better than expected

It’s been a few days since I felt like I had time to play catch up with my writing. We’re still in Garden City and still cutting wheat. Considering the summer, I feel we’re fortunate to say this!

And…I’m feeling quite fortunate to tell you the wheat we’re cutting for our farmer is doing much better than expected! The dry land wheat has averaged 30 bushels per acre with a weight of 62 lbs. Gary, the farm manager, told me before we started that the dry land was going to do better than the irrigated due to the late freezes they had in April. He said it would be lucky to make 20 bushels per acre. We’re cutting that irrigated now – it’s averaging 65 bushels per acre! The weight is the same 62-63 lbs. The Yellow Beast doesn’t know what to do with good wheat and moving at a slower pace.

Late Sunday afternoon, we had visitors show up in the field. My brother and his family (from Tampa, FL) are spending some time with my Dad over the holiday week. They drove five hours from Lexington to Garden City to visit the harvesters. Caleb and Bekah had been to the harvest field quite a while ago so this was all new to them again. However, they told me they remember the combine we used to have and it was red. 🙂 Caleb jumped right in the combine with me and Bekah in the Pete with Jim. It didn’t take long, though, and Caleb’s allergy to dust kicked in. The poor kid was miserable. Taylor and Callie prepared a couple of meals for the field so they could experience eating a meal off the tailgate of the pickup. To me, there’s nothing better than to share food and stories gathered around the pickup in a wheat field! We thoroughly enjoyed our visit – it was just too short (as usual). They headed back for Lexington late Monday afternoon.

After all our company left us (including Conrad and Spencer), it was almost hard to get adjusted to just the four of us again.

Today is America’s 237th birthday. How will we celebrate? In the wheat field, of course. I’m sure the girls will prepare the traditional bbq’d hamburgers and hot dogs for the supper meal in the field. Then, we’ll shoot off the few fireworks we have after Jim and I get back to the “cottage on wheels” for the night. One thing I will dearly miss this year…Jenna’s traditional rice krispie flag. She’s made that for us as long as I can remember. I’ll bet she makes it. It’ll be enjoyed by somebody else this year. The pains of growing up and changes!

My co-pilot, Caleb.

Caleb was “gleaning” the wheat he found on the ground. He said he liked the taste.

The field they found us in WAS very dirty. 

The floor of the combine was just big enough for Caleb to stretch out and take a little snooze.

My other co-pilot, Bekah.

Enjoying a meal and time together in the field.

Cousins

Wheat stubble at sunset is gorgeous!

The end of a good day. No…a GREAT day! It’s always fun having family and visitors come share our world with us!

Now, I’ll share a little of what the area looks like. Much different from Shattuck, OK.

The crops share the same field with oil and all that goes with it.

The countryside is as flat as flat can be! You can stand in one spot, pivot and count seven different elevators on the horizon.

We were visited by the New Holland harvest support yesterday. Jim’s dealing with a minor issue on The Yellow Beast which needed some attention before the day could get started.

This is what I saw as I headed out of the Garden City CO-OP. Better than any desk job, as far as I’m concerned! Thank you to the friendly employees at the CO-OP! They’ve always got a smile on their face and a friendly hello. The nicer weather may have something to do with that. It’s been in the mid 80’s and very cool at night. Not normal for this time of year. I remember being here one year and the elevator shut down early (really early) due to it being “too hot” to remain open. I had never heard of such a thing at harvest time.

Wonder what today will bring?