We're Not in Kansas....

It's been a busy few days as we continue to make our way west.  We've had absolutely beautiful harvest weather with clear blue skies, no wind and some heat to get things to ripen.  They've been a bit afraid that they would run into wheat that isn't ready but have pleasantly surprised that it's all been ready so far.  They've also been pleasantly surprised with the yields on some of our marginal ground.  K has been getting lessons on the combine and she and I both agreed that it would be nice to farm where the land is flat.  I've had about enough of bouncing the tractor and grain cart over hills and gopher holes and through washouts.  That's going to get worse before it gets better, unfortunately.

I had the day off today since Jared and his dad came out to help for the day.  Poor Jared caught a little grief after some mistakes before he got back into the swing of things.  M asked him if I needed to come give him a quick lesson on the cart.  I'm sure he didn't think that was very funny--14-year-old boys can be a bit sensitive that way.  I told them to be nice to him so he'll keep coming back.

My "day off" consisted of walking the dog, delivering lunch (which took 3 1/2 hours as I waited for truck drivers and then helped them make a small move down the road), taking salt and mineral to the cows (it always makes me laugh when they come running, licking their chops all the way), laundry (gotta keep the combine operator in clean socks and underwear!), cleaning bathrooms (yuck) and just generally catching up around the house. I did have time for a couple of important phone calls (my mom and my brother) and some football watching (I should have skipped that, very disappointing).

Tomorrow I have to go to my "real job" because my boss is going to be gone so they will be very shorthanded here.  I tried to talk Jared's mom into letting him skip school (he was all for it), but she wasn't going for it.  They've moved to some of our best land with the worst road in and out which means the poor truck driver will have his work cut out for him.  And, the weather is supposed to change and get cool so things might slow down a bit as the temperature and humidity affect the grain.  We're making good progress so I hope the trend continues.

Dumping grain from the combine onto the grain cart

Catching the other combine going the other way

Dumping onto the grain cart