A Tough Start in KS

Jim and I headed back to Shattuck yesterday a.m. to get the combine and header – and Frank.

The view of Shattuck through the window of the Pete and from a direction I hadn’t seen it from before – North looking South.

Going back to a town that only one day before had been “home” is just weird! We ate lunch at Ed’s Café and I felt like an outsider. Looking across the parking lot to the hole where our trailer house used to be left me with a sad feeling. Then, I saw the Windmill Museum and the fleeting thought of, “why didn’t we take the time and go there” shot through my mind. It was quickly answered with, “we’ll have to do that next year”.  I know I’ve mentioned this before but I’ll mention it again. Harvest towns take on a different “feel” when harvest is over. The hustle, bustle that harvest brings is gone. The town has settled down to its normal daily activity. The talk inside the café had even switched from wheat and harvest  to something completely different. It made me want to move on, catch up with the harvest and be a part of that world again!

No more Zeorian’s!

After lunch, Jim and I headed back to the “oil patch” where the equipment was waiting for us.  It felt good to be doing something again after all the days of sitting.  Looking out over the cut field, it brought back the memories of all that was involved with those days of cutting it. Sort of like Eric Church’s, “funny how a melody brings back a memory”…only it was a wheat field for me.

I missed you, ‘ole buddy! It was good to get back in the seat of my truck.

Once the combine was loaded and the header hitched to Frank, we headed north again. This time, as we drove through Shattuck, I said my final farewells to Main Street and the elevator. See ya next year! The trip was pretty uneventful except that just south of Minneola, KS, we had another tire blowout on the header trailer. Jim said, “I was going to buy new tires once we got to Garden City. Guess this just verifies that it needs to be done”. At least it wasn’t quite so hot this time! We actually had a good moving day – not much wind and fairly cool temps.

It was nearly 8:00 p.m. by the time we made it to the farmyard where the equipment would be unloaded. Taylor picked us up and it was back to the trailer house to end the day. Gosh, this day felt like it had been three days long!

Jim was up early this morning to go talk to our farmer. The farmer has his own combine and will be cutting all the dry land wheat which is averaging only 10-20 bushels per acre. He’ll have us cut the irrigated wheat that will yield much better but, according to Jim, is very green. This means either sitting and waiting or trying to find something to keep us busy until the green is gone. We’ll definitely be trying to find something to do!! The problem is how? We’ll be making phone calls to harvest friends hoping they’ll know of something or somewhere to go. We can also get in the car and drive. Finding extra work can sometimes prove to be more of a challenge than you would think!

It’s very dry here. It reminds me of Arnett and Shattuck last summer. You just don’t realize how dependent you are on the clouds and rain until it’s gone! The wheat looks VERY tough in this area – unless it’s under the pivot. Looking out over the dry land wheat, you can actually see the areas that a little snow must have “stuck”. Those areas look like little mounds in a field of headless straw. Not good and could make it difficult to find anything extra to do!

One evening while we were in Shattuck with no TV, I taped the “jam session” Taylor and Callie were having. I taped three different songs and decided I would share them with you once in awhile. Enjoy!