2004-10-24
It has been wet the last few days and we haven't cut anything since my last update. Blane and myself ran down to Oklee yesterday to pick up Mike and go to Thief River Falls for the day. We watched the movie "The Grudge" in a theater full of teenagers that were screaming all through the movie. We also went shopping and bought some Halloween candy, since we will be here for Halloween this year. We drove through Karlstad, the home of mattracks. As wet as the fields are right now, it would probably take a vehicle with tracks to go across it. Today we went to get groceries and then found out that we will be going back to Evansville tomorrow to help with the corn harvest there. It will be at least several days till we can cut anything here, so we may as well be there getting more corn out of the fields.
2004-10-21
We tried the soybeans today to see if we would be able to get something done. The ground is so wet and sticky that it was sticking to the poly on the bottom of the header. It then started to rain lightly so we gave up for the day. We really need a couple of warm sunny days to finish up here. On a lighter note, I did manage to drift the combine today in the field.
2004-10-20
It didn't rain last night, but the ground didn't dry up much either. I checked the next field to cut this morning and had 5 pound of mud on each shoe after a couple steps. The bean pods are like leather - they need some sun to be able to crack open. Meanwhile a combine is now in Oaklee, which is where our combine will also be going once we are done here.
2004-10-19
The night of the 17th was the coldest one yet and we took advantage of it. At about 9:30 PM we started cutting since it was enough below freezing that pods would crack open easily. Also the ground was starting to freeze up which made it less likely that we would get stuck. Blane ran the first shift and we switched at 4:30 AM so that we could each get a little sleep that night. I knew things would get better below freezing, but I didn't expect the conditions to be nearly as good as they were. The stems were cutting off perfectly and threshing with ease. We finally quit cutting at Midnight last night, about 26 hours later, when the rain and snow moved in. Today we awoke to wet roads and more mud in the fields. I'll be amazed if we don't get the combine stuck again.
2004-10-17
For once it didn't rain or snow overnight so we planned on cutting today. The elevator was scheduled to be closed since no one else was cutting, but we made some phone calls to try to get the truck dumped anyway. Once we tried the beans though, that put an end to our plans of cutting for the day. Somehow the pods were tougher than they were yesterday. Rain and snow are in the forecast for the next several days.
2004-10-16
The mud was frozen solid this morning - it was that cold. We went out to the combine after lunch to try the beans and cut a couple hundred bushels to fill the truck up from the other day. Unfortunately the grain elevator is closed, but rain is in the forecast for tomorrow anyway.
2004-10-15
We cut a few acres yesterday just before we started raining and then snowing. It pretty much drizzled all day long so we made a trip down to Grand Forks to visit Cabela's. Today, the drizzle continues. We made another trip to Cabela's and it was snowing again on the drive back. Soybeans in the Evansville area are now finished and they are working on tilling the soybean ground. Corn harvest there will start in a couple days.
2004-10-13
Well it didn't rain much overnight, but it was only 40 degrees and cloudy today. The roads were dry, but the soybeans have soaked up a lot of moisture. We tried to thrash, but we quickly found that to be impossible since the pods won't crack open. If we were to get some direct sun light, things should dry up just enough. The forecast for the week looks to be cooler with several chances of precipitation. I say that because it may come as either rain or snow.
2004-10-12
The fields we are cutting in this area are split into two areas. We have mostly finished the south fields and moved the combine north a few miles. It started raining as we moved so we won't be able to cut till tomorrow sometime.
2004-10-11
Its been a while since my last update. Blane and myself have been able to keep the combine moving every day since we got here. We had a light rain overnight once, and a few days of heavy dew, but it has been mostly good going. Everything in the area has been frozen, so all the weeds thrash through the combine without much effort. Back at home in Iowa, the soybean harvest has gone to full throttle in the last couple days as well. When I look at the calendar, I don't think about where this month has gone, I think where did September go? It is amazing how time escapes a person out here.
2004-10-6
| YouTube Video A little mud |
2004-10-4
The soybeans in the area are progressing, but slowly due to the cold weather we have had the last few days. Temps should be getting into the 70s later this week and that should dry the beans enough to get them to an acceptable moisture. We cut 80 acres yesterday that was fit, but have been hunting for more dry beans since then. There is still a little bit of mud in the fields from when it had rained during the wheat harvest. The soybeans in South Dakota should be finished and the guys there will be switching over to milo.
| YouTube Video Soybeans |
2004-10-2
A couple of the guys took the 8410T down to South Dakota today to run another grain cart there. Eric and Blane went back to Kenmare to get the MX240 and 1040 cart to bring that over here to Donaldson. A few more of us brought up number 5 truck, a flex header, and a fuel trailer for use here as we get started on the soybeans in this area. Blane and myself will be operating the one combine and truck in this area for a while until more machines arrive. We swapped concaves on the combine that was up here, mounted up the flex header, and took samples from a couple fields. Things look to be pretty close, but too wet to get serious today. A warm sunny day would probably be all that we need to get going. Some of the later fields were still showed some green today, but that will soon change since last night was a hard freeze. We will probably sample a couple more fields tomorrow, but Monday should be when we start getting some acres covered.