I didn’t have time to prepare for the last day of wheat harvest 2019. It just happened.
The last time I was in the combine, cutting wheat, was Friday, September 6. It seems the weather pattern is in some sort of weirdness where it rains every Friday. (It’s supposed to rain again in two days – Friday.)
If I had known this was going to be the last day I was going to climb the ladder and watch that header cut my favorite crop, I would have done things a whole lot differently.
I would have prepared my soul for the last acre. I would have soaked it all in a bit more. I would have taken a few more pictures.
Instead, I just kept cutting that field until the rain shut us down. We knew the forecast showed rain for the next several days. We had no idea just how much rain we’d get or how long it would last.
It rained off and on through the weekend and more was on the horizon for the following week. I suggested going to Thermopolis, WY and sit in the hot spring. Little did I know, Jim would actually agree to go. We left for our four-day raincation on Monday. We returned late Thursday night. (I’ll do another post strictly on this trip with pictures.)
Friday (September 13) was spent in the trailer house most of the day. Ryan and the boys (Levi and Hays) hung out with us all day. I took the little boys to the Homecoming parade while the two bigger boys watched Westerns on TV.
Saturday (Sept. 14) was spent over at Ryan and Randee’s house helping them pack and move to their new house on the hill. The house was built by Ryan’s dad before he was born. Ryan’s older sister, Nicole, and her family lived there for quite a while before moving to Lusk, WY. So being back in that house meant reminiscing and remembering so many great memories. And now, new memories will be created!
Sunday evening, Jim and I made our way out to the field – to check on things and see how much the ground had dried. The past couple of days had been back to summery temps. I was hoping we could get back to work the next day (Monday) as the temperature was supposed to be near 100 degrees.
However, when we went out into the field and looked at the wheat, our shoes were packed with mud. Jim says he told me then he didn’t think we would be cutting anymore wheat. Either he said it so low or my brain just blocked it out because I honestly did not hear him say that.
Monday morning began with Jim telling me, “You’re not going to like what I have to say but I think we need to bring the equipment to town and start preparing for the trip home.”
Gut punch! I certainly wasn’t expecting to hear this. My next thought was, “We’re quitting?” I’m not good at quitting. I usually push through until I can see there’s no more reason to keep pushing. Jim’s thought was he wasn’t going to bury the combine to prove the ground was still too wet to go back.
So, on one of the hottest days while being in Jordan, we moved equipment back to town. Nope…I wasn’t a very happy person.
That was three days ago, already. We began cleaning the combine and header off yesterday (Tuesday, Sept. 17). As the day got longer, the clouds got thicker, darker and the wind got darn COLD! It started raining about 7:00 p.m. and continued for most of the night. The rain gauge showed an additional half inch of rain added to the previous three we got while we were away on our raincation.
Jim didn’t get the dirt blown off the combine before it started raining. This is what happens after three inches of rain.
Today was spent doing our own things. Jim went back to the combine. I began working on deep cleaning the trailer house. All this cleaning makes it pretty real that wheat harvest 2019 is over.
It’s late and I’m certain the crops at home are changing by now. BUT…I really wish I could have climbed out of the cab on the 6th knowing it was my final day of wheat harvest. Yes, I know…it’s a sickness!
I will end this update with pictures of the last days of harvest.
If you want to see what happened between this post and the previous one, you’ve got to head on over to the All Aboard Wheat Harvest blog.
