Tag Archives: harvest

jenna and her german intern

by nebraskawheatie

I’ve been away for a little bit…

I’ve been extremely busier than normal with putting together a fairly large event for the U.S. Custom Harvesters. We’re celebrating our 31st annual convention and trade show in Wichita, KS on March 6 – 8.  It’s been a work in progress, that’s for sure. The biggest event I’ve ever done was Jamie and Curt’s wedding. That seems like a piece of cake. 🙂

Jenna, on the other hand, knows exactly what this is all about. She’s the trade show coordinator for CLAAS and travels the farm show circuit with the CLAAS equipment. She knows how hard it is to make things work and click and look good and deal with stress. So, for the past several days, I’ve talked to her about all of this because she knows and understands.

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the salt of the earth (video)

by nebraskawheatie

One of the events that I have come to really enjoy being a part of is the Association of Canadian Custom Harvesters, Inc. convention. It isn’t the warmest location in the world to vacation in December BUT it certainly brings together a lot of great people. And…it shouldn’t surprise you. Custom harvesters (regardless of the country they call home) are a different breed of people – some of the best you’ll ever meet and good to surround yourself with. Jim and I left for Lethbridge, Alberta on Tuesday morning. I waited until the last-minute to pack (like I always seem to do) and Jim set the alarm for 3:00 a.m. The flight left at 6:00 a.m. I went to bed at 1:30. “Good, this will give me an hour and a half to catch some sleep”, or so I thought. I woke up at 2:00 and felt like I had been sleeping for hours. Who knows why I woke up – maybe I was afraid we were going to sleep through the alarm? Tuesday felt like it lasted an entire week. I would catch myself wondering, “did this really just happen this morning”? Continue reading →

frank, pete and the yellow beast are now settled in for a long winter’s nap

by nebraskawheatie

IMG_4873The beauty of a Nebraska road as the sun starts to set.

The autumn color has been beautiful this year. And the sunsets…extraordinary! I don’t know if it’s the harvest dirt and dust to blame for creating these beautiful sunsets or if it’s because I’ve been outside at the exact time to witness them. Whatever it is, I have thoroughly enjoyed them.

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nebraska, corn and eli

by nebraskawheatie

IMG_4748 Today was Eli’s 6 month birthday. And how did he celebrate? He went to the soybean field with his mama to ride in the Yellow Beast with his grandpa.

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nebraska to montana – montana to nebraska

by nebraskawheatie

In my previous post, scenes from j & t’s excellent adventure parts 3 & 4 (cont.), I left you with the arrival at “home, home”.  This gets a little confusing with referring back to posts but if you need to be reminded where we are from this point with the pictures I posted, you can refer back to scenes from j & t’s excellent adventure parts 3 & 4. 

After we got home, we TRIED to turn on the water, went through mail and whatnot. The next morning, we packed for a week and headed to Grand Island for Husker Harvest Days. We ran into all kinds of people we knew – including the Miseners.

IMG_4600Entering Husker Harvest Days in Grand Island, NE.

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scenes from j & t’s excellent adventure-parts 3 & 4 (cont.)

by nebraskawheatie

I’m not sure where this is going to lead but my intentions are to share with you some of the scenes of our travels from Montana to Nebraska, back to Montana and then, finally, back to Nebraska again.

We’ve been “home, home” for two weeks. ONLY two weeks. Harvest feels like a dream. Callie and I made a trip to Omaha on Saturday in search of the perfect Homecoming dress. We met Jenna very briefly at the mall and had lunch with her but basically the day was just a me-and-Cal-day. This doesn’t happen very often.  Anyways, she and I had some fairly deep discussions that day; one being about harvest. She and I agreed that unless you’re involved with harvest, you just can’t explain the feelings this industry creates deep down in your soul. We discussed how sad we were that there are people out there who haven’t any idea what a wonderful place Jordan, Montana is because it’s not within their 10 mile radius. Did we find the perfect dress? We found “plan B” dress. “Plan A” dress is on it’s way in the mail.

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scenes from j & t’s excellent adventure-parts 3 & 4 (cont.)

by Nebraska Wheatie

I’m not sure where this is going to lead but my intentions are to share with you some of the scenes of our travels from Montana to Nebraska, back to Montana and then, finally, back to Nebraska again.

We’ve been “home, home” for two weeks. ONLY two weeks. Harvest feels like a dream. Callie and I made a trip to Omaha on Saturday in search of the perfect Homecoming dress. We met Jenna very briefly at the mall and had lunch with her but basically the day was just a me-and-Cal-day. This doesn’t happen very often.  Anyways, she and I had some fairly deep discussions that day; one being about harvest. She and I agreed that unless you’re involved with harvest, you just can’t explain the feelings this industry creates deep down in your soul. We discussed how sad we were that there are people out there who haven’t any idea what a wonderful place Jordan, Montana is because it’s not within their 10 mile radius. Did we find the perfect dress? We found “plan B” dress. “Plan A” dress is on it’s way in the mail. Continue reading →

laboring on labor day

by nebraskawheatie

IMG_4517The view from on top of the combine.

I’m sure there are a large number of individuals involved with agriculture who aren’t taking today off. For this, I say THANK YOU! Agriculture knows nothing but daily work (unless it’s raining). And, even then, there’s always something that can be done. Required maintenance on equipment and animals still need to be cared for regardless of the weather. Picnics, vacations and holidays are taken when there is a window of opportunity – not because it says so on the calendar.

As for this little piece of the Ag world, we’re sort of in limbo right now.

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what? another week is gone?

by nebraskawheatie

IMG_2918

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!

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just long enough

by nebraskawheatie

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!

img_4491Before 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.

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