My mother-in-law saved the day this afternoon when she showed up with lunch (which is actually at supper time - the meal at lunch time is called dinner ya know!). That was the first chance I'd had in hours to run over through the brome grass that was taller than me (cautiously looking for snakes), hope that every chigger and tick didn't crawl up my pant legs while I was taking so long to poke through the tall grass, take off my sunglasses so I could see into the grainery in the dark (compared to the bright sun), look for wasps, kick the bucket in case there was critters in there and pop a squat on the makeshift toilet at John's Ranch. No one lives out there, so I should be happy that John went to the trouble of making up a private loo. You know the guys, any soil or straw will do for a pee break, but being the only girl that hangs in the field all day long, I have to get creative with my roadside restrooms.
All bathroom humor aside, today was another good long work day tallied into the Heinze Harvest. We moved out to John's Ranch and I was the only truck driver this afternoon. It's a long haul back to town and I couldn't keep up. Pop used to say "take it easy on the way to town, give 'er hell on the way back." I was doing just that, but it was just too far of a drive for one woman to keep up with the combines. Luckily, about 5 o'clock Matthew got off work and came to the field, Jarrod finished up planting sowed feed and came to the field and Tina showed up with lunch so everyone stopped for a few minutes to eat and break. She brought me some ice for my waterjug that was getting hot and a much welcomed sandwich and gatorade. When I ate leftovers for lunch when I got off work - I thought I'd ate too much then, but by 3 or 4 I was starved again! So tomorrow it's back to work for half a day and then to the field for some more long hauls from Bob's place! There is a nice bathroom there at the house, so I won't have to be too creative if I need to stop along the way!
Monday, June 29, 2009
My fortune cookie says..."many more long hauls in your future"
I didn't get my harvest update written yesterday morning because I was busy making dinner! Somehow the whole morning got away from me, but those enchiladas and chocolate pie were damn good! We were all ready for an afternoon nap after that, but we got up and got back out to the field and got an earlier start cutting yesterday!
We've finished up John's place, and 2 more places in the last 2 days (minus 15 acres here and 15 acres there). Sometimes you have to be creative in how you move the combines down the road, they don't fit easily over every country bridge and every narrow place in the road that you might encounter along the way. So sometimes we'll do half of a place and come back later and get the rest when we are the other side of the bridge for another field, instead of driving all the way around the section just to cross a creek.
I am just glad it worked out yesterday so I didn't have to move the combines up Oppliger hill on the way to the next field. A few years back when I first learing to drive trucks...I tried to move the red truck over that steep curvy hill. Well I got halfway up, had to downshift, didn't get it right and killed it. Then I had no power steering and the brakes become extremely hard to work. I rolled back down the hill backwards and crashed into the ditch and spilled some wheat. I still get a hard time to this day about my wheat crop at the bottom of that hill. And I think now I could probably pull that hill and not have a problem, but I still get a little nervous about it. But as it worked out, I got to take the last load to town and Matthew (bro-in-law) had to lead the combines to the next field - by way of that same hill yesterday! I got lucky this time!
Speaking of getting lucky... (no not that kind of lucky)
Several thunderstorms appeared and dissolved over the weekend, but we were lucky enough to not get any rain out it. I wished I'd had my camera last night as we were winding down, the little storm on the edge of the county line had a sunset behind it and some awesome lightning - and it was close enough I could have shot some cool photos if I'd had the camera and tripod. But I didn't have the camera and it was just as well anyway that that storm fell apart before any rain made it to our fields! So I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for a few more days of good hot summer harvest weather. We aren't done yet!
We've finished up John's place, and 2 more places in the last 2 days (minus 15 acres here and 15 acres there). Sometimes you have to be creative in how you move the combines down the road, they don't fit easily over every country bridge and every narrow place in the road that you might encounter along the way. So sometimes we'll do half of a place and come back later and get the rest when we are the other side of the bridge for another field, instead of driving all the way around the section just to cross a creek.
I am just glad it worked out yesterday so I didn't have to move the combines up Oppliger hill on the way to the next field. A few years back when I first learing to drive trucks...I tried to move the red truck over that steep curvy hill. Well I got halfway up, had to downshift, didn't get it right and killed it. Then I had no power steering and the brakes become extremely hard to work. I rolled back down the hill backwards and crashed into the ditch and spilled some wheat. I still get a hard time to this day about my wheat crop at the bottom of that hill. And I think now I could probably pull that hill and not have a problem, but I still get a little nervous about it. But as it worked out, I got to take the last load to town and Matthew (bro-in-law) had to lead the combines to the next field - by way of that same hill yesterday! I got lucky this time!
Speaking of getting lucky... (no not that kind of lucky)
Several thunderstorms appeared and dissolved over the weekend, but we were lucky enough to not get any rain out it. I wished I'd had my camera last night as we were winding down, the little storm on the edge of the county line had a sunset behind it and some awesome lightning - and it was close enough I could have shot some cool photos if I'd had the camera and tripod. But I didn't have the camera and it was just as well anyway that that storm fell apart before any rain made it to our fields! So I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for a few more days of good hot summer harvest weather. We aren't done yet!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Where am I supposed to park the truck again?
Day 2 of Heinze Harvest ended with a bang. A good kind of bang - the lid being closed on the first bin of seed wheat saved and another truck of seed wheat parked safely in the shed so it can be binned this morning. I am cooking dinner today, so I won't get to be in on putting that seed wheat in the new bins for the first time. But it sure feels good to sit down for a few minutes and eat something other than a sandwich during harvest, so it's tater tot casserole and some brownies for dessert for dinner today. I am not as good as Jarrod's MeMaw at making a big dinner for a harvest crew, but I get a little better every year. I had the privilege of stopping at MeMaw's yesterday afternoon in the big red truck to pick up the lunch she made for us yesterday! Those cookies tasted pretty darn good!
We finished up the creek early in the afternoon yesterday and moved to John's place. We cut on it 6 or 7 hours yesterday and I think maybe we're half done. Matthew and I had a hard time keeping straight which elevator each load was supposed to go to to make the split come out right. I got to spend some time at Walkers Elevator yesterday and the girls in the office there are always so sweet. I just don't really care for backing my truck what feels like 500 million feet to an auger while all the semi's roll past me into the elevator. But I'm so much better at backing that truck now than I was the first time they made me do it a few years ago!
We had a little excitement there at Walkers on one of my trips to town - it must have been rush hour! There was 2 semis, me and another truck on my side of the highway waiting to go on the scale. Probably 2 semis and 3 or 4 trucks on the other side of the highway waiting to go on the scale and 5 trucks swirling around in the parking lot there at the various dumping areas. The manager was out running around directing traffic while the fire sirens were going off. 2 trucks full of volunteer firefighters and then the big tanker truck and an SUV full of emergency people all came flying south between all of the waiting trucks. Never did hear if there was a bad fire somewhere - never noticed any smoke when I was going back south to the field either. Then a combine and a header came through the middle of all that. Then about the time I got to the front of the line, some doofus tried to kill his wife and kids pulling out into the middle of all the traffic when he couldn't see what was coming for all the trucks in the way. I tried to give him hand signals and he paid attention to one of them, but I guess he got tired of waiting and tried to scoot out, but he sure picked a bad time to do it! I was cringing in my truck, hoping I didn't witness a horrible accident 20 feet away from my truck and right directly in front of the driveway to the elevator!
So I hope today is uneventful in that I don't see any more near accidents at the elevator, there are no fires for anyone harvesting anywhere and - well - I don't want to jinx anything happening smoothly on our farm so I'm gonna stop talking now! I better get to cooking or I'll never get it done in time!
We finished up the creek early in the afternoon yesterday and moved to John's place. We cut on it 6 or 7 hours yesterday and I think maybe we're half done. Matthew and I had a hard time keeping straight which elevator each load was supposed to go to to make the split come out right. I got to spend some time at Walkers Elevator yesterday and the girls in the office there are always so sweet. I just don't really care for backing my truck what feels like 500 million feet to an auger while all the semi's roll past me into the elevator. But I'm so much better at backing that truck now than I was the first time they made me do it a few years ago!
We had a little excitement there at Walkers on one of my trips to town - it must have been rush hour! There was 2 semis, me and another truck on my side of the highway waiting to go on the scale. Probably 2 semis and 3 or 4 trucks on the other side of the highway waiting to go on the scale and 5 trucks swirling around in the parking lot there at the various dumping areas. The manager was out running around directing traffic while the fire sirens were going off. 2 trucks full of volunteer firefighters and then the big tanker truck and an SUV full of emergency people all came flying south between all of the waiting trucks. Never did hear if there was a bad fire somewhere - never noticed any smoke when I was going back south to the field either. Then a combine and a header came through the middle of all that. Then about the time I got to the front of the line, some doofus tried to kill his wife and kids pulling out into the middle of all the traffic when he couldn't see what was coming for all the trucks in the way. I tried to give him hand signals and he paid attention to one of them, but I guess he got tired of waiting and tried to scoot out, but he sure picked a bad time to do it! I was cringing in my truck, hoping I didn't witness a horrible accident 20 feet away from my truck and right directly in front of the driveway to the elevator!
So I hope today is uneventful in that I don't see any more near accidents at the elevator, there are no fires for anyone harvesting anywhere and - well - I don't want to jinx anything happening smoothly on our farm so I'm gonna stop talking now! I better get to cooking or I'll never get it done in time!
Friday, June 26, 2009
It's HOT when you're sitting in line at the elevator...
We got into full-swing harvest yesterday (Thursday June 25)! I fueled the trucks on my first few trips to town and boy was it hot! The manager at the gas station said we were in a heat advisory and the heat index was 107! I believe it - that's Kansas harvest time for ya! Don't worry I put on sunscreen! I didn't really have too much time to worry about the heat, because as soon as I'd get back from town with an empty truck, I had a full one waiting to be taken back in to the elevator. I had to remember how to do all the correct shifting real fast - there was no grace period yesterday. It still gets me after doing this for probably close to 5 years now - how different the two trucks are. On one truck, you have to let the clutch clear out to the seat and just barely push the gas pedal to make it move smoothly and the other truck well you better be put on your lead boot on because you're gonna need it!
It was so hot yesterday, the asphalt was melting on the stretch of street where all the trucks turn their loads into the elevator to be probed (sample the grain for moisture and such). Some radio station fellas were trying to be nice to all us farmers working in the heat, handing out greasy pizza and lemonade there at the elevator. Greasy pizza was NOT what I wanted at 4 in the afternoon when the heat index was 107! I could have done better with 2 gatorade's instead of pizza! BUT, I took it back to my other half who spent the day planting milo (grain sorghum) in the air conditioned tractor, and he happily at the pizza in the middle of the afternoon!
I am going to be the new driving instructor this year since Becca has decided finally she's serious about learning to drive the trucks. She didn't want the guys at the elevator to laugh at her for killing it or making the sideboards bang loudly (on that truck with the tricky clutch/gas setup), so I got her out to a flat stretch in the country and made her drive a few miles back to the field. And of course, she got the thing lurching and banging just like I used to do when I first started driving. Hell, I still get the thing lurching and banging sometimes when I get in a hurry! Patience is a virtue if you are a harvest truck driver! And a good ability to handle the heat, because there is no A/C unless you enjoy the hot wind going down the highway!
It was so hot yesterday, the asphalt was melting on the stretch of street where all the trucks turn their loads into the elevator to be probed (sample the grain for moisture and such). Some radio station fellas were trying to be nice to all us farmers working in the heat, handing out greasy pizza and lemonade there at the elevator. Greasy pizza was NOT what I wanted at 4 in the afternoon when the heat index was 107! I could have done better with 2 gatorade's instead of pizza! BUT, I took it back to my other half who spent the day planting milo (grain sorghum) in the air conditioned tractor, and he happily at the pizza in the middle of the afternoon!
I am going to be the new driving instructor this year since Becca has decided finally she's serious about learning to drive the trucks. She didn't want the guys at the elevator to laugh at her for killing it or making the sideboards bang loudly (on that truck with the tricky clutch/gas setup), so I got her out to a flat stretch in the country and made her drive a few miles back to the field. And of course, she got the thing lurching and banging just like I used to do when I first started driving. Hell, I still get the thing lurching and banging sometimes when I get in a hurry! Patience is a virtue if you are a harvest truck driver! And a good ability to handle the heat, because there is no A/C unless you enjoy the hot wind going down the highway!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Spring/Summer Farm Projects (part 2)
The 2 new grain bins are finally done - just in time for harvest!
This is where we will store the wheat seed that will be used to plant wheat again in the fall. My honey coordinated this whole project, from the dirt work, to the concrete, to ordering the bins and picking them up, to assembling them piece by piece and finally getting them uprighted onto the pad. The guys (and me too) worked many long hot days to get these assembled. I took a few pictures the first day and then I stopped by this morning, snapped off a couple pictures of the finished project, walked the dog down the country road and then it started raining! We've had close to 3/4 of an inch so far this morning. Hopefully the sun will shine again and we will be harvesting in the next couple days!
This is where we will store the wheat seed that will be used to plant wheat again in the fall. My honey coordinated this whole project, from the dirt work, to the concrete, to ordering the bins and picking them up, to assembling them piece by piece and finally getting them uprighted onto the pad. The guys (and me too) worked many long hot days to get these assembled. I took a few pictures the first day and then I stopped by this morning, snapped off a couple pictures of the finished project, walked the dog down the country road and then it started raining! We've had close to 3/4 of an inch so far this morning. Hopefully the sun will shine again and we will be harvesting in the next couple days!
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Spring/Summer Farm Projects (part 1)
I haven't kept up on the blogging well at all this year. It's almost harvest time again and that makes me remember why I started blogging 2 years ago about this time of year! So that means I have to try harder to make the time to record the craziness that happens this time of year on the farm...
One of the projects we've been working on (in addition to the regular workload of working normal jobs and keeping up with the normal farming/ranching) is rebuilding the catch pen (cattle loadout/working facility) at Jarrod's Dad's place. If you know me, you know I'd rather be out working with the boys than hanging out in the kitchen. The guys could tell you I did do some actual work on this project!
I didn't think ahead and take a "before" photo so I dug through all my old photos and found a couple that show what the crowding tub-alleyway-working chute-loadout area looked like in 2003. It was made of railroad ties and wire cattle panels and it did its job for a good long while before I started helping out I'm sure.
(these are not my best photographic works for sure)
Now, the new crowding tub, alleyway, and loadout are finished. We still want to put a different headgate on the working chute. In the last few weeks, we've done our usual spring cattle chores using the new homemade facility (now made of sturdy pipe, sheet metal and more scrap metal and designed after something you might pay big bucks for at the farm show). We've run calves, cows and heifers through it and I think Jarrod's Dad is happy with the way it turned out. Here are a couple pictures I snapped off last night before we worked the calves and heifers and sent them all off to pasture for the summer. We are relieved that this chore is finally done! Here is what she looks like in 2009:
One of the projects we've been working on (in addition to the regular workload of working normal jobs and keeping up with the normal farming/ranching) is rebuilding the catch pen (cattle loadout/working facility) at Jarrod's Dad's place. If you know me, you know I'd rather be out working with the boys than hanging out in the kitchen. The guys could tell you I did do some actual work on this project!
I didn't think ahead and take a "before" photo so I dug through all my old photos and found a couple that show what the crowding tub-alleyway-working chute-loadout area looked like in 2003. It was made of railroad ties and wire cattle panels and it did its job for a good long while before I started helping out I'm sure.
(these are not my best photographic works for sure)
Now, the new crowding tub, alleyway, and loadout are finished. We still want to put a different headgate on the working chute. In the last few weeks, we've done our usual spring cattle chores using the new homemade facility (now made of sturdy pipe, sheet metal and more scrap metal and designed after something you might pay big bucks for at the farm show). We've run calves, cows and heifers through it and I think Jarrod's Dad is happy with the way it turned out. Here are a couple pictures I snapped off last night before we worked the calves and heifers and sent them all off to pasture for the summer. We are relieved that this chore is finally done! Here is what she looks like in 2009:
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