As I’m typing this, the pitter patter of rain is hitting the Cottage roof and I can hear thunder every once in awhile.

We were able to finally get started after lunch today. It had been over a week since the first storm rolled in. Today we cut on a piece that was under a pivot but wasn’t yielding as well as we had hoped. It certainly wasn’t the typical irrigated wheat yields for this area. I’m guessing the late season freezes probably had something to do with that. And…it didn’t help that it had hail pounding it a couple of nights ago. There were broken heads laying on the ground and wheat that had shattered. It looked like it was only going to make about 15 bushels per acre. The quality was still really good – over 60 pound test weight. Just not very much of it.

Jim was cutting back and forth on the circle. As soon as he made one trip to the far end and then back to the truck, he dumped. He was taking no chances with the additional weight that a full grain bin would add. Even with the partial bin, he was having trouble staying on top of the mushy (or dicey-as Jim calls it) ground.

It took a little while but Frank finally got full. Once I pulled into the elevator, I realized that things had changed a little since the last time I was here. There was a brand new scale house and several new silos were in the process of being built.

The new scale house.

The next storm was starting to show its impending arrival.

Waiting my turn.

I decided that when I got back to the field, I was going to take a few pictures to show you what hail can do to a wheat crop. This was enough hail damage that it will reflect in the final yield. I saw several fields, though, that were flattened to the ground. At least our farmer is going to be able to cut some of this wheat crop.

The next picture shows you what the Shelbourne Stripper Head does to the wheat. It literally strips the head of wheat from the straw and leaves the straw in place. Our farmer has his own machine and uses one of these heads. It sort of looks like a flock of geese had been here and ate till their heart’s content.

Probably got a little carried away with the combine-in-the-wheat pictures but I just couldn’t help myself!

I only dumped two loads again today before the weather decided to move in and shut us down. We thought we were going to luck out and not get much or none at all (rain). However, the cloud that started out little seemed to explode and now we’re getting more rain that will keep us from getting to work right away in the morning. Gosh, it’s a good thing! I don’t think we’d know what to do if we actually worked longer than a day. 🙂

The rain I’m hearing right now is a nice soft, steady rain. One that will soak in and quench the thirst of this parched land. I’m hoping this isn’t the only rain this area will get for the next year. It’s been a long time coming!

I loved this mudflap found on our farmer’s truck! I think I should find some for Frank.

Shutting her down again for a little while. See ya when we see ya, Yellow Beast!

True colors of the storm and the sunset – no filters needed!