Today began with a trip to Fargo for fuel and then back to the farm where the combine and header spent the night. A quick fuel up, wiping of the windows and we were off on our 12 mile tour. The final acres we have to cut are on the outskirts of Arnett, OK.  Once we arrived at the field, Jim thought the best thing to do was to put the header on the combine and test the wheat’s moisture.

The gravel road, which creates a boundary for the field, was wide enough for Jim to use for putting the header on. Doing it this way eliminated having to drive the pickup in the field with the header trailer. If we can avoid putting that pickup in tall straw, we do to eliminate the possibility of starting a field fire. As part of the opening cut in the field, Jim will make an area large enough to bring the trucks and the pickup in but will cut the straw extra short to remove the fire hazard.

Once the header was on the combine and the first cut was made, we had Taylor meet us at the field and take us back to Shattuck to get the Pete and Frank. As we were leaving Shattuck, a LONG load was just leaving town. Lucky us, we got to follow the parade for about five miles. When you’re not in a hurry, it’s fun to watch the other people who are get so annoyed when the traffic is only moving 35 mph. (That’s how fast we used to pull our combine prior to diesel trucks.) We were able to get around it at an intersection and continue with our day.

The first 200 bushels of wheat were cut and Jim was concerned about the moisture being too high. We emptied a coffee can, filled it full of wheat and took it to the elevator to have them test it. Moisture was 14.7% – too wet. They told us to let it sit for an hour and come back. The day was cool – I even wore a jacket most of the morning  – so I wondered if it would dry much more. As we were leaving Arnett, we noticed the long load which we had followed had made it to Arnett and parked.  Jim decided to swing in and find out what the circus was all about. The load was a high pressure propane tank with a 4 inch thick shell weighing 200,000 pounds. The vehicle carrying the load weighed 250,000 pounds and had 100+ tires. There’s no way I’d want to have to be the one responsible for driving that around!! Oh…the things you see on the roads of these “Fly over states”

An hour to kill…decided it was as good a time as any to go back to Fargo for ANOTHER tank of diesel fuel. Sure would be nice if we could haul our daily quota in one shot rather than a couple per day! By the time we got back to the field, it had dried down to 13.6%. The elevator ladies were grimacing just a little when I brought in the load but said we could come back, “it’ll surely be drier with the next load”. And it was – 12.2%.

The larger elevators have an automatic probe which they control from inside the scale house. As you can see here, the Arnett elevator still has to do it the “old fashioned” way – manually. They stick the probe in the loaded truck and turn a knob which allows the grain to go inside the probe. Then, they turn the knob back and dump the grain in a coffee can to take back inside the scale house for testing.

The problem we had today was getting the truck unloaded in a timely manner. It was taking FOREVER to dump the little trucks that were coming into the elevator. The leg (which takes the grain from the pit to the silos) must be a very slow moving mechanism! I timed it; it was taking approximately 12 minutes per truck to get dumped. Throw in a semi here or there and I was really stuck! I take for granted the speed of the larger elevators who can have me in and out of there within a couple of minutes! It’s places like this you learn to have patience. The drivers of the other local trucks have a grand time! They jump out of their trucks and wait it out with a visit. I don’t know anyone, so I just stay in my truck and move inch by inch when I can.

Taylor and Callie brought supper to the field tonight. I tell you what, I’m certainly enjoying having something to eat in the evening! Before they showed up, I tried to make my lunch last all day because when we’d get back to the trailer house, it was too late to get something to eat anywhere and I sure didn’t feel like cooking anything then. We’d usually have a couple pieces of toast and honey and go to bed. Thank you T & C for getting here before we wasted away…yeah, right! Supper was yummy and very much appreciated!

Taylor was supposed to follow me to Arnett after I was finally able to eat supper (about 9:30). I was going to park the truck in a lot and she was going to take me back to the field so we could get everything jockeyed around for the night. She never came and never came and I got sick to my stomach thinking the worst. I called her and she answered right away. “Where are you?” I asked. “Almost to town”, she said. I’m sort of concerned thinking, “What took you so long?” So I just asked. She says something about Shattuck and then it hits me – “Taylor, did you say you were in Shattuck?” “Yes” “Oh Taylor, you were supposed to pick me up in Arnett”. Silly girl. No worries, Jim and Callie came and got me and then we jockeyed the trucks around for the night before all heading back to the summer cottage on wheels in Shattuck to call it a day.

We didn’t get started cutting until 4ish – finished about 10:00 – and was able to get 70 acres of the field whittled away.

The following picture is of wheat that was swathed and baled. I’m not sure what the reasoning is for doing this rather than cutting it with a combine. I should ask. I’m going to guess it must have something to do with feed for cattle. This is more ranch land than farm land.