2004-6-10
Yesterday it rained some more, so we went down to Enid for the afternoon. I got to check my e-mail for the second time since I started. Then we went down to Fairview to get a belt for combine #8 and then back to Nash. Someone arranged another trip to Enid for supper and a movie with the ladies from the elevator in Nash, so back to Enid we go. Today it has been about 75 degrees with sun and wind. It might be possible to cut again tomorrow afternoon, but the logistics of trucking becomes and issue as the fields are all soggy. We had about 70 acres left of a 160 we picked up as some extra work to do, but we are going to leave it and go north. I brought 3 machines back to the pasture where we will load them onto trucks yet tonight. My machine #2 has cut a total of 1549 acres and has just over 100 hours on the rotor.
2004-6-8
Both yesterday and this morning we cut some wheat that was almost flat from high winds. The pickup reels work great for standing it up to be cut. It does take a while though as we can only travel 2 MPH or less. We finally got done with that and started on some ground that had standing water in places. I got too close with my combine and sank into some soft ground. The rear wheel assist helped a lot, but unfortunately not enough to get me out. Lesson learned - never back up when in mud. Later in the day we had some light rain that shut us down early.
| YouTube Video Down Wheat |
YouTube Video Down Wheat 2 |
YouTube Video Grain Cart |
2004-6-6
We slept in again today since it sprinkled last night. We waxed a couple trucks before lunch, took and nap, and then started cutting at about 2:30. We ran 5 machines together on a couple fields which becomes quite interesting. It sounds like 2 of the machines will be moved to Kansas tomorrow and the rest will follow on Tuesday.
2004-6-5
It rained this morning and we have been sitting for 2 days now. We fueled and greased the machines today so we would be ready. We cut a sample and it tested at 15.7% so it wouldn't have been ready till at least tomorrow, but its raining again tonight.
| YouTube Video Home |
YouTube Video The Horizon |
YouTube Video Cutting a sample |
2004-6-4
It rained early this morning and we slept in till almost noon. After breakfast, or rather lunch, we went to Enid to get food and check out the huge grain elevator. The big one is supposedly the second largest inland elevator in the world. It has a capacity of 28 million bushels. Each wing is about 900 feet long. They have bicycles on the roof for the employees to use when they are checking bins. Storage is mostly wheat, but a little milo, corn, and some other crops. They can dump over 1000 trucks in a day and then do rail at night. Tomorrow we will probably resume cutting with a team of 5 machines. We should have about 2 days of cutting yet here in Nash.
| YouTube Video Enid ADM Elevator |
2004-6-2
We have been running long days for a while now and sleep is a luxury. I was yawning all day yesterday. We got a little rain just before lunch today and took a break for lunch. Back here at the campers, we saw more rain and even some hail. Southwest of town where we were cutting, it may still be dry. I've cut just over 1100 acres with the number 2 combine now. The past couple days we have been running a team of 4 machines together which gets interesting, especially in 20 acre fields.
| YouTube Video Cutting Corners |
2004-5-30
We got moved up to Nash, unloaded the equipment, and started cutting this evening. The wheat is more ripe here than it was in Frederick.