractors and combines, many of them restored. Their big annual Threshing event is coming up at the end of the month. They do threshing demonstrations with steam and gas engines. I'm not sure if we will get to see it but it would sure be neat. I remember my Grandma & Grandpa Wagner talking fondly of the Threshing days in our area from many years ago and think how much it has changed in just their lifetime.
The hydro was going out in the newer combine that Jon had bought this spring. He bought the parts and the local Case dealer let him use part of their shop space so Jon, Winston, & Charlie could replace it themselves and save big $$ in labor costs. It was super nice of them. There were a few other repairs on trucks and machines all in short order as well. We finished up in central KS and moved to NW Kansas where we had a few hundred acres to cut in 2 towns about 3 hours apart. It wasn't quite ready so we didn't have to rush. The 1st farmers fields had hail damage and didn't do that well, but he had something at least, averaging around 17 bu/acre. It has been raining in NW Kansas every few days, the ground is saturated, and there is water standing in many areas. When they moved to the next town 3 hours away the wheat was excellent, averaging 55-65 bu/acre. But with all the rain they have had a lot more down time than combine time. There was a pretty severe storm one night that blew rain right in the edges of the door on the camper. Hopefully tomorrow the combining will resume.
I was hoping to make it home for the 4th of July as I missed it last year. The plan was that when Dan came out with the car I could take it and go home. But Dan ended up having to replant some soybeans and didn't make it out as early as he had planned. My Grandma & Grandpa offered to take a road trip to come visit and bring me home for the 4th, aren't they the best?! They are very interested in the wheat harvest and like to visit anyways. We got home on the Wednesday before the 4th. It did feel good to get home for a few days, though it was very hot & humid!
Laura, her boyfriend Felipe, and I re-painted the church sign by Hwy 60. We wanted it to look nice for the 4th of July Celebration that our church hosts every year. I took a before picture but it is on our computer at home unfortunatly. It was looking pretty tough though! It took WAY longer than I expected, re-doing all of those letters by hand. We are glad its done and hope it lasts a good LONG time! The 4th of July Celebration this year was one of the best turnouts we have had, it was great weather that day which helped. It was such a fun, busy day I didn't take any pictures and now I wish I had. The pie stand sold around 1000 pieces of pie - all homemade and donated by church members! I had a great time visiting with so many people.
I was home for a week and a half and really got a lot done. Aside from the busy-ness of prep and take-down for the 4th of July celebration, and our re-painting the sign, I cleaned up my flower beds (I was home to see the lillies bloom this year! Last year they were mostly done when I was home), helped with hay and chores at my parents farm, weeded the big vegetable gardens at my moms house really well (it was getting so you could almost not tell the garden from the lawn, not good!) caught up with some of my bookkeeping clients, picked 7 cake pans of strawberries from the garden (that I made some pies and jam with and froze the rest) which Laura had already picked a lot in the week before I got home, plus I got to spend some time with friends and family which was overdue and wonderful.
Jon's Dad, Dan, & I left home on Sunday after church to meet up with the rest of the crew. Dan was very anxious to get out there as he had missed most of the wheat harvest this year already (except for 1 week with us) due to late planting at home and then some replanting from flooded areas. He really enjoys the combining and traveling so he was happy to finally be heading out to join the crew for the rest of summer. Instead of driving straight to the camper, we went to South Dakota first to meet with the farmers we work for there, see how the wheat looks, and get a feeling of when it will be ready. The winter and spring wheat look great as of now, with the winter wheat just starting to turn yellow on top in the area we have work. So we are thinking about 2 weeks until that will be ready and a few weeks after that for the spring wheat. They will have some great crops if no bad weather destroys it, we hope and pray that doesn't happen.
Some pictures a little north of where we work in western South Dakota. It is beautiful in this valley. They have been having similar weather as us this spring, with a lot more rain than they normally have. They are having bumper hay crops and may get a second cutting this year, that's right, second cutting. They normally only have 1 cutting of hay a year in this area. And we easily get 3 or 4 cuttings of hay back home.
Dan & I narrowly missed 3 good storms on the way out but got stuck in 1 bad storm late Monday night. They were popping up all around us. We drove through pouring rain for over 30 miles and at times were going less than 40 mph because the rain was so heavy we could hardly see. The lightning was constant and so bright it was like strobe lights every few seconds, our eyes were hurting. But the hail and 70 mph winds were just north of us thankfully.
Jon's "New Look"
It makes him look older anyways! While I was at home Jon told me that there was a surprise at the camper but I might not like it when I got back....hmmm....I asked - another tattoo?? no he said. the camper is a mess? yes it is right now but it will be clean when you get here he said and it was which was great.
So when Dan & I rolled in close to midnight on Monday and Jon met us at the door I screamed and said his "surprise" scared me! I wasn't expecting that at all and it took some getting used to. He said he will probably shave it off soon as it was kind of bugging him but we will see. We hadn't seen each other in almost 2 weeks and had really missed each other. Love you Jon!! The guys survived while I was gone (I had no doubt) but apparantly they are very sick of eating burgers, brats, hot dogs, sandwiches, mac 'n' cheese, and ramen noodles. Both of my WONDERFUL Grandmas sent along dozens of cookies and treats with Dan & I for the crew. They are probably already 1/3 gone....
One of the farmers we work for thought Jon & Andy were brothers with their matching looks!
Jim, Jon, Andy, Dan, Winston, & Charlie enjoying the day with temps only in the mid-eighties. The RV park in town was totally full of harvesters so the farmer we are harvesting for let us hook up the camper here at the Threshing Association grounds that he is a member of. He gave the guys a tour through the many buildings of over 200 antique tractors and combines, many of them restored. Their big annual Threshing event is coming up at the end of the month. They do threshing demonstrations with steam and gas engines. I'm not sure if we will get to see it but it would sure be neat. I remember my Grandma & Grandpa Wagner talking fondly of the Threshing days in our area from many years ago and think how much it has changed in just their lifetime.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Kansas Wheat Video
Here is a video I made from some clips I took in the field last week. It was very windy and some parts get a little bouncy, I apologize in advance for that. I was hoping to capture the sounds of the combines, but I mostly just captured the sound of the Kansas wind. Then I tried to add a song to the video, but that didn't work either. So it is what it is, but not what I'd hoped it would be. Here is the address, I can't get it link so copy and paste the address in a new web browser.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyW_AIun7l8
You can also go to YouTube and search: Melchert Harvesting, Kansas Wheat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyW_AIun7l8
You can also go to YouTube and search: Melchert Harvesting, Kansas Wheat
Meals on Wheels
Making lunch and making a lot of dirty dishes.
It is nice to get the pre lunch dishes done before I take lunch out if possible because there is a bunch of dishes to do after lunch from all the containers.
The menu for Fridays lunch was: pizza hotdish, garlic bread, and brownies with 1 scoop of ice cream.
Meals on wheels to the field. We learned to buckle up the water cooler so it doesn't spill or tip over.
Me enjoying the really nice day while I waited for the guys to come up and get their lunch. Jon went to check if the next field was ready.
One of the few fields we could unload on the go here, many fields had some terraces which makes it too difficult to unload on the go with trucks anyway. This was some really good wheat!
Some nights there are tons of fireflies out. Jon caught some and put them in a styrafoam cup, their lights shown through really well, though not in the picture at all! It was a beautiful night out.
We finished up combining late on Friday. It was a really good week of harvesting. Saturday I made up the invoices, we settled up with the farmers, the guys started to get the machines blown off good and load them onto the trailers. We were going to grill hot dogs for supper, but Winston was craving steak. So he bought a nearly 1 lb steak for everyone and he & Charlie grilled them up, it was very good and also very generous of him. Around 9pm it really cooled off, there was a good breeze and was nice outside. So Jon & I went for a walk around 9:30. About 5 minutes into the walk we could see an older pickup coming our way and it was smoking like crazy. By the time it was a few yards away we could see it wasn't the pickup itself that was smoking, it was what was in the bed of the truck and by then it was too late. The wind was blowing towards us and the guy didn't stop to let us cross. So we got fumigated. YUCK! He was spraying for mosquitos and it was sure stinky. We couldn't believe it, how disgusting, but we didn't have to worry about any mosquitos bothering us!
Sunday we went to Concordia Lutheran Church, same as we had went to the previous week. It was nice to visit with the people we had met the week before and join in the worship with them. Their organist had been gone the week before and there were just recordings, but he was back this Sunday, what a difference it was. The church was filled with the music, it was almost as good as our church's music back home. It is easy to take the music, organists, and our powerful organ for granted until you visit other churches and can compare, I like it when a church is just bursting with music and praise. And after church it happened again, there was a potluck! Several people invited us to stay and well they didn't have to twist our arms very hard, it was put on by the men of the church - what a great idea! It was 75% meat with a little of everything else and it was great. After that Jon went to meet with the other farmers that he did not get to the day before and the rest of us headed to the sauna, I mean laundromat. It was 102 degrees outside on Sunday and it wasn't much less than that in the laundromat. A few hours in there was long enough. When Jon and all of us got back to the camper we decided to go to the community pool to cool down for a while. Jim didn't have swim trunks along so he stayed back at the camper while the rest of us went for a dip. At 5-6pm everyday all the kids under 18 have to leave and it is only open to adults. The guys were doing flips and goofy things off the diving boards and then we played shark for the rest of the hour, it was fun. That night after supper Andy took us all out to Dairy Queen and bought us all a blizzard or shake, how nice! Our crew is the best!
Friday, June 24, 2011
A BEAUTIFUL week in central Kansas!!!
Sometime over the past weekend Jim managed to get 1 channel to come in clearly on our TV just in time for the Miss USA pagent. It was pretty exciting considering we haven't had any TV in over a month. We get NBC, it is nice to be able to watch the news and Leno. Has anyone seen that show America's Got Talent? We get that show and it is quite entertaining. I had never watched it at home but rather like it now :) As difficult as it was to pull everyone away from the tube, after a week of not combining it is really good to get going again.
Monday started out as a hot, muggy morning. I think it was 90 degrees at 7am. By noon there was a good breeze and it seemed a bit cooler and was really comfortable out. By 7pm I was wearing a light coat, it was in the upper 50's. There were really severe storms to the northwest and southwest of us. It sprinkled on us for a bit but not more than that. The next day we found out that the next farmer we cut for a few hours away had a tornado close by, hail busted his windshield, and broke several windows in his house. He will let us know soon if any of his wheat fields are salvagable or if they are destroyed.
We are SO thankful to have picked up work in this area, what a blessing it has been and a really nice area to work in. When we originally talked to people most farmers in this area have a combine or two and harvest themselves. There is one guy in the area that custom cuts just around here as well, so it wasn't looking good for us, but after that week of storms here farmers are really wanting to get their crops out in a hurry since the wheat is doing better than they thought it would yield. So we have had several farmers contact us to help out. Paul & Norma are a farm couple in their 80's who hired us. They were so happy we could harvest for them so quickly. They had 39-50 bushel / acre averages which is really good. We got almost all 355 of thier wheat acres done in 1 day, if the elevator wouldn't have closed at 11 we would have finished. Norma brought out 1/2 lb burgers and home cut fries to the field from their local cafe in town that night for supper. The food was great, it was very sweet of them to do that for us. When Norma and I were going over the invoice a couple days later she gave me 1 of their church's cookbooks. It was so nice of her and she wrote me the sweetest message in the cover.
"A gift for Holly, my young Minnesota farmer friend. From Norma, a Kansas Veteran farmer for 57 years and friend. May you find a recipe or two that you can use to help make your job of feeding the crew a little easier. What joy to see you work side by side with your husband. We love you all, God Bless."
Sometimes we feel like traveling salespeople trying to get work and it can be frusterating, but it is the people and things like this that make the work personal and more than a job.
Danny's truck is back in action.
Gorgeous day!!
Everyday since Monday has been like this, from the 80-'s to low 90's. I have been driving combine a lot more this week than normal since the wheat is really good and there has been more lines and wait time at the elevator. So last night I ordered supper from the cafe and was going to pick it up when I went to town to fill up the farm fuel tank and pick up a part. I pull up to the Backwoods Cafe, that is actually the name, and there are 4 guys and a dog sitting outside the cafe enjoying some beers. There was an 84 yr old gent that recognized me from the feed store where I was visiting with him the day before and asked how things were going. He had been to MN a lot in his day, he raced stock cars and did very well I guess. So anyway he told the other guys this was why he liked MN so much, it was full of pretty women - such a flirt! I talked with them for a bit about the harvest and another guy asked if I was married! He said if he wasn't 80 yrs old he would ask me out, I said yes I was married and had better get inside to pick up our supper. Ha! It made me and the guys laugh anyways.
On to the next field! It has been really nice that we haven't had to take the heads off of the combines moving around to most of the fields.
I better get lunch off to the field or I may get fired, HA!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Rain, rain go away
Since we got here on Tuesday afternoon, it has rained all but one night since then. The wheat wasn't dry enough to start combining on Tuesday and all this rain hasn't helped. We have been able to round up several hundred acres to cut in this area once it does dry out in a day or possibly a few days. We are happy for that at least. Danny's truck was at the Ford dealer in Great Bend, but they were a month and a half behind before they could get to it. So Andy and the other 3 guys went there to load it onto the trailer again and take it to the Ford dealer in Hays that could get it in right away. Winston and Charlie were riding in the pickup that was on the trailer being pulled by the straight truck. they both had their seat belts on and the windows down and were reclined back in the seats. A trooper pulled them over and told them to get out now and ride in the front of the straight truck. He didn't give them a ticket but all 4 guys had to ride in the front of the day cab for a while. The Hays dealer had the truck done by Friday! I guess it was a high pressure valve that needed replacing.
This storm was coming in early Wednesday evening before it was dark.
The sky was dark in a hurry though! On Friday night sometime after midnight Jon & I both woke up when the wind really picked up and started shaking the camper pretty good. We turned on the weatherband and watched all the lightning everywhere in the sky. Severe Thunderstorm with winds in excess of 60mph and 2 inch hail possible. We all got some clothes and shoes on and took the pickups and parked them under the overhang of the activity center that is right by us. Both pickups fit at least if it were to hail. It was an amazing show of lightning, wind, and downpouring rain; but no hail here thankfully! Jon & I took 1 pickup to drive up the road to see if the combines had hail damage, they did not either. The other 4 guys were all back in their bunks when we got back, but as soon as we stepped into the camper Jon & I knew something was wrong, the camper was majorly downhill! We went back out and realized the camper was off the blocks and some of the jacks were messed up! The wind had blown the jacks right off the blocks, thats some pretty crazy wind. So we spent another 45 minutes getting everything set right again. Back to bed sometime after 3:30 but I couldn't fall asleep. As soon as I did the wind picked up again around 5am, another storm was forming but it wasn't as severe. It is probably like trying to sleep on a small boat on the ocean, I'm not really sure though. But I was thinking this time the camper is going to blow right over. In the end it did not, but it is an unsettling feeling.
Thunderheads building to the southeast of us on Saturday night. Other than storm watching the guys have washed the trucks and fixed some things on the combines. We have played a lot of cards. We are able to use the activity center here which has some really nice basketball courts and a new workout center, so we have enjoyed getting to take advantage of those things.
Happy Fathers Day to the Dads and Grandpas! We love you!
This storm was coming in early Wednesday evening before it was dark.
The sky was dark in a hurry though! On Friday night sometime after midnight Jon & I both woke up when the wind really picked up and started shaking the camper pretty good. We turned on the weatherband and watched all the lightning everywhere in the sky. Severe Thunderstorm with winds in excess of 60mph and 2 inch hail possible. We all got some clothes and shoes on and took the pickups and parked them under the overhang of the activity center that is right by us. Both pickups fit at least if it were to hail. It was an amazing show of lightning, wind, and downpouring rain; but no hail here thankfully! Jon & I took 1 pickup to drive up the road to see if the combines had hail damage, they did not either. The other 4 guys were all back in their bunks when we got back, but as soon as we stepped into the camper Jon & I knew something was wrong, the camper was majorly downhill! We went back out and realized the camper was off the blocks and some of the jacks were messed up! The wind had blown the jacks right off the blocks, thats some pretty crazy wind. So we spent another 45 minutes getting everything set right again. Back to bed sometime after 3:30 but I couldn't fall asleep. As soon as I did the wind picked up again around 5am, another storm was forming but it wasn't as severe. It is probably like trying to sleep on a small boat on the ocean, I'm not really sure though. But I was thinking this time the camper is going to blow right over. In the end it did not, but it is an unsettling feeling.
Thunderheads building to the southeast of us on Saturday night. Other than storm watching the guys have washed the trucks and fixed some things on the combines. We have played a lot of cards. We are able to use the activity center here which has some really nice basketball courts and a new workout center, so we have enjoyed getting to take advantage of those things.
Happy Fathers Day to the Dads and Grandpas! We love you!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Scouting
Jon and I set out Friday afternoon to scout out more work. It was a lot of driving. All day Saturday, Sunday, and Monday driving around N.Western Kansas and Eastern CO. We don't have much work lined up but a few leads that we hope will amount to something. The other guys worked for a guy we know in Kansas for a couple days that was short on help, we are thankful for that and all of the jobs we do have. Right now there are a LOT of crews sitting, waiting for work and out looking.
Every once in a while we see a couple old Gleaners out making rounds.
It is a nice sight.
Looking at the map
Andy and the guys moved some of the machinery a couple hours north while we were gone. They had problems with Danny's F-350 dually, it died and they couldn't figure out why or get it started again. They were at least able to pull it onto 1 of the combine trailers with the straight truck so they could take it to a shop without having to get it towed. Winston and Charlie rode in the box of the straight truck to town though, they must have thought that better than squishing 4 guys like sardines into a day cab with only 2 bucket seats.
sniff sniff, what's that funky smell?
There are lots of feedlots in Kansas.
Beefy.
He really does exist!
A natural gas pipeline company and hydrocarbon processing plant. Hydrocarbons are one of our most important energy resources, gas form we use it as a combustible fuel and solid form is asphalt. It is found naturally in crude oil.
Leaving town we saw this and were surprised there wasn't any damage to the trailer or road, he must have forgot to lock the kingpin, not good.
After we settled up with the farmers, the coop where we bought fuel, and the RV park owners we continued making our way a couple hours farther north. We decided to park our machinery and camper in central Kansas. We do not have work lined up here yet but a possible lead. This is on the way to our next job anyway. But that wheat won't be ready for a couple weeks yet depending on the weather so we stopped here in hopes of finding SOMETHING, ANYTHING - for work to fill the gap. There is this "gap" this year because Oklahoma had such drought that their wheat was ready 2 weeks ahead of normal schedule, and now we are getting up to the point of a more normal maturity date for the wheat, farther north it sounds like the wheat could actually be later than normal this year because of a cool, wet spring. So we are trying to fill the "gap".
Andy's 27th birthday was on Sunday, but we were not with him. So we celebrated on Tuesday night instead. Grilled burgers, homemade birthday cake, a cool evening, sitting around outside shooting the breeze, cocktails, and playing cribbage....a fun and relaxing time had by all!
Every once in a while we see a couple old Gleaners out making rounds.
It is a nice sight.
Looking at the map
Andy and the guys moved some of the machinery a couple hours north while we were gone. They had problems with Danny's F-350 dually, it died and they couldn't figure out why or get it started again. They were at least able to pull it onto 1 of the combine trailers with the straight truck so they could take it to a shop without having to get it towed. Winston and Charlie rode in the box of the straight truck to town though, they must have thought that better than squishing 4 guys like sardines into a day cab with only 2 bucket seats.
sniff sniff, what's that funky smell?
There are lots of feedlots in Kansas.
Beefy.
He really does exist!
A natural gas pipeline company and hydrocarbon processing plant. Hydrocarbons are one of our most important energy resources, gas form we use it as a combustible fuel and solid form is asphalt. It is found naturally in crude oil.
Leaving town we saw this and were surprised there wasn't any damage to the trailer or road, he must have forgot to lock the kingpin, not good.
After we settled up with the farmers, the coop where we bought fuel, and the RV park owners we continued making our way a couple hours farther north. We decided to park our machinery and camper in central Kansas. We do not have work lined up here yet but a possible lead. This is on the way to our next job anyway. But that wheat won't be ready for a couple weeks yet depending on the weather so we stopped here in hopes of finding SOMETHING, ANYTHING - for work to fill the gap. There is this "gap" this year because Oklahoma had such drought that their wheat was ready 2 weeks ahead of normal schedule, and now we are getting up to the point of a more normal maturity date for the wheat, farther north it sounds like the wheat could actually be later than normal this year because of a cool, wet spring. So we are trying to fill the "gap".
Andy's 27th birthday was on Sunday, but we were not with him. So we celebrated on Tuesday night instead. Grilled burgers, homemade birthday cake, a cool evening, sitting around outside shooting the breeze, cocktails, and playing cribbage....a fun and relaxing time had by all!
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