YES! We were able to get started cutting wheat on Monday. As you can see from the temperature in Lakin on that day, it was plenty warm. Today (Tuesday) was hot (101), as well, and HORRIBLY windy!
Tag Archives: Kansas
An Honor and An Update
It’s always fun when you receive comments from people you don’t know because it means someone is actually reading your blog. What’s even more fun is receiving a comment from someone you don’t know telling you they like your blog well enough to nominate you for an award. Thank you, C. J., and Food Stories Blog –http://www.foodstoriesblog.com for nominating me for the “Illuminating Blogger Award”. C. J. specializes in Food, Science, Recipes, Cooking & Stories about Food. If you love food and anything that has to do with food and recipes, visit her blog!
It’s beginning to get a little tense around these parts
Oh my goodness! Patience and tempers in this camp are beginning to take a turn for the worse! We have been inside this trailer house entirely TOO LONG! The last time we set foot in a wheat field was June 2 – that’s 12 days ago.
Yesterday, the girls and I did escape for most of the day. We headed to Garden City to tour the FREE zoo and then did a little shopping – fun and grocery. We went to the zoo with friends (who are also harvesters… young harvesters). I mention young harvesters because that is an issue in our industry that really needs to be addressed. It happened that Allie (harvester’s wife) could escape with the boys for a little while so they met us there.The Garden City Zoo is by far my favorite zoo! Even better than the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo, as far as I’m concerned. I could go there every day and not get sick of being there. It’s beautiful! This is its 85th year of existence and has always been free admission.
This little tyke’s name is Brooks.
Boring, Boredom, Bored…Ugh!
I think the title of this posting will give you a pretty good view of what’s going on in camp today.
This is a part of the job that tends to wear on me. A day off (or even a couple of days) is always a welcome break. We’re on our 8th day of sitting – except for the two days of moving equipment to Deerfield. We worked pretty hard up to June 2nd which was the day we completed the last field in Arnett – just before the rain. So, I DID enjoy it… for a while.
Me and Callie
A Tough Start in KS
Jim and I headed back to Shattuck yesterday a.m. to get the combine and header – and Frank.
The view of Shattuck through the window of the Pete and from a direction I hadn’t seen it from before – North looking South.
We are now residents of Kansas
The above cloud formation was something we saw nearly every night since Saturday.
Since we finished on Saturday, the past four days seem like they lasted FOREVER! The rain we received on Sunday morning continued on and off nearly every day. We were going to load up yesterday but it rained most of the day so we decided to wait one more day since there was no hurry to get to Deerfield.
What Day is Today? I THINK it’s…
The confusion of what day of the week it is has begun. Harvest has a tendency to make that happen. When you’re involved with this job, you don’t run by a clock or a calendar (much). It’s daylight, sundown – rainy day or sunny. So, today is sunny, hot and another day to try to figure out what is going on with this truck of ours.
We made it to our destination – a farm near Burkburnett, TX. This will be home now until the wheat is cut and it’s time to move north. We unloaded the combine and headed immediately north. The issue with the truck is still ongoing. We stopped in Seiling, OK for a quick break and Jim noticed two of the new bolts were broken. A quick run to the auto parts store for more. Things still weren’t quite right so a call to our new favorite truck repair shop in Ellinwood was necessary. They told Jim to patch it up the best he could and get it to the shop on our way home. Jim’s intention was to drive until he could get back to Ellinwood. He made it as far as Medicine Lodge (1:30) and had to quit for a few hours of sleep. The alarm went off at 5:45 a.m. and we were back on the road. Right now, we’re sitting in RMACs shop in Ellinwood trying to figure out what to do next. It looks like we’ll be renting a car to get home and leaving the Pete in KS for a few days. More expense…more worries – that’s what it’s all about (I guess).
I’ll leave you with a few sights from yesterday:
Russell, KS
Do you remember my final thought of last night’s post? ” I wonder what tomorrow will bring?” Well…let me tell ya about today:
Last night Jim was concerned the Pete wasn’t sounding quite right. He didn’t let me know his concern until we were walking to the restaurant for supper. He said he didn’t think it sounded like it was running up to par since we had stopped on the Kansas/Nebraska line for a short break. This morning, before starting the truck up, he was looking things over and said, “I think I see what could be the problem and it ain’t good”. Four bolts were broken on the exhaust manifold. Several calls were made – a couple to fellow harvester friends – and then to a repair shop in Ellinwood.
First Day “On The Road Again” – 2012
We got started just a little later than Jim thought we might today. Tieing up loose ends takes longer than you might think – especially when you know the two pieces going first won’t have a service truck full of tools following them. Jim does a good job of knowing what tools he “might” need on the road and usually, if we need something, he’s got it. It certainly would be nice to have the full inventory to choose from, should the need arise. But, that’s how we’ve done it most of our years of being on the road.