July Jigsaw Puzzle

     

    Here I am rubber-necking (photo courtesy of the Goodwife).  A couple of weeks ago, the trucks began arriving.  In all, there would be 24 flatbed trailers lining the windmill road between 117 and 118.

  

Here are a few of the jigsaw pieces:

Then it began to look like this:

A couple of guys took a ride. 

     And a couple went to work way up above.  With binoculars (see beginning picture) you could see they wore harnesses.  (With Polaroid sunglasses, you could see the lines from the blades that the guys in the bucket attached.)

Down came the propeller.

The ants dismantled the prop.

Back up it went.

Apart came the jigsaw pieces.

     And the puzzle players repeated the process a mile and a half east.  Don’t know why they didn’t just drive it over there.  One can only imagine the cost of renting all that equipment, paying the help, etc.  I hope the GE warranty is still good.  It hasn’t been a year.

    Up next, things break down.  (These items aren’t under warranty for sure.)

The Story of the Ladder

 

     Harvest ended on Thursday July 18.  It wasn’t the greatest harvest ever.  I think I will average between eleven and twelve bushels to the acre.  It’s not the worst harvest, either.  I remember lots of years when hail storms resulted in zero yield.  So we will take what we get and do the best we can.

 

 

Here I am making the last swath.

 

So long to 2013 harvest.  There’s still the chore of cleaning up and putting away.

Meanwhile, here’s how the neighbors do it.

 

 

 

   It took them about 6 hours to finish the 160 acres.  Their truck drivers weren’t overworked.

 

 

     The granary work and seeing the date and initials in the granary floor, coupled with use of the old aluminum ladder, evoked a memory from 1986.

   We had the cement work all done and had started the process of assembling the bin.  You build the roof first, then start adding rings beneath the roof.  A set of special jacks raise the assembled parts and allow the erectors to add rings without ever leaving the ground.
    Mom had bought herself a new six foot aluminum step ladder.  She was quite proud of it.  We needed a step ladder to assemble the peaked roof of the bin.  Ricky had promised on pain of death not to harm the ladder if we could use it.  I guess Mom felt she had to allow the use, since we really didn’t have another step ladder on the place.
     We had spectators.   Uncle Ricky thought Dad should be part of the fun.  So he loaded Dad up in the old 4X 4 and brought him out to the site.  Ricky painstakingly positioned the pickup so Dad would have some shade on the hot day.
    Ricky was asking Dad what he thought, and Dad said he really couldn’t see very well, whereupon Ricky mounted the 4 X 4 to reposition it again.  Then it happened, a certain metallic crunching sound, the realization that the new aluminum ladder, not needed after the roof of the bin was completed, had been laid aside in the tall grass, and was now under the pickup’s wheels.
       As Mom was among the spectators, dissembling about the ladder’s demise was out of the question.  I don’t remember what she said, if anything, but it wouldn’t be too hard to guess what she thought.  She  got another new ladder, this time a wooden one.  Maybe the aluminum one wasn’t that great? I think Uncle Ricky paid for it.
      Ricky also spent a short hour or so bending and straightening.  Here it is today.

 

 

 

     The shop finally got a step ladder of its own, not too old, but with plenty of experience.  Good thing, too. No use to ask to borrow Granny’s ever again.

Harvest 2013

       For the first time since 1988, wheat harvest has come to the old farm.  A combine I bought in 1990 (maybe 1991) which was 25 years old then, has been put to use on my crop instead of being used for custom hire. 

     The combine, born in 1964, is now 49 years old.  It hasn’t done anything but sit in the shed since 2006.  It’s out and ready to go.

     Both trucks had to be vetted, brake lines bled, hoist and gear box oil checked, u-joints and steering greased, and tires aired.   Those ablutions require a lot of rolling around under the trucks, which seems to take a lot more energy than it used to.

     Oh yes, and mouse droppings removed from cab and under the hood.  The shop vacuum makes that job much easier.  I used to have to try to blow everything out with air pressure.  You don't get the "repercussions" with a vacuum.    

 

 

The grain bin took a little while, too.  I’ve never got electricity to the bin, so shop vac need not apply.  Brooms and shovels with dust mask.  Get it clean, then caulk the base to try to keep the water out.  Finally, spray a little disinfectant to kill the weevils and other such vermin.  I used vinegar this time.  We’ll see how that works out.  The hardest part is getting in and out of the thing.

 

  

     Uncle Ricky and I erected the bin.  We dug the hole, formed it up, and poured the cement.  The concrete record attests to the date.  We also did the bin-raising.

 

      The neighbors have used the bin a couple of times in the past 20 years.  I used it once when the elevators got full and I didn’t want to set in a line of trucks waiting to unload.  That was in my custom-cutting days.  I dumped into it.  As soon as I was done harvesting, and everyone else, too, I hauled the wheat to town.

 

     The auger works, finally.  It took about as much time as the combine to get ready.  It hasn’t done anything but sit outside for ten years.  Here it is on its way up to the top of the bin.

 

     Well, now for the bad news.  I will have plenty of room in the grain bin for this year’s crop.  I cut a sample on Tuesday, July 9.

 

    

      I couldn’t get it tested till Wednesday.  It tested 10.3% moisture.  (Below 13% moisture is considered safe to bin without worrying about spoilage.)

      So harvest began Wednesday about 3 p. m., after I changed a hydraulic hose on the combine.  It rained about .1” around 4:30.  That shut me down.

      Thursday, I spent most of the morning getting the auger positioned in the bin.  Quite a job for one person.

    

     I cut all afternoon Thursday and got the big truck loaded.  I took most of the morning Friday to unload the truck.  I cut another truck load Friday afternoon.  I had to quit early so I could go to town to listen to The Mixers play for the local cancer walkathon.  That gave me the chance to visit with band member and Nephew Rich and his daughter Eleanor.  I lasted till about 10:30.  But the band played on--till midnight, if thy remained true to the schedule.

    Saturday morning I unloaded the truck for a second time.  Things went a lot better and I was back in the field by 11 a. m.  A “can’t miss” thunderstorm lined up in the west. So I quit about 4 and battened down the hatches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

     That’s where I am today.  I’m over half done with about 300 bushels on the truck.  I may have another 6 or 7 hundred bushels left in the field.   That will figure out to be somewhere between 10 and 15 bushels to the acre.  Not exactly a bumper crop. 

 

 

 

 

One Picture Worth a Thousand Word

     Effrontery

 

 

Harvest Prep  The swather has to come out of storage in order to get the combine out of storage.

 

 

     Header and thresher are reunited after six years of separation.

 

 

    The old auger is in for a few repairs.

 

     Two problems, finding a long-gone bearing at the top of the auger, and finding a repair kit for the carburetor.  The auger came from the local grain dealer in the 50’s.  A call to Elevator Manager Ed sent me to Beaver Valley Supply in – Atwood, Kansas, where the bearing was readily available for $17 with shipping.

    I ordered the carburetor kit from Sears, but I couldn’t confirm the order.  The local NAPA dealer had the kit including a nozzle, which I broke by improper carburetor disassembly.  The Sears kit came on July 5, but didn’t include the nozzle.  Back it goes.  It's remarkable that you can still find parts for a 50-year-old engine.  Too big a problem to make the one-cylinder engines with fuel injection, I guess.  Anyway, the Briggs and Stratton engines use pretty much the same carburetor as they have for years.

    My carburetor rebuilding skills are lacking.  I have to redo the work because the float assembly doesn’t allow enough gas flow to run the engine.  The float is the golden doughnut.

 

     I took the old combine out on Saturday July 6 for a test run.  Wheat is still pretty damp.  It will probably be dry enough in two or three days, depending on the weather.  In the meantime, the bushel or two can rest on the old truck where it joins a little leftover seed wheat from last fall.

 

      Should be a busy week, unless it rains.  Wouldn't that be too bad?