the goodbye will be hard

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It’s too quiet in here!

It was just a week ago yesterday morning that Jamie and Eli showed up and we also began the long days of harvest in Colorado. What a week it’s been! The hours long but the days together oh so good!

photo 4 - Copy (9)Three generations. The cab will be a bit smaller next year when we add one more to the pic!

photo 1 (15) - CopyCallie even came and hung out with her ma for a while.

The Colorado harvest came to an end about 3:00 yesterday afternoon…just before the rains. We didn’t get much rain. Just enough, though,  that it would have stopped us if we hadn’t been done. And the wind blew about 50 mph. A good thing prior to the rain. It blew a lot of the field dirt from the belly of the Beast. Maybe it helped make the next job a little easier for Jim.

photo 4 (1) - CopyThe final three dumps for 2014.

Curt, Jamie and Eli left this morning. So, my heart is hurting…again. The kids tell me I’m a pessimist because I dwell on the goodbyes. I say it’s just cuz I’m a mom. I guess I just need to learn to stop wearing my heart on my sleeve and suck it up. But I can’t. The other morning, I told Chad I was laying in bed that particular morning thinking about how wonderful it was to have the kids around. I told him it must be what Heaven is like. He agreed with me. When they were little and always around, I didn’t appreciate it as much as I should have. It was so much fun having them here. Seeing the equipment through Eli’s eyes and just how excited he would get when he rode with me in the combine. He loves his “go go’s”, that’s for sure!

photo 1 (16) - CopyLove those baby toes!

Callie and I are at the Cottage for a bit this morning. I threw in a load of wash and did the dishes. Not so much because they needed to be done but to just stay busy. I sit here and think about the noise and the activity that was happening just a few hours ago and it makes me sad all over again. Soon, we’ll get our stuff gathered together and head out to the combine and start the process of getting the machinery cleaned and loaded for the trip to Jordan. Doesn’t seem right. The summer is winding down. We’ll leave Colorado in the morning. So…more goodbyes. The farmer and his family have become our family – even more so this year. The goodbye will be hard.

Because we were so busy over the week, I didn’t take the time to post. It was too late and the mornings were too full. In a nutshell, the Colorado harvest was phenomenal! I asked Jack if it was the best and he said it ranked right up there. I’m so happy for them! I guessed a 50 bushel average. I still don’t know what the final is. We’ll know more after all the truck tickets have been added. There were over 100 truck loads of wheat hauled and thousands of miles driven. When I know the final numbers, I’ll share. In the meantime, here’s a few pictures from the week.

Pray for safety for us the next several days!

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IMG_4397Waitin on trucks…

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photo 1 (14) - CopyMaking the final pass in one more field.

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photo 3 - Copy (12)The best pit crew a girl could have! I hit an electric fence post with the right side of my header first thing in the morning. The guys straightened the sickle bar and replaced sections for me. They tried to get me back in the field before Jim returned from the elevator but they were just a few minutes too long. 🙂 Thanks, guys, you’re the BEST!

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photo 4 - Copy (11)The post I hit and the piece of metal Wes ran through his machine – all at about the same time. Then, we later found a small swimming pool in the field.

10550972_10152566822671147_1883525075774815278_nEli LOVED his chicken leg!

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photo 3 - Copy (11)The last huddle for the 2014 harvest.

11 comments on “the goodbye will be hard

  1. Margaret Smith says:

    I love reading your stories and seeing the pictures! The ones with Eli are extra special. Wishing you a safe harvest and travels.

    Margaret Smith
    Stateline Farms-Parma, ID

    P.S. I caught your little comment about the cab being “a bit smaller” next year! 🙂

    • Nebraska Wheatie says:

      Hi Margaret!
      Its been a while. 🙂
      I’m so glad you’re still following along on our adventures. How’s those CLAAS combines working for you?

      Yep…a new member of the family will be joining us in the fields next year. Can’t wait!

      Good to hear from you!

      • Margaret Smith says:

        You have such a good memory Tracy! All the people you meet, places you’ve been and things you done this past year and you still remember we bought a Claas combine! The combine has done well. Harvesting wheat right now. Alfalfa seed by the end of August. I always try to follow your family and their adventures. Love seeing the pictures…Eli has grown so much! You’ll soon need an “extend-a cab” on your combine! You and your family are a great group! Hope the rest of your harvest time goes well…be safe. 🙂

        Margaret

        • Nebraska Wheatie says:

          I remember you because you’ve been so good about sending me words of encouragement AND the connection with CLAAS and Jenna. 🙂
          So glad you’re still following along on our adventures.

  2. Tom Stegmeier says:

    I here you Tracy, We miss are grand kids dearly. Isn’t so nice to cut with a great farm family & good yields to boot!!! Hope this stop in Limon made up for the loss’s of TX.&OK. What are they saying about the wheat in Jordan MT? Congrats on the smaller cab for next year Gramma Z !!!!!

    • Nebraska Wheatie says:

      The wheat in Limon will certainly help! I’m certain, though, that it won’t make up for what we missed the first part of the summer. Oh well…

      It sounds like the wheat in Jordan should be good – if the storms stay away.

      I’m really missing my little guy tonight. He just adds so much joy to the room! Yep…another little one in the cab with us next summer. You’ll have to keep following and see what we have this time. I’m hoping for a brother for Eli.

  3. Love your photos as always! I love the summer heat and I can just feel it radiating off the field. Reminds me of OK during the summers and the “oceans” of wheat, it’s a magnificent site.

    • Nebraska Wheatie says:

      🙂 – aw…thanks, Dawn! I’m glad I have successfully captured what it’s like to be in the wheat fields!

  4. Doug says:

    That picture of Eli watching you unload in the dark brought back memories of riding with Grandpa in his cramped little Gleaner K all those years ago, and for a minute there I could even smell the inside of that dusty old cab again. The thought of the memories Eli is making now and the memories yet to come for him make me extremely envious of that little tyke! Thanks for stirring up a few old memories and keep up the good work out there. Good cutting in Montana!

    • Nebraska Wheatie says:

      I can so relate to grandpa’s and combines! I can still remember standing in my grandpa’s combine watching the corn “dance” into the header. I love those memories. We were so lucky to have gotten to experience them!! I hope we can stay involved long enough that Eli will share those same memories as you and I have with our grandpa. Thanks, Doug!

  5. […] While we were in Limon, Jamie and Eli flew to Denver and spent a week with us. Curt missed his family so much, he left home a couple of days earlier and joined up with the crew mid-week. It was so much fun getting to share the combines, trucks and tractor with Eli. He was in little boy heaven! However, the goodbye had to come and that’s not easy for this grandma – the goodbye will be hard […]

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