Switching Gears

It was time to forget about farming for awhile and go to cow work.  Last Sunday we moved our heifers closer to home to get ready for pregnancy testing.  We were wondering how that would go because, well, they are heifers and because we had hauled them to pasture instead of trailing them.  We always laugh that when we drive into the pasture on a 4-wheeler they come running to us.  It wasn't much trouble to get them out of the pasture and they seemed to know where they were headed.  The nice thing about heifers is that they move right along, so the move didn't take long.  We wanted to cut the bull out and M thought we'd have to get them all in the corral to do that.  I didn't think it would be hard to get just the bull in so I suggested we try that first.  He hazed him out of the group with the 4-wheeler and he ran right into the corral by himself.  M hates it when I'm right.  I just think it's worth trying something the easy way before you try to do it the hard way.

We also cut a cow out of a pasture to put with the heifers so that we could test her.  The next day M said all the heifers were near the fence, and he didn't think she was with them.  We rode into the pasture she had come from and sure enough, she was back in there and had taken a heifer with her.  We didn't have any luck getting the cow back out, but we did get the heifer out and back with the others, but she did it the hard way and put on more miles than she would have had to.  The cow is a bit of trouble so she may just go to market.

On Wednesday we rounded up our big herd to vaccinate the calves and pregnancy test.  It was a crisp, cool morning and within the first 10 minutes I couldn't feel my fingers--even with gloves.  It did warm up quickly, thank goodness.  Of course, there were cows about as far away from the gate as possible so it took a little while to get them moved.  We had to cross a stubble field and the dust was horrible.  Made us wonder if we were doing the right thing by vaccinating while it's so dry.  There have been some cases of dust pneumonia in the area.

We sorted and ran the calves through and vaccinated and then had lunch and waited for the vet to pregnancy test the cows.  J thought he'd get out of helping us (not really a cow person) but we needed him to bring the loader tractor up to unload some pipe for the neighbor so he got roped into running the chute.  I always say it's the price they pay for free meat.

The cows tested good, and we were happy with our AI catch in the heifers.  I think J thought I had lost my mind since I had to pet my favorite heifers.  There was some head shaking going on.

The most difficult part of the day was getting the cows and calves to head back out of the corral.  We wanted to take them through the grass so there wasn't so much dust, but they had their own idea so we had to take them through the field again.  The dust cloud was so bad that we couldn't even see them for awhile.

We hauled bulls home along with a fat open cow that will make good hamburger and called it a day--12 hours later.  Then we packed for a much-needed weekend away.

NOW we're done!

J finished cutting yesterday afternoon and parked the combine so our harvest is officially over!!  It was a successful harvest, and we can't complain.  Great weather (we actually wished for a rain delay a few times), good yields (cut A LOT of 40 bushel wheat and some up to 60), no major breakdowns or problems, and we all survived without killing each other.  Actually, everyone remained in pretty good humor throughout even though we were all exhausted.

We had a lot of help, too, which made it a bit easier.  We always say we're equal opportunity and this year had helpers from ages 15 to 84!  We had R for a couple of weeks which was SO nice.  One of J's friends helped one day--he said he was tired of cleaning corrals while waiting for his flax to be ready to cut.  Another friend helped for a few days, and we had Uncle Bud who was just going to come out for a day or two when we had a long way to haul and ended up helping for a few weeks.  He has helped us a lot through the years but had a tough year last year with heart surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and surgery for colon cancer.  He's doing great now.  He came out a little later in the morning, and we let him go home before dark generally.  He can fall asleep in seconds so gets a lot of little naps in, too.  It was nice to have him back.

Some days I get a bit miffed that we don't get much help from the other Thievin wives who are busy with their jobs, but one day it occurred to me that I'm kind of sad for them because they don't get to see the interaction and camaraderie between the guys.  There is generally a lot of good-natured ribbing (and occasionally some not so good-natured-haha).  They are just not going to understand how things really work around here if they're not here to see it.  They are going to get a skewed view if they just listen to their husbands' side of a story.

For example, there is a road sign on a bridge near Richland that the guys can't get around with their headers on.  For a few years someone would go pull it out of the ground until they got by and then put it back.  At some point J had this bright idea to cut the post and put a hinge in it.  That way they could just fold it down when they needed to go by and then flip it back up.  One day we were moving and C had flipped the sign down.  J went through and as M was getting ready to go through C sees a car coming, point to it and flips the sign back up.  M is going 10 mph and can't stop so hits it with his header and messes up the hinge.  When L and I got there C was in a panic trying to fix it and says "I don't think he thinks sometimes."  So I'm thinking M wasn't paying attention and hit it.  Then when I see M, he says "I don't know what he was thinking" because he couldn't stop in time and didn't know why he would flip the sign back up when he did.  Some of us had a good laugh over that one.  (C wasn't laughing.)  I'm just wondering what version of the story C's wife heard that night.

The other day M came home and said he did a bad thing.  Of course, that made me nervous.  He had called the John Deere dealer about a loader tractor.  They have one in the area so they brought it to him last night to try out, and that's where he is right now.  Remember how I said before that most things they try out never go back......yeah, I'm worried.

It's finally a beautiful day after five straight days of gale force winds so I think we'll take in the football game and the local high school.  Jared is a freshman and plays so we'll go see if he gets any playing time....although it would also be a good day for yard work.

Done! (sort of)

We finished cutting on Friday except for the few acres we had to leave at Opheim.  It was on some breaking and the alfalfa wouldn't die so they sprayed it again.  J was on his way over with the combine yesterday and blew a transmission line so his combine is sitting by the side of the road just out of Richland.  It's pretty rare that they don't fix things themselves, but he had to call the John Deere mechanic for this one.  It should be under warranty anyway.

While we were having lunch on Friday a neighbor called to say they were working their cows and found one of our calves with theirs.  M sent C to take the rental combine back to town so they could get it cleaned up and ready to go back while we went to get a trailer to get the calf.  As we were on our way, C called to say he was just about to Richland and had blown a back tire.  Bad luck!  The only time he'd been on that combine.  They managed to find a tire and get it put on by the time we got the calf, delivered it to our pasture, and got home again.

Everyone took some much needed time off over the weekend before starting on the "after harvest" list.  M is hauling hay, C is hauling grain and J is trying to get his drill ready to seed winter wheat.  We may need a little rain before he tries to seed, however.  We've had quite a long dry spell.

I finally went back to my job on Monday after five weeks off.  It was good to be back to civilization.

Almost Done.......

Wow, it's been a busy few weeks and I (and everyone else) am exhausted.  M is afraid I'm getting overtired and cranky so he's letting me off the hook for the last few hundred acres.  We are cutting on the neighbor's now and it's sandy, poor land with a disappointing crop so the truck drivers should be able to keep up easily.

I have had a few cranky moments--like when the field is really rough, the truck drivers don't park the trucks like I think they should, one person tells me one thing and another person tells me something different.  I just about had a meltdown one night--after 13 busy hours with the grain cart I found I just can't focus anymore.  We had moved to the last field on our place west of Opheim just before dark.  It is an odd-shaped piece with a grass coulee and washouts in the middle.  I wasn't completely familiar with the layout and then J was saying "don't fall in the sprayer tracks" (where he had gotten stuck with the sprayer this summer).  Add darkness and lots of dust so that I could barely see where I was going.  I really wanted to stop and go home, but the guys were determined to finish so we could move first thing in the morning and they made me keep going.  At one point I could see J's lights but didn't know how to get to him.  C was watching from the truck so guided me along on the radio.  Then when I went back to dump on the truck I hit the wrong lever and overfilled it just a tad.  I wanted to cry.  Earlier that day I fell in a huge washout.  I had just dumped J and was headed to catch M.  I saw a small washout so had slowed down for that but didn't see the big one after that and WHAM, my front wheels fell in.  Not good! 

We spent about a week west of Opheim and hauled A LOT of grain out of there.  We were all so happy when we got moved out of there and closer to home.  It took about a hour to get home from there so some nights it would be 11:00 before we got home, then find something for supper, get a shower and get to bed by midnight.  Ugh!

We, like lots of folks in this area, have had to pile grain on the ground.  We have built 5 new bins in the past two years and still don't have enough room.  We still have a lot of last year's wheat stored.  It's hard to get it moved when the elevators can't keep up because they can't ship it out.  We have about a 12,000 bushel pile on the ground, two 12,000 bushel bags, and a quonset filled with about 15,000 bushels.  That all needs to get moved ASAP.

We had a rainstorm on Saturday night.  J had been watching the radar and said a storm was moving our way.  I was parked facing to the east and every now and then saw a flash and wondered if it was lightning.  When I turned to the west I saw quite a lightning show.  M and J were debating whether we should quit or keep going and finally decided to quit.  We got everything tarped and headed to the trucks to go home and it started to rain and it poured on us for the 2 miles home.  Everyone had a much-needed chance to sleep in on Sunday morning but we were back to cutting by 2:00 that afternoon.

I am on lunch duty today since my in-laws went to their house in town to see some relatives from Canada.  I haven't been to the grocery store in three weeks so I'm lucky I still have food in the house.  M says I don't have to be on the grain cart anymore, but I'd better be prepared because he's lied to me before.....

"There's Nothing She Can't Do"

That was what my husband told his sister last night as I was tarping the truck when he was done for the night.  She wanted me to know that he said that.  I told her that was the nicest thing he's said to/about me in awhile--almost brought a tear to my eye.  I was busy with a little bit of everything yesterday.  We had a bin to clean out (every time I clean out a bin I think about how when I left home I swore I'd never clean another grain bin), a combine header to fix (J sprung a leak in a hydraulic line at quitting time the night before), fueling to be done, combines to clean later as they were done with the lentils, another move to make.

Once they finished the hailed on lentils out west, M moved back to my mom's to try the mustard while J stayed out west and started cutting the wheat there.  M's sister, Pam, and I and Uncle Bud got him moved over and C came to get a sample to test.  It was under the limit of the moisture tester so it was definitely a go.  Pam and I had time to go have a little visit with my mom (and use her bathroom).  Uncle Bud was in the truck but it wasn't filling very fast.  Jared had been with J but needed to go home (school starts for him today) so he came and picked up his grandpa (our Uncle Bud).  They got the truck backed in to the auger and then headed home while I dumped it.  I also swear I don't do augers anymore--wonder how long that will last.  I took the truck back to the field and then had time to finish my book--it was a good one!  (One day I had no 3G so couldn't play Words With Friends or get on Facebook AND the battery on my Kindle died--talk about bored!)

Pam has been here about five days and has gotten in on cutting wheat, lentils and now mustard.  She's been a lot of help and has had a lot of time to bond with her brothers.  That's a good thing....I think?!?  I always wonder why she'd want to come for harvest but I guess it is good family time when we all come together for a common goal.  One evening she helped me chase some calves in and fix the fence.  All we could find to fix it with were some tarp straps.  She was totally impressed by my ingenuity.  I'm not sure M was so impressed when he went to fix it properly the next morning.  It did the job.

Sadly, we haven't seen much of her granddaughter, Makennah, who has been hanging out with her great grandparents.  She is almost 5 and wasn't impressed with the field work but has been having a great time playing outside and having some freedom for a change (those poor city kids!).  We left Pete with her a couple of days and they wore each other out!  I have a hunch that great grandma may be worn out by the time the visitors go home tomorrow.  We are going to be so sad to see them go!

There is a chance of showers today so things may not move very fast.  M let me stay home this morning to catch up on some things.  I need to make a list so I get it all done.....wash jeans, make iced tea, pay bills and get them in the mail, empty the dishwasher, fold the laundry I did three or four days ago and put it away, make a plan for supper........I know I'm forgetting something!

Plugging Along

We continue to make progress in our harvest, slow but sure.  R and I agreed that Tuesday just kind of sucked.  No major problems, just a series of little things like trouble with truck tarps and augers, etc.  Sad thing was that was his last day of work and I still have weeks to go. We were in what we call the hell-hole and I was not having fun with the hills and grass coulees and no straight strips.  I said whoever broke up that land must have been crazy.  It was M that broke it up, and I knew that.  It always raises our best crop so he thinks I'm crazy!  I think they all had a good laugh at me being lost when it got dark.  All those grass coulees looked alike and I didn't want to dive into one that I shouldn't have.  They had about 40 acres left when they ran out of trucks so couldn't finish.  We had rain that night so everyone had a chance to sleep in at least. 

We always have a long "if it rains" list.  M sent J and C to haul a few loads of wheat to the elevator in Wolf Point.  R worked on packing and I got a haircut.  When I saw there was rain in the forecast I called my hairdresser and asked if she could get me in if it rained.  Thank goodness it worked out.  M's bale pickup was being worked on so he rode to Scobey with me to get it.  We also took Pete along since he was due for his shots.

We didn't get started cutting yesterday until after lunch but worked until 10:00 pm so still put in a good day.  We made a series of short moves which broke the day up a bit.  There was a flat tire on one truck so C was busy working on that which meant I had to load the semi trailers myself.  I don't like to do it because I don't judge the "piles" very well.  I get different instructions from everyone so I'm never sure if I'm doing it right.  I seem to have a tendency to load them too heavy in C's opinion.  J covered for me yesterday and told him that M loaded the truck and pup.  I always ask why they make those trailers so big if you can't fill them up.

R headed back to South Dakota yesterday so we are back to our bare-bones crew.  We had hoped that our nephew could come for a couple of weeks, but it doesn't look like that will be happening so neither C nor I will get any relief.  Gotta run....duty calls!

Hurry Up.......and Wait!

I have been having a really hard time dragging myself out of bed lately.  Partly because I don't want to go to the field and partly because, well, I'm just tired.  I don't get quality sleep since my back/hips hurt whenever I try to roll over.  So, I keep wondering why I have to get up with the guys when they won't need me for an hour or two.  One day I could have stayed home until noon and not have been missed at all since we had a rain shower as soon as we got to the field but I was out the door at 7:30.  Another day we left at 7:30 and by the time the guys had augers moved, trucks dumped and the combines serviced it was 10:00.  This morning we again had a rain shower as soon as we got to the field and didn't get to cutting until 11:00.  These "short" days are going to make for a looooonnnggg harvest!

I have been a bit apprehensive about getting back to the grain cart but finally had to do it.  I guess it's sort of like riding a bike.  It all came back to me.  Of course, I still get different instructions from different people on how to load the trucks.  R and I agree that the hardest part is reading the minds of the combine operators!

Friday was a day that worked out pretty perfectly.  We finished cutting lentils in one spot, moved, and finished the rest of them before dark.  K brought out pizzas and John Deere cupcakes to celebrate J's birthday which was on Wednesday (I've been asking myself what I was thinking having a baby during harvest.  Poor planning on someone's part!).  It was a beautiful evening so we sat outside and ate and watched a storm gathering to the north.  Just as we headed to our respective machines the wind came up...a lot!  We moved the combines and grain cart back to the wheat we were going to start on and went back for one last truck so it was about midnight by the time we got to bed.  We had rain early Saturday morning so we all got to sleep in, thank goodness.

Everyone but R, that is.  He was up at 5:00 am to get to Great Falls before noon to pick up fans and auger flighting for our new bins.  He was back home by 5:00 pm and ready for bed by 6:00!  I finally had time to catch up on laundry before we all ran out of underwear.

We hope to get some of the more remote areas done while R is still here, but his days are numbered...we'll only have him for two more days.  It's been so great to have him home for awhile.  I'll miss his smile and sense of humor (although he is almost always giving me a hard time) and his cooking!  He was home before us one night and made us the most amazing chicken and fettucine alfredo.  So good!

We weren't sure if Jared was done for the year since he started football practice, but he showed up today.  He has two practices a day but plans to come out in between.  That means that I am off duty until 5:00 when he has to head back to town.  More time to do laundry......