Whew!

by nebraskawheatie

Wow, is it really only Wednesday?

This has been one crazy week and it’s only midway through. It feels like my world is on a roller coaster…maybe a Farris wheel? Hmm…maybe more like the Fun House! I sort of feel like I’m running and not exactly sure where I’m headed. I’d like to think all of this will come together soon and my life will be a little more of an unchaotic state.

You know. I’ve mentioned before how I really don’t like the coming home stage of harvest. Well, it seems to be working double time on me this year. Is it because I’m getting older and slower or is it because I try to do too much at one time? I just want to get my trailer house emptied, cleaned and be done with that job. Nope…just can’t happen. I think I’m doing pretty good to get about three laundry baskets of items removed and put away in the house. Then, it’s either a phone call that I need to take, a bus route that needs driven, or volleyball game to be watched.  Tonight, it was a trip to church to be with some really awesome kids!

I really didn’t want to go to church tonight because I just want to get something accomplished. However, tonight was JUST what I needed.  I was included in the kids’ “chat” about what was going on in their lives, their stresses and concerns. I certainly felt the touch of Jesus tonight and it felt awesome! It was the most relaxed I have been in a great while! I honestly didn’t want it to end. Funny how Satan almost kept me from enjoying it.  Those stressed out kids were just what I needed!

Speaking of kids, I need to tell you about the day I had this past Saturday. Callie had a volleyball tournament so had to be in Murdock at 7:00 a.m. (Probably one of the earliest mornings I’ve had in quite a while) Once I got her there, I turned around and came back to Manley and had a cup of coffee with my brother and then the two of us headed to town to watch Callie play. After being there for a little while, Mark and Candi brought Brooklyn and Jillian to the school for me to babysit as they were headed to a Nebraska football game. After watching Callie play her second game, we made a mad dash to the car and headed for Nebraska City to watch Taylor march in the Apple Jack parade.

Saturday was not a nice day to be standing outside. It was wet and cold. I had on my Carhart coat, gloves and a stocking hat and still felt the cold. Those two little girls didn’t have a clue it was cold. Maybe one reason was they were too concerned about catching the candy being thrown from the parade floats. We had a great afternoon watching the parade and FINALLY the band we came to watch made its way down the road. I think they were like second to last. Nice job, by the way, Elmwood/Murdock marching band! They took second place.

After the parade had marched its last band and floated its last float, we made our way down to the end of main street to view the Missouri River. All summer long I had been hearing about the flooding and wanted to see what it looked like for myself. It was still extremely high and over Highway 2 but it had dropped a good 10 – 12 feet lower than the highest point. I was impressed by what I saw and wished that I would have been able to see it at its peak height.

Matt and I decided to see what we could see at the Lewis and Clark overlook. It was such a drizzly day and so much fog, we just couldn’t see the flooded valley as I had hoped we would. We walked around the area for a little while and the girls decided they really would like to take a few pictures. I have to share these pictures with you simply because it’s fun to see what they feel is worthy of a picture.  From the Lewis and Clark overlook, I took the kids to an apple orchard for a caramel apple and some apples to take home.

You know, I sort of see a pattern here – spending time with kids is just what I needed this week! And it’s only Wednesday.

 These were all taken at the Lewis and Clark Overlook.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, photos taken courtesy of Brooklyn and Jillian. Click on the picture to view them in a larger version:

Back home with Callie being silly (Brooklyn) and Jillian grinding coffee beans – one of her favorite things to do at our house!

And I wonder why it takes me so long to get back in the groove!

by nebraskawheatie

The week’s recap:

“Home, home” on Saturday night.

Spent the entire day on Sunday reclaiming my house from the spiders and vacuuming up dead bugs.

Monday a.m., I’m on the school bus picking up kids and taking them to school. The afternoon was spent washing the outside of the trailer house. It was FILTHY from the road grime that had collected all summer. Thank goodness it was early enough in the “getting home” process that I was able to talk Jim into helping me. I’ve done that job by myself way too many times and appreciate the help when he can give it! Later that afternoon, I was back in the bus delivering kids to their homes. And the rest of the day was finishing the chore of washing the trailer house.

Tuesday was spent getting book work completed and important issues taken care of. Geesh…it’s amazing how much time that takes! You should have seen the box of mail I had to go through. Most of it was garbage and it wasn’t able to clutter the kitchen table very long. Late Tuesday afternoon, I headed to Elmwood to watch Callie play volleyball. She’s a pretty doggone good little player and didn’t even get to participate in any of the summer “camps”. It’s really too bad the coaches put such an emphasis on the summer time participation! Our high school coach told me when Jenna was in high school that her playing time would depend on her summer time. “Well”, I said, “She’s not going to be able to participate because she’ll be with us NOT because she doesn’t want to be there”. He stuck to his statement. However, Jenna LOVED the sport and continued to work hard even though she didn’t get to play very often. She stuck with it her entire high school career. By the time she was a senior, though, the parents from the stands were yelling, “put Jenna in”. I was so proud of her for not quitting – I probably would have! I hope it’s not like that for Callie, but it probably will be. Do these coaches REALLY think every kid on their team is going to go on to college as recruits??? Let the kids play and have fun!

We got up bright and early on Wednesday morning and loaded in Mark’s truck. Everyone went except Candi (she got sick the night before), Taylor and Callie. We spent the entire day walking the Husker Harvest Days’ grounds and it literally takes ALL DAY! Saw some familiar faces and enjoyed being together. Actually, it seemed like we were on the phone most of the day trying to find Jim (he likes to talk). However, they did have to look for me once. I stopped to chat with someone, turned around and everyone was gone. Then, I went the wrong way looking for them and ended up getting farther away. If you haven’t been, you should go! There’s something for everyone. That evening, we were invited to a supper put on by New Holland. It happened to be in the same place our USCHI convention was last March and will be again next March. It was fun standing in the same place we had previously been in and remembering the good times. “Chances R” (York, NE restaurant) served the food and it was OUTSTANDING!! Thank you New Holland!

Thursday was spent doing more paperwork items in the morning and a few things did get put away. Then, it was back on the bus driving the cross country team to an event. I got home shortly after 9:00 last night.  Another wasted day!

Jim left early this a.m. to head from some town on the Iowa/Illinois border to pick up a corn head. Maybe I can get something started with the unpacking process today – or at least get our bed made in the house. It’s chilly today so I won’t have to worry about sweating too much 🙂

Pictures are from Husker Harvest Days:

Entering the grounds.

 

Showing off their New Holland clothing. Jamie had on a shirt like Jenna’s but was too cold to show it off.

Jenna meeting a couple of the guys she had interviews with this summer for The High Plains Journal.

I took this picture for Callie. The prior owner of this bus was Justin Bieber.

One more picture of the grounds before we left.

Before leaving Grand Island, Mark had to make a quick visit to the New Holland Support truck.

Jenna found a picture of our combine hanging up inside the truck.

A test

by nebraskawheatie

I’m working against time this morning and have 1,000,000 and one things to get done before 1:00. Bus duty calls, once again. One of the things that I’m trying to fix is the connection between this blog and Facebook. This is a post to see if I’ve correctly followed the steps to make that happen.

 

The final days of 2011 wheat harvest

by nebraskawheatie

It seems so weird to be sitting at my kitchen table typing this note!

Everyone asks me if it’s good to be home and I have to just flat out tell them that’s it’s good but it’s very overwhelming. They have no idea just how much work is involved with coming home. Preparing in the spring is hard but just so different. You have the anticipation of being on the road and involved with the harvest and all that goes with it. The stress of preparing the house to be locked up and the packing of the trailer house is nothing compared to coming home.

I find myself sort of walking in circles, trying to figure out what to do first. If I don’t mentally set a goal, I most likely will not get it accomplished because everywhere I look, I see work. I did get my house vacuumed and the dead bugs are now in the belly of the vacuum cleaner. Jim and I took advantage of the 90 degree weather yesterday and were able to get the outside of the trailer house cleaned of the road dirt and grime that had collected all summer. That’s a big job and one that I’m glad I can mark off my list of to do’s!

Tomorrow, I’m escaping the mess that looks at me every morning and we’re going to Husker Harvest Days with Jim, Mark, Candi, Jamie, Curt, and Jenna. The chaos will have to wait another day! Not only do I have the deluge of work continuing to pull me down, I have to try to keep up with the outside activities. Yesterday, I substituted for the morning and afternoon bus route. This afternoon, I got to go watch Callie play volleyball. I love to watch the girls participate so it was a welcome break to have to walk away from everything at 4:00. The next goal I have set is to get the trailer house unpacked. I’ll begin that chore on Thursday. It looks like colder and wetter weather is headed for us beginning tomorrow. The numerous steps and times of going between the house and the trailer house will be a little less sweaty with the cooler weather.

So a brief recall of the final days of the 2011 wheat harvest goes a little like this: As you’ll recall, we spent the night in the Garfield Motel. I had to get up the next morning for a 5:00 a.m. conference call. While I was involved with the call, Jim got up and headed for Fellman’s for “story time” with the locals. When he returned, we decided that we really needed to take a couple of hours and go visit some very dear friends before we left the country. So we did! It was well after noon by the time we got back to Jordan. One final meal at Rose’s cafe and we were headed for Miles City.  Since we got such a late start, we ended up spending the night in the truck lot of the station in Alzada, MT.

Have you ever tried sleeping on a twin size bed with another person? Thank goodness I’m used to sleeping on the side of the bed that puts me up against the wall of the truck sleeper! I’m afraid if “my side” of the bed was on the other side of the bed, I’d be falling out all night long! This first night was fairly chilly and the heavy blanket felt pretty darn good by morning!

The second full day on the road was pretty darn full of driving! We had to go a little different route than normal because of so many bridges being worked on in South Dakota. As we started coming into the town of Faith, SD, another harvest crew got ahead of us. I was so excited. Silly, I know, but here we go…it’s a part of the harvest world I was about to leave. It just gave me a good feeling being behind the combines and their trailers. We made a stop at 1880 Town and ate lunch in the Dining Car Cafe. It’s a real live dining car from a passenger train and a different era. It was something I’d never seen and loved being inside something that once was an important aspect of past travel.  We ate lunch, walked around a little and left an hour later than when we stopped. The second night on the road was spent in the Valentine truck stop, again.

Before we parked for the night, Jim pulled quite a ways away from the bar that had just a week prior been the reason we didn’t get a very good nights sleep. I was glad that he’d remembered and pulled as far away from there as he could. What we didn’t expect was a bull hauler full of cattle pull up right next to us. We got to listen to a truck load of stomping cattle all night. I felt sorry for the cattle, as I laid there listening to them, because they couldn’t relax. I bet they were glad when their trip was done!

We made it back to the farmer’s yard almost exactly the same time we had the week prior. This time, though, they were home and wanted to visit about the summer and how it played out for us. We made it “home home” again about 7:00. Mark and Candi had just pulled in from Park River, ND. They had driven all day and made it home just about the same time as we did. They loaded up the girls and we went to Runza for supper together. We’re all back home! And…one of these days, everything will be back to normal and the 2011 wheat harvest will feel like it only happened in pictures. We’ll be anxiously counting down our yearly events until it’s time to head south once again!

The combine’s loaded and waiting for the window cover to be added.

 That job’s done!

 The top picture was taken in Ed’s yard just before we left. The tractor shows the farmer’s determination and hope in a crop for next summer!

Goodbye Square Butte and Montana wheat fields. Sure hope to see you next year!

Crossing the Mussellshell River into Garfield County.

Sand Springs, MT. In 1983, we stayed here while cutting for Charlie Murnion.

The last picture taken in Jordan just before heading for Miles City.

The lot we spent the first night on the road in Alazada, MT. The town of Alzada is on the right.

Following another harvester into the town of Faith, SD.

Lunch and a break near 1880 Town along the South Dakota interstate between Phillip and Murdo.

Lunch in the Dining Car Cafe.

I don’t know a lot about the sunflower crop except there’s quite a few more acres seen than there used to be. Something that I find interesting is the sunflower head will actually follow the sun from east to west. Every sunflower head I saw must have completed it’s life cycle with the head facing east. Every field I saw, they had completed their final sun worship at exactly the same time. Another interesting tidbit I’ve often thought about when seeing the corn fields is just how identical the height of the plants are and that the ears are located exactly the same spot of the plant throughout the entire field. And somebody wants to try to tell me there is no God?

The final night of being on the road was spent at the truck stop in Valentine, NE.

The new Nebraska windmills.

The Platte River just south of Schuyler, NE.

One more day

by nebraskawheatie

I sort of got real busy with trying to clean the dead bugs and spiders out of my house here at “home, home” and I didn’t get my story put together yet. I will, though, just give me another day or so 🙂 In the meantime, I’m going to share Callie’s song one more night because my post last night didn’t get transferred to my Facebook page.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYc9HqzjUAI

2011 Summer Wheat Harvest…COMPLETE!

by nebraskawheatie

Just a brief note tonight with more story coming tomorrow. We made it back “home, home” about 5:00 this evening. So much to do and I haven’t a clue where to start! While you’re waiting for the details of the final trip home, please sit back and watch Callie sing her version of Taylor Swift’s “Story of Us”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYc9HqzjUAI&feature=email&email=comment_received

One more night in Jordan :)

by nebraskawheatie

We got started this morning in good time, after having McDonald’s coffee and a bite to eat. The truck lot we stayed in was right in their backyard so we just walked over.

The entire 1,000 miles back to Denton, I am a passenger. I did drive for a couple of hours yesterday but, all in all, Jim is the driver. I borrowed Jenna’s book, “Heaven is for Real” and finished it today. AWESOME book! For those of you who are believers, it’ll reinforce what you believe and give you an idea of what we have to look forward to. For those of you who are a little more of the “Doubting Thomas”, it’ll give you something to think about. One part of the book that most excited me was the part where Colton tells his mom and dad that he met his sister. He had no idea that his mom had miscarried the child she was pregnant with before he was born. This gives me the reassurance that one day I’ll meet the three babies I miscarried. I had two between Jenna and Taylor and one between Taylor and Callie. One thing is certain, there must be a good reason T and C are with us! I can’t imagine what our family would look like without them. I can guarantee one thing, had I carried the two babies to full term between Taylor and Jenna, there would be no Taylor and Callie.

The town of Jordan holds a pretty special place in my heart for another reason. I had the last miscarriage in 1996 while we were up here. Some of the townspeople brought food for my family and Dr. Dan made trailer house visits until I was back on my feet. Being 85 miles away from the nearest large hospital, I’m sure people have learned to take care of each other up here on a whole different level than back at home. I also learned one thing more, when someone is going through something like this, they don’t want to be told over and over that it probably happened for a good reason. I had fallen in love with that baby and all I really wanted to hear was, “I love you and I care about you”. Sometimes, even no words at all and just a hug will suffice.

Ok, enough of that. Back to the harvest story. We got to Denton about 2:30 mountain time. We each did the jobs we’re accustomed to doing and we were back on the road at 3:45. We arrived in Jordan at 7:15 p.m. Supper was next on the list since Mr. Slave Driver didn’t even stop for lunch. Thank you Rose (Edward’s Family Hilltop Cafe) for a lovely supper! Back to the Garfield Motel for the night.

Back in Ed’s yard

One of my jobs is to guide Jim on the trailer. He can do this himself, it just helps to watch that he stops where he needs to be. I also put on the window covering, the flags, the banners and help with whatever Jim needs help with. I guide him with hitching up but sometimes not so very good. 🙂

The “train” is ready to go one last time for the summer.

 Looks like Ed’s ready to start the 2012 seeding process!

Goodbye Square Butte and Central Montana. I hope to see you again one day!

 I’m driving the dually, pulling the car trailer with the service pickup on that.

Templeton at the fair

by nebraskawheatie

Before I explain the mention of Templeton, I’d like to go back to Sunday. As you know, we pulled into our driveway about 5:30 on Saturday evening. The next morning, I got a text from Jamie, “I made coffee and going after donuts”. Well, she knew she’d get both of us with that one! So, once again, we headed north to Louisville and got there just in time to see Curt heading to work. Sorry Curt! It was good to just sit around the table in their kitchen. We were all together again and it felt so good.

As the morning turned to noon, Jim decided he and I needed to make a trip to the shed to get his Toyota pickup. So, we left the girls to the job Jamie had planned for them – painting her bedroom. Once we got to the shed and drove the pickup out, we realized he’d had a critter claim the glove box and left a well designed nest made from materials such as the registration and insurance cards, string, and whatever else it could find in the pickup. Didn’t smell real good, though. Hope those critters don’t figure out how to get in the “cottage on wheels” this winter! They’d really have a grand time making the place their own.

On our way home, we stopped for a little more visiting. Had to see what was going on with Trish and Larry. Larry had minor back surgery just a couple of weeks ago so needed to get caught up on the doings at their house. We probably sat there at least 2 1/2 hours – just like we didn’t have anything else to do. I think both of us were putting off the work that needed to get done at home.

Once we made it back to the home place, Jim unloaded some of Frank and then decided the Pete needed a washing before we headed north again. We were rained on just enough on the way home to make EVERYTHING a grimy mess! While he did that, I got a few loads of laundry started and began the process of pulling weeds from the gardens. I was able to get the entire East side of the house back in order. At least when we go in the house from that door, I won’t have them staring at me. However, I certainly paid for my “strenuous” workout the next day! Sucks getting old!!! Back to Louisville for supper – pizza from Pizza Hut.

This brings us to yesterday – Monday – Happy Labor Day! Jim and I got up early and loaded what necessities we’d need for our trip in the Pete and headed for Grand Island. We hadn’t been to the State Fair in quite a few years and wanted to see how different it was being in Grand Island rather than Lincoln. The girls and Curt met us there. My brother, Matt, had been working the RFDtv booth all weekend and once he was done telling everyone, “yes, that really is Trigger and Bullet”, he met up with us and walked around. And, as the video portrays, we all turned into Templeton’s yesterday. Between all of us, we had prime rib sandwiches, bbq beef sandwiches, hand squeezed lemonade, cotton candy, funnel cakes, kettle corn, turkey leg, Ginny grinder, more cotton candy and more funnel cakes…almost forgot the corn dogs. THEN, the kids decided they wanted to go on one ride before we parted ways. Jamie, Callie and I opted for the wimpy ride – the ferris wheel – while the daring ones (Curt, Matt, Jenna and Taylor) opted for the “ring of fire”. I wish you could have seen the faces of the ones that rode the ring. A little white, a little nauseous. I don’t think the combination of funnel cakes, turkey legs and “ring of fire” set too well. The wimpy ones survived easily.  We parted ways. Jim and I headed north and the rest of them headed home.

The first night spent in our travelling Hilton was in O’Neill – at the park I told you about a couple days ago. Today was spent driving the same road north that we just finished driving south.  We met quite a few trucks loaded with hay and several loaded combines. Every time I’d see a combine I’d get a little excited cuz they had been in my world – the harvest world.  However, once we got to the South Dakota interstate, we headed west and went through Rapid City before venturing north to Belle Fourche. Remember the restaurant I told you Jim really likes to make a stop at? We ate an early supper at the Belle Inn Restaurant. Drove into the Broadus weigh station for the 5th time this summer and are now spending the night in the truck parking lot in Miles City. This place is full of trucks tonight and we picked the empty slot between two “reefers”. On…off…on…off and so on. Thank goodness for ear plugs!

I will share a few of our fair highlights but if you want to see all the pictures, I will have them posted on the Zeorian Harvesting & Trucking Facebook page.

The first purchase of the morning. A corn dog.

 Miniature replica of the NH harvest support truck.

I think Callie’s the only one that saw us waiting for them.

The girls are showing off their new “tats”.

This is how harvest equipment used to look.

Can you believe they paid $6 a bag for that?

Taking a much needed break! The fair was starting to wear on us at this point.

Left to right: Jamie, Taylor, Callie & Jenna

Jamie and Callie pretty excited for our ride on the Ferris Wheel.

Maybe now they’re not so excited. Both of them don’t really like heights very well. By the time it was over, though, they’d conquered their fear and were enjoying themselves.

The gang – after the “ring of fire” and the ferris wheel.  I even made it in the pic – see the shadow?

Mission complete

by nebraskawheatie

Nebraska Countryside – green, green and more green!

We made it home about 5:00 this evening! The first load back was a success.

After a not so peaceful night of sleep, Jim woke me up at 7:30 to tell me we should probably get going.  The restaurant/bar next to the truck stop was blasting some sort of noise until after 2:00 a.m.. I honestly think I could become a rock star if that’s all the better I had to be. I wondered how anyone could make “music” like that and people listen to it – guess I’m just getting old!

At 4:30 a.m., it started to rain and the north wind began to blow. I reached for one of the blankets that I had folded up earlier in the evening. It went from hot and muggy to cool and rainy. The cold front just continued to follow us south.  So, when Jim woke me up by calling me (he sleeps in the cab of the Pete when we’re on the road – I in my bed in the trailer) to tell me he thought we should probably get going, I wasn’t a happy camper. “You look grouchy”, he says. “I AM grouchy!”, I say back.  On top of all the happenings during the night, my body’s used to it being 6:30 NOT 7:30 and all I wanted to do was stay in bed where it was warm. McDonald’s coffee sure tasted good this morning 🙂

We had one minor event during the day and that was all. When we stopped in Schuyler for fuel, Jim noticed one of the tires on the header trailer had very little tread left on it. So, he changed it before it could create more problems when it blew.

When we get home, it’s so overwhelming! The yard is in good shape – thanks Matt! The weeds did have a heyday, though. I may start pulling a few of the larger ones tomorrow…maybe. There’s more dead bugs in the house than ever before and the spiders and their webs are everywhere. Makes me wonder why I think it’s important to clean the house before we leave in the spring.

I guess we’ll spend the day tomorrow doing whatever we can.  On Monday, we’re going to take the family and go to the Nebraska State Fair for the day.  We haven’t been there in a lot of years because we’re usually still in Montana. On Tuesday, we’ll be headed back to Denton to get the combine and the two pickup trucks we left up there.

Now that we’re home, harvest and being away just doesn’t even feel like it happened. I was trying to remember all the events of the summer as I was driving home. One year, when Jamie was fairly little, she hated having to leave the trailer so bad, she decided she was just going to stay in it. She did for a couple of days but then moved back to the house. What’s wrong with us? I love summer, I love seeing friends along the route, I love being with my family, I love being on the road, I love my cottage on wheels – I just love harvest! Only 9 more months to go and we can do it all over again.

“Tracy, you got your camera handy?” “No, why?” “Here’s something you don’t see everyday – a mobile haystack.”

This is a park just south of O’Neill. We’ve tried stopping here nearly every year when we can. We used to try to make it specifically to this park while on the road because it has a decent shower house. It’s a very nice place to take a break!

Pete and my cottage on wheels.

Some happy Nebraska cows!

A Nebraska highway.

Nebraska crops - soybeans on top of the hill, corn at the bottom.

Looks like paint on his head, it’s blood. He hit his head on something while changing the tire on the header trailer.

Changing the tire.

Back in Husker land!

by nebraskawheatie

The above picture is of main street Valentine, Nebraska.

Just a brief note tonight. We left Broadus about 7:30 this a.m. and headed south. Stopped in Belle Fourche, SD for breakfast and then never stopped again til Valentine, NE. Another night of sleeping in a parking lot. This time in the truck lot at the station on the south edge of town. Walked to a restaurant for supper. Sitting in the McDonalds using their wifi. Should be home tomorrow. FYI – last night I had several extra blankets on the bed. Tonight … the extra blankets are being put away. What a difference in weather! Nice to still feel the warmth of summer but I have a feeling I’m NOT going to like being back to the humidity that home has to offer!

Bear Butte – Near Sturgis, SD

Me and my love of old buildings. This is an abandoned home along the highway somewhere in South Dakota.

The vast South Dakota scenery…NOTHINGNESS!

We go through several of these deep river basins. All of them had been flooded this spring.

I really debated on whether or not I should share this photo with the world. This is what being on the road, without a shower or even brushing your teeth for a couple of days will do to you 🙂

He was a magnificent looking cat – HUGE! I wanted to take him home with me.

And, by the way, remember me saying something about watching for loaded combines? There’s one in the lot tonight!! Makes me feel like we’re still on harvest.