A visit from the Masked Bandit

These were on top of the engine compartment.

The tracks I saw were from last night, I’m sure. Those little masked critters must have decided The Yellow Beast was a new toy that had been left on the prairie just for them! This reminds me of a pretty good story that happened several years ago while we were here.

Can you tell where these were taken? On top of the unloading auger.

Several years ago, a bolt broke in the guts of our Case combine. Jim was able to replace it but it also involved the cleaning system (the sieves). For the cleaning system to work, the sieves shake back and forth. When the bolt broke, it caused the sieve to fracture and needed to be welded back together.

Along the top of the header.

My daily uniform includes shorts. Jeans are WAY too hot for me. When it came time to work on getting the top sieve out, I needed to climb inside the back end of the combine.Jim placed a large piece of cardboard on the bottom sieve to protect both the sieve and my bare legs. We got the broken piece out and hauled it to town on our car trailer.

The next morning, it was quite evident the raccoons had been all over that combine because of tracks such as the ones in the above picture. I also have to tell another major detail of the story. The combine was WAY out in the country – in a very remote area. Anyways…one of the little guys must have cut its foot on a sickle section. There were bloody tracks left on the deck and glass door. I was feeling quite sorry for it.

While I was cleaning up the mess on the door, Jim was at the back end of the combine talking to himself. I walked back to see what it was that he was grumbling about. “The damned coons must have carried off the cardboard!” he says with a lot of disgust in his tone. I chuckled because of the mental picture I got. In my mind, I could see a number of raccoons carrying this large piece of cardboard above their heads through the wheat field like it was a great find and trophy. Couldn’t you just picture their elated chatter between each other??

We found another piece to lay on the bottom sieve and put the combine back together again.

I was the primary combine operator at that time. When the bin was full, I headed for the truck to dump. While I was watching the grain flow out of the unloading auger, I saw chunks of something mixed in with the wheat. When I finished dumping, I called Jim on the two way. “I found the cardboard!” Somehow, the raccoons had pulled that large piece of cardboard out of the back end, up the side of the machine and into the grain bin. Wouldn’t that have been fun to witness!!

Servicing the combine. Jim’s lubricating a chain and checking for the proper amount of tension.

We had a good day yesterday. This could be our last day of the 2012 wheat harvest. It will depend on whether or not Jim (the farmer) is going to keep us around for a day or so longer. Gosh, I KNEW this day would eventually have to come. It just always hits me harder than I’m ready for. For me, when harvest is over, it’s almost like losing my best friend. If today is our last day in the field, seeing the equipment tomorrow will take on a whole different feel.