Tag Archives: Nebraska

“One Man’s Junk is Another Man’s Treasure”

by nebraskawheatie

While sitting at an intersection waiting for a vehicle, I HAD to try to record the sun as it was coming up over the east horizon. Unfortunately, this doesn’t do justice for the beauty of the moment – especially through a dirty bus window.

The weekend started for me on Friday morning. Jim was caught up with dry corn and had been spending some much-needed time on combine and corn head maintenance. On Friday morning, he asked me if I wanted to ride along to Cornlea (Nebraska) to get parts for the corn head. Jenna thought that was quite funny…going to Cornlea for the corn head – appropriate. Cornlea was about 2 ½ hours from home. I thought…what the heck?! Before we could go, though, I had to sub for a driver on the morning bus route.

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(Video) A Bit Corny

by nebraskawheatie

This picture shows just a portion of what I’ve been hauling in from the Cottage (on wheels) since Saturday. Yes, I got started doing SOMETHING after my day of denying the fact on Friday. I definitely wasted Friday away trying to get my brain transitioned from the wheat field to being “home, home”.

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WHERE’S THE GRASS?

by nebraskawheatie

I’m sure they’re eating something but it’s not GREEN grass. 

We’re home, home! The final miles were driven yesterday. It’s been quite a long 5 days!  And so very HOT – 110 degrees on Wednesday and 105 yesterday. The Pete kept running hot all day on Wednesday – to the point it shut itself off going up a hill. That has never happened before. I asked Jim why it had decided to do it at that particular time and he said it was because of the intense heat and the four mile hills we were climbing. This heat and no rain is really taking a toll on our country. The Midwest is very, very sick right now!

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Trent’s Interview with Sec of Ag

by nebraskawheatie

I had the opportunity to meet Trent Loos at the U.S. Custom Harvesters, Inc. convention last March. Trent is a true American, a cowboy and a fellow Nebraskan. The school lunch program and its requirements have been in the news lately. Trent’s interview with Secretary Of Ag, Tom Vilsack, was very interesting to me. Thank you, Trent, for asking the hard questions and challenging the Secretary with the USDA’s requirements and nonsense regulations! The recorded conversation can be found here: http://www.rodeoattitude.com/facesofag/2012/08/20/vegan-culture-alive-and-well-at-usda-secretary-vilsack-answers-question/

The Old Grey Goose Is Dead

by nebraskawheatie

(This was written Monday evening after we stopped for the day) Today started out early. I was up at 4:30 for a conference call at 5:00. It’s now 11:04 p.m. In between these two times, we have left Limon, CO and are spending the night in Lusk, WY.

Taylor helping Jim by making sure the Nasty didn’t drag as it was being driven on the trailer.

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Happy Father’s Day!

by nebraskawheatie

Father’s Day has come and gone for another year. It was yet another day of nothing happening in camp. Taylor insisted she wanted to make supper for her dad so that’s what she did. She decided it was going to be BBQ meatballs, mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. This would have to be one of Jim’s favorite meals – except for roast beef.

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First Day “On The Road Again” – 2012

by nebraskawheatie

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.

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IT’S TIME!

by nebraskawheatie

HAPPY MAY DAY!

We were supposed to have left yesterday for Texas with the first load. It decided to rain on Sunday (which was a surprise to all of us) and it set Jim behind a day. We  loaded the combine  (Jim’s truck) and  the header (my truck) late this afternoon. If things go accordingly, we will be on the road again tomorrow.

I’m having mixed emotions about this, though. We’ll be leaving without Taylor and Callie (and Jamie, Curt & Jenna). I’ve sort of come to the conclusion that when all the kids are no longer going with us, this could be a tough time of year – worse than it is already. Harvest just isn’t quite the same without the girls! I’ve never had an issue with leaving before because ALL of what’s important with home has been with us. Now, it’s getting weird 🙂 At least I have the end of May to look forward to – that’s when T & C will be joining us.

The wheat’s changing fast. I’m hoping that once we get home again we won’t have to turn right around and head back.  My feelings are that it will be CHAOS when we get back!

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by nebraskawheatie

Unfortunately, the number of people who have no idea where their food comes from is growing. If we don’t begin realizing the importance of teaching the next generation about the farm and agriculture, we could be in for a “whole heap of trouble”. After being to the East Coast and talking custom harvesting and combines (DC), I realize there are a lot of people who just assume their bread comes from a grocery store. In 10 more years, the average age of the American farmer will be nearly 70. Have we done too good of a job of pushing our younger generation away from the farm or will they step up and take over the job? It’s time we start preparing for the future!

The Storm of the Century

by nebraskawheatie

Yes, that was the way they were describing the storms that were moving into Eastern Nebraska on Saturday night…”The Storm of the Century”.

This particular tornado watch was being referred to as a PDS watch. Meteorologists define a PDS watch as follows:

“When the threat for damage caused by severe convection is unusually high, the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) enhances the wording of its convective watch product with the following statement: THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION  Such watches are known as “PDS” watches. PDS tornado (TOR) watches are issued when the forecaster has high confidence that multiple strong (F2-F3 on the Fujita Scale) or violent tornadoes (F4-F5 on the Fujita Scale) will occur in the watch area. PDS TOR watches are rare; of 3058 TOR watches issued during the period 1996-2005, only 7% (216) were PDS watches, When compared with regular TOR watches, PDS TOR watches should ideally be associated with a greater risk of strong or violent tornadoes.”

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