Busy Weekend

Lots of bushels of wheat are in the bins finally.  The guys have cut some of the best wheat ever in some places, 60+ bushels in spots which kept the truck drivers very busy; however, the protein hasn't been too good on what we've tested so far so we'll have to figure out how to keep the elevators from stealing it from us.

Yesterday turned out to be another long day.  They had moved to the far east land we farm, and the crop was not as good.  The truck drivers didn't have far to haul and were easily keeping up so M put R on his combine and picked me up about 11 am to go move the camper back home.  We took a mower over to R's on the way and had lunch in Opheim before picking up the camper.  M wanted me to go up to the field with him so that we could fix a fence and let the cows into the fields that were cut to graze the pigeon grass and grass coulees.  Silly me, I broke an important rule and didn't take a book along, thinking I'd be back home in just a couple of hours.

We took the camper up to the fields and helped C put the lids on some bins that were full and move an auger.  The J called and found a broken piece on the straw chopper that needed to be welded.  Off we go, M, C and me.  They sometimes like my help because I have the long skinny fingers, hands and arms that can reach places some of them can't.  They had to take off shields and a pulley and found a bearing out and then go to the piece that was broken and took it off so M could weld it.  In the process of putting it back on, J got his hand caught.  He had put in a bolt and the other guys apparently thought it would hold the chopper up and it didn't and his hand got caught.  Not two minutes earlier my hand was in there.  It was pretty heavy since there were three guys holding it up.  We eventually got it all back together and sent him on his way.

We finally got to the fencing job and coaxed the cows out into the fields and then moved two pickups to the next field.  M's cousin son who is 13 came out for the weekend so was learning to operate the grain cart.  He has been coming out to the farm since he was in diapers and loves it, and M thinks it's time we start getting him trained. Poor kid had everyone telling him how to do it, and I'm pretty sure none of them gave him the same instructions.  He did okay.

We knew rain was coming so wanted to get as much done as possible.  R had trouble with his header so M went to work on that while I grilled up some burgers for the boys.  We took them out to them about 9 pm, and they worked until about 11 pm when it started raining.

So, I got home about 12 hours after I left and without a book to tide me over!  There were some old farm papers in the camper that I read while waiting for my next assignment, but we need to stock the camper with some more reading material.

My only goal for the weekend was to get my bathroom cleaned, and I finally managed to get that done this afternoon.  No sense having lofty goals around here this time of year.

We had about 3/4" of rain during the night so that will stop us from cutting for a couple of days.  I'm wondering if the guys will remember all the things they said they needed to do "if it rains." 

Fueling Fiasco

Yesterday I delivered lunch and C asked if I could go to Richland and fill the service truck with fuel.  He said it was backed in by the fuel tank already.  Sure, no problem.  I climbed up the side of the truck to reach the fuel tank, trying to hang on with one hand so I didn't fall off and drag the fuel hose up with the other.  Scratched my arm on the headache rack but managed to get the nozzle into the tank and start the pump.  I sat in the truck and finished my book knowing I had plenty of time because the tank holds 400+ gallons so takes awhile to fill.  I went to put my book back in my pickup and then climbed up the truck to check the progress of the filling and no fuel was coming out.  Great!  I think the tank is empty so I call M and ask what to do.  He's surprised that the tank would be empty but really wasn't sure so told me how to hook up the pump for the other tank to the truck battery.

First, I had to get the cover off the battery compartment on the side of the truck.  No problem there.  Then I had to move the truck far enough back so that the battery cable would reach. I backed up until I ran into junk.  I moved some pieces of metal and backed up a bit further.  Still not far enough.  I thought if I straightened the truck out a bit I would maybe gain that extra inch that I needed.  I pulled ahead until I ran into something to try to straighten it out and then backed up as far as I could and the cable would just reach the battery.  I took the cable from the pump and attached the red clamp to the red terminal on the battery.  So far so good.  The black clamp was loose so I had to hold it onto the battery terminal and move it around to make the pump start.  I soon discovered that the red one had to be in just the right position, too.  The pump finally started, but then I had to let go so I could crawl up the truck and put the hose in the tank.  Back down, jiggle the red clamp, attach the black clamp, get a spark, pump starts, whew!  But, I can't tell if there is actually fuel pumping because I'm on the ground holding the clamp and if I let go to check if there is fuel coming out of the hose, the pump will quit.  I do happen to look at the pump and see fuel dripping so I'm pretty sure it's pumping.  Then I'm wondering how long it is going to take to fill the tank while I'm standing there holding the stupid clamp.  I think about moving the truck again and trying to pull it in with it's nose to the tank wondering if the cable will reach that way.  I decide I'd better not do that because if it doesn't work, I'd never be able to get it back in the position it was currently in.  A fly lands on my hand, but I can't shake it off or the pump will quit.  Finally, I let go and go back to the first tank and pound on it and it doesn't sound like it's empty so I turn on that pump and fuel flows again.  So, I take off the battery cable, take out the hose and move the truck forward again, climb the truck to put the other hose in, scratch my arm again while trying not to fall off the truck and proceed to fill the tank.  Nothing to it.

Later I tell M that the first tank wasn't empty, that it just quit pumping for some reason and he said, "oh yeah, C said it did that to him one time, too."  Grrr, he couldn't have thought of that and mentioned it earlier!?!?

Moving East

I have some catching up to do since my last blog was several days ago.  On Sunday I took lunch to the field again and then went to R's to mow.  I raked up some stuff that his dog had found and brought to the yard and then tried to start the mower.  It started and died a couple of times and then the battery was dead so I gave up.  It was 90+ degrees so I didn't really feel like doing it anyway.  I visited with my mom instead.

M and J stayed in the camper on Friday and Saturday nights, but they came home Sunday night since it was supposed to rain.  And, rain it did, over a half inch, so there was no cutting on Monday.  Everyone but M had a day of rest.  They got back to it yesterday afternoon and finished up the lentils today.....big sigh of relief.

M and J camped out again last night and grilled steaks and shared with R.  I'm kind of jealous of the male bonding, but it's good for them.  P, L and I took lunch over today and started moving stuff back to Richland.  J's combine was broke down when we got there so I had to make a flying trip to Glasgow for parts while they had lunch.  J has been trying to convince M that a new(er) combine is needed.  I think he is finally getting the point across after two breakdowns in two days.  R got to run the other combine most of the day while M helped work on J's combine and then drove truck.  C figures it will be the only time all season that M will be in the truck.  C ran the combine for a little while this morning while M was baling and that will probably be his only combine time.

I moved the grain cart back with the pickup and P brought the tractor and baler which took an hour.  There was too much traffic for me and my wide load.  I was wishing it would have been like Monday when I came home from work and saw one other vehicle in those 35 miles.  I always think I'm going to have a nervous breakdown when I have to drive that slow but 30 mph was plenty fast enough pulling the grain cart.  I also worry about falling asleep but was good there, too.  Wish I could read while driving.  We were home maybe an hour and half before we had to go back to move more stuff back--the combines, trucks, service truck and pickups.  I drove the service truck and flagged the combines back.  We traveled back roads where there would be less traffic (how about no traffic) since it would be dark before we got to Richland.  We got there about 9:00 pm, about an hour and a half later.

Tomorrow they plan to service the combines, switch headers and start cutting some wheat.  Some wheat kernels in the bin will make everyone happy, especially if more rain is coming.

Harvest Update

Harvest is progressing, slow but sure.  We woke up to fog on Wednesday and a rain shower on Thursday.  I took full responsibility for the rain since I had washed my car the day before.  C and I agreed that my car will have to be dirty until harvest is over.  Luckily, it was just a sprinkle and they got going earlier that day.  They made the big move west on Thursday afternoon.  The land we farm is spread out 35 miles from east to west, and they moved to the farthest point west that day to start cutting green peas. 

C turned 50 on Thursday, but it wasn't a good day to celebrate so I picked up some take-and-bake pizzas to take for lunch on Friday in celebration of his birthday.  He was thinking that having a birthday this time of year is okay because everyone is too busy to make a big deal of it.  I have a feeling he won't get off that easy.

After lunch I took the service truck to Opheim to get fuel and after taking it back to the field I went to see my mom since I was in the neighborhood.  L hates making the trek over to take lunch so I've been giving her a break.  M and J spent the night in the camper and both reported that they slept well.  I was wondering if they arm wrestled to determine who got the queen size bed and who got the couch.  M said there was no discussion--I guess he pulled the "old man" card.

I went over again today and took lunch.  Both the boys asked "where's Grandma?"  Made me feel really appreciated--not!  I told them that she didn't love them anymore, but they didn't believe me.  They were finishing up the peas and cleaning out the combines just as I got there and started on green lentils.  M was pleased with how they were running.  Previously, they had been cutting red lentils and have never raised green ones before.  J was surprised at how different the plants were.

I had to take the service truck to Opheim for fuel again today after I helped sweep out a grain bin.  It was 90+ degrees so that grain bin felt like a sauna!  R had wanted me to go mow at his house, but it was so hot and windy that I didn't think it was a good day to do that, and by the time I got back with the fuel it was 4:00.  I decided I needed to get home and clean up my kitchen instead.

I need to come up with something for tomorrow's lunch then L is back on duty Monday and Tuesday while I am at work.  M will be camping again tonight and plans to work late since there is a chance of rain tomorrow.  I'm glad he slept well last night because I sure didn't with him gone.

There's Gonna Be a Weddin'

Big news in our world.  J called me this morning and said "K wants me to tell you that she's engaged."  My response after I asked him to repeat that was "to who?"  I asked him at least twice if he was serious, and he assured me that he was.  He then called K and told her to call me because I didn't believe him.  I did talk to her later, and she confirmed and posted a picture of the ring.  We weren't sure it would ever happen although they've been together over two years and have talked about it a lot.  J is pretty tough and gruff and doesn't let his feelings show too much or talk about things much so we're never quite sure what's he's thinking or feeling. 

I took lunch to the field today and fed R after everyone else because he was off dumping a truck.  I asked him if J told him his news, which he hadn't, and when I told him he sputtered "what?" and nearly choked on his pizza.  He doesn't understand how K can put up with J.  Pretty sure that J treats her a lot better then he treats his brother!  We've joked that if J can find someone to put up with him, he'd better get a ring on her finger.  One Christmas, R told her all the reasons that J should not reproduce.  Still she's stayed so it must be love.

She's very good for him, is older, independent and used to doing things on her own.  She works two jobs and can take care of herself.  She can get him to cook, do dishes, fold laundry and make the bed.  Thinks I could never get him to do!  There are times when she'll tell me about things he has said or done, and I'm sure she must be talking about someone other than my son.

No date set yet, and she says J has to pick the date for whenever he thinks we won't be too busy.  I told her she may end up in Cooke City in January in her snowmobile gear or with long johns under her dress.  She wasn't crazy about that idea.  My sister thinks they should get married during the all-school reunion in Opheim next summer--something small and simple with the 1500 people that will be there for the reunion.  I don't think they'll go for that either.  I'm lobbying for the Elvis chapel in Vegas.

K will be a good addition to the family.  I've already got plans to groom her to take over some of my farm responsibilities.  She should maybe run while she has the chance!

"Officially Behind"

The guys are trying to get moving, but the weather has not been cooperating.  We had rain (and a little more hail) on Wednesday and Friday was a cool, damp day with some rain showers.  That meant that we couldn't cut on Saturday.  Instead, we went to Plentywood to look at a camper which we ended up buying and J picked it up on Sunday.  They got back to cutting lentils on Sunday afternoon and finished here by our house, but then we had another shower.  They finished the hail-damaged lentils north of us and began the move west, but those lentils are also hail damaged and weren't quite dry enough.  It's been a hurry-up-and-wait situation. They have been desiccating a little bit every day or so, and the lentils are ripening rapidly as are the later peas so M says we are "officially behind." 

Ready and waiting

They didn't start cutting until after lunch today so this morning they moved some lentils from the aerated bin to a regular bin to make room in case we have more that are only marginally dry enough to cut. There was discussion today about where they're going to put all the grain.  We used every inch of bin room that we had last year, and it looks like we'll be in the same situation again.  Not a bad problem to have, I guess.

I was out for a walk this morning and picked a wildflower bouquet.  It really is nice that the hills are still green and everything isn't burned to a crisp by now like most years.

My mission today was to stock the new (new to us) camper because once they move over to Opheim they will be camping out.  J is usually the one that doesn't want to make the long drive home after a long day, but even M is talking like he'll be camping.  Maybe he's going to pretend he's somewhere fun.  I should probably buy him some marshmallows.

Road Nazi

We live in a world without pavement and drive a lot of gravel roads, especially the six miles between our house and the highway.  Periodically, and not nearly often enough, the county maintainer grades the road to work out the rough spots and spread the gravel out again.  It takes awhile for the tracks to develop again, and I am a firm believer that there is a right way and a wrong way to drive on a newly graded road.  First, you need to take it slow, especially if you meet another vehicle to avoid sending a rock into someone's windshield or peppering them with gravel.  Second, you need to drive on the right side of the road and not down the middle so that proper tracks are established. You should drive with your left wheel in the middle of the road to establish a three-track road.  It drives me crazy when the tracks aren't right, which happens quite a bit, because with the infrequency of maintenance on our road we have to live with those tracks for months at a time.  I have given the lecture to my family before, and they dubbed me the "road nazi."

Last week the maintainer went over our road and once again someone has driven down the middle of the road establishing a two-track road rather than a three-track road.  Apparently, I am not the only one bothered as a neighbor mentioned it to M.  He told the neighbor that his wife was really bothered, too, and should be the road nazi.

I like to blame it on the hyper little mail carrier man (I've seen him drive down the middle of the road) and the neighbor's kids (they're kids), but I know that my family can be guilty as well.  I've thought about posting signs on the road that say "DON'T DRIVE DOWN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD" or driving up and down the road several times to establish the tracks myself.  Now I'm thinking I should get a T-shirt proclaiming that I'm the road nazi and go door-to-door and explain the proper way to drive on a freshly graded road.  There aren't too many people in our neighborhood so that shouldn't take long.  It might be fun to stop the border patrol agents and give them a talking to, but they'd probably think I was crazy.  That's okay, so does my family!

Correct

Incorrect

Weathering Harvest

We had another interesting weather day with thunderstorms this morning.  The guys were finally able to start cutting this afternoon.  They tried to cut the lentils here at our house, but they are not quite ready so they moved north a couple of miles to start on the hailed out lentils.  A bit depressing to try to cut it.  We were out all day yesterday with hail insurance adjusters so we have a better idea of what's what.  They took representative samples and counted percentage of lost or broken pods on the mustard and lentils and broken and shattered heads in the wheat to estimate the loss.

M called about 4:30 because he had broken the sickle on his combine and needed the service truck which was at our house.  We started working on the sickle and C came from town to bring the new head.  They welded the sickle together, and we started putting it back together while C went back to town to get a truck.  There was a storm brewing to the north of us.  M kept saying it was going to miss us, but I could heard the thunder and was a bit worried about getting struck by lightning or him getting struck by lightning.  Before long the wind came up and the temperature dropped about 15 degrees, and it started to rain lightly.  I wasn't much help so I headed to the service truck.  It started to rain harder, and it wasn't long before M joined me in the truck.  J was working his way back to to us with his combine in the rain and then hail, some marble size, but thankfully, not much of it.  J eventually made his way to the truck with us.  C was soon back with the truck and the rain stopped so they went back to work on the sickle, but not for long.  Again comes rain so J dumped his combine into the truck.  The rain stopped again so they tried to work again, but the rain started again so they packed up the tools, etc., dumped the lentils from M's combine on the truck, and we headed home.  We heard on the radio that there was a tornado watch for the port of Scobey, some 30 miles to the east.  As we were on our way home we could see clouds that looked like the beginning of a funnel.  Here the hills block our view.  I just looked at the weather service radar, and now it shows a tornado watch for our area.  I'd better go take a look outside.  This is really getting old. 

Harvest Begins

In our world the four seasons are calving, seeding, haying and harvest.  Harvest has officially started here this week.  The guys desiccated lentils on Wednesday so they will hopefully be ready to cut early next week.  That entails spraying the lentils to kill the plant so that it all ripens evenly.  Sometimes the seed pods are dry but the seeds and the plants are still green.  It's important to get them harvested before too many shell out.  Rain and high wind can cause them to shell out so we're praying for none of that; however, the forecast and the sky right now don't look too good.

J went out Wednesday night to "cut a sample" of peas.  We've joked that some years we've harvested the whole crop by cutting a sample to test for moisture and see if it's ready to go.  He also cut some yesterday while M was out scouting for more hail damage.  He didn't find any more but found that what he saw earlier was worse than he thought.  Both combines were going today.  They've finished our peas since we didn't have many acres in this year and have moved to the neighbor's peas and should finish those tomorrow.  We may have to sit a day or two before the lentils are ready.  I have a feeling that this could be a long and drawn out harvest what with the two-week rain delay during seeding.  We have wheat in all stages from nearly ripe to grass green.

We rented a hay-hiker so R has been busy moving bales.  The hay-hiker picks up eight bales so they can bunch them together and have them ready for a truck.  A lot quicker than taking two at a time with the tractor.  We have a lot more bales to deal with this year so it will be money well spent.

Pete and I moved some cows this afternoon and then went to the field to see how the cutting was progressing.  I don't have to help much with the haying so it's been kind of the lull before the storm for me.  Harvest is not my favorite time of year, and the next six weeks promise to be interesting.  Stay tuned......

Oh, Hail

Storms rolled through again yesterday, the first about 3:00 pm.  We watched it coming, and it veered north.  We had a few drops of rain and A LOT of wind.  Shortly thereafter our neighbor to the north called about borrowing a trailer and mentioned that there had been some hailstones at his place.  M decided we should go crop checking so off we went.  The rain began about two miles north of our house where we have mustard and lentils.  There was water standing in the low spots and damage to the mustard and lentils with pods on the ground.  The lentils are very close to being ready to desiccate so we can harvest.  We continued north and west where it was very wet and then south again to some of our other land.  It's a place you don't really want to be when it has rained but we ventured on (in 4-wheel drive).  Again, there was damage to the lentils, but we were unsure if it was from hail, heavy rain or wind or a combination of any of those.  We ended up back in Richland and stopped at the station.  C was there and while we were there P called and said there was hail damage to the north on the land that we farm for another neighbor.

Off we went to check on that and discovered nearly a total loss on 600 acres of wheat.  In the first area the wheat was standing, for the most part, but the heads were blown out.  In the area farther east there was pretty much nothing left.  Some of it looked like it had been eaten off down to the ground.  We suspect that it had been hit during the storm on Monday and again during the current storm.  When P had been up there, he had seen banks of hail.  There is some chem fallow in that area and the furrows from last year were flattened.  The CRP grass was also laid down.

As we headed home from there we stopped to get the tractor and baler and move them home.  We saw in the west another storm building.  As we went to get the loader tractor off a hill and down to a safer location, M said "I've never seen anything like it", meaning two storms in one day.  I actually laughed at him and reminded him that we deal with weather every year and nothing should surprise him.

On the way home it looked like we were driving right into the storm with lots of lightning.  I was a bit nervous to get out of the pickup and get to the house.  When we got in the house we discovered that we had no power.  It was about 8:00 pm by that time, and we hadn't had supper.  We opened the garage door manually and moved the grill inside so we could make some burgers.  The rain hit about then, and we received about 3/4".  M is a weather spotter and the weather service called us twice.  We always feel that's a bad sign that something nasty is heading our way.  The power came on sometime after 10:00 pm, and we had more rain about that time.

R had over an inch of rain at his place but no hail, and there were power lines down near there.  Our land west of him was okay, too, although there was hail around Opheim with damage that we noticed today on our way to Fort Peck Lake.

The good thing about having land spread out for miles is that you don't usually lose everything in one storm.  The bad thing is that several storms can get you in different places.  We didn't have any hail damage last year and were pretty sure we couldn't go two years without any.  The law of averages just hasn't been that good to us, and after all, we live in "next year country."