When we first came to this part of Montana 32 years ago, the residents of this state hadn’t been here all that long. The community of Jordan dates back to 1896. In 1919, the county of Garfield County was established and Jordan became the county seat. Jordan was incorporated in 1951. As you can see, Jordan’s history is relatively young.
You know, when you get involved with the day-to-day stuff that being in the field is all about, the last thing that gets done is posting on Nebraska Wheatie! Oh…I think about it at the end of the day but most times, taking my shower and finishing up the what-needs-to-be-done-before-you-go-to-bed chores takes precedence. And then, all at once, another week has gone by! No wonder it feels like the summer has zoomed by!
Well, we made it to what could be our final stop for the 2013 harvest season. Coming back to Jordan feels like returning home! We’ve been coming here since 1981. My Grandpa & Grandma were looking for wheat to cut when we stopped here 32 years ago. Who would have known just how important this little town would become to the Z Crew!
Before we left Denton, Jim and I cleaned the combine and header – AGAIN. My job…the header. Yuck! I sent Taylor & Callie a text and asked them if they missed this mess.
The farmer’s wife called these guys “curious teenagers”because of their age. They certainly were curious about the machines being so close to their pasture!
The above picture shows you the reason I can begin to fill you in on how the past ten days have gone. It will be two weeks ago on Wednesday night that we came rolling into Denton. It seems like at least two months ago. Those semis you see in the picture are lined up waiting to haul the grain away from the elevator. They’re pretty much always here with those of us waiting to dump. It’s somewhat a vicious circle. The crop is amazingly large this year! We’ve been cutting 75+ bushel wheat since we started. Jim says there’s one four-letter word for it…SLOW. We have been lucky to get about 60 acres cut per day – per machine (we’re cutting with the farmer).
“We were just in here yesterday”, says Mr. Jim as we’re walking into the Scottsbluff, NE WalMart this evening. “No we weren’t. It must have been the day before”, I replied. “Nope, it was just yesterday”, said Jim. Continue reading
It’s been 17 days since we arrived in Limon, CO. Today was the first rain day we’ve had since we started. We may have had down time previously but it wasn’t because of rain. We were nearly finished with the acres we had lined up but the daily storms finally caught us yesterday afternoon (Saturday). We had been lucking out with storms all around us but not on us. It rained 1/2 inch yesterday and 1.5 inches today. I think we’re out of commission now for a little while. Today was pure torture for the girls. They had NOTHING to do and it nearly drove them crazy. I, on the other hand, had quite a bit to get caught up with. It took most of the day but it’s done again. I appreciate the days to get caught up on what gets pushed aside while we’re busy in the field.
I am NOT a farmer. Our livelihood, however, depends on the American farmer. If they didn’t raise the crops that we harvest, we would have no reason to do what we do.
