We Didn't See It

 I was driving to North Dakota, Barb was at home in the house. Both our skies were filled with cloud cover. Oh well, we will catch the next one. Leading up to the big event, I was so glad that every news station in the country was warning us not to look directly at the sun because that is exactly what I would have done. Seriously? We need to be told not to look at the sun? Apparently so, as after the eclipse, Google searches of "My eyes hurt" skyrocketed. 

Watching the news afterwards, I again shook my head as they interviewed person after person crying saying that it was a life-changing event. I mean, it was cool, but life-changing?

In other TV news, we did watch parts of the NCAA women's final. Something I would have bet money that I would never do. Not because it is women's basketball, we just do not care for basketball. But the storyline on this game was pretty amazing. 

My Monday morning drive to North Dakota was brutal. The first two hours at least. Saturday and Sunday at home consisted of much needed rain. We were thankful it was rain and not show. What I did not realize was that just a few miles away, it was snow. 

I was not surprised to see snow in the higher hills. 

Leaving Custer, I saw a little more snow, but no big deal. 

The stretch between Hill City and Deadwood was brutal!

Luckily, we have a 4WD truck, but there were still a few white-knuckle moments. This stretch has lots of ups, downs and curves. When driving in slippery conditions like this, the key is to go slow and keep your foot off the brake which can cause the vehicle to start sliding. And once a slide starts....good luck, especially if you are going downhill! 

At one point I was going down an incline at 35 mph when by truck downshifted. Next thing I knew the truck is sliding sideways down the hill. Luckily, I was able to correct it fairly quickly and got all the wheels pointed in the right direction and I made it into Deadwood itself which was still snowed in. 

Finally making it to Interstate 90 I thought I was in the clear. Nope, interstate's is where all the idiots drive and there was car after car in the ditch. 

The roads slowly got better until I was out of the snow and into rain. 

8 hours later, I was finally pulling into my destination for the next few weeks!

Upon arrival, Farmer Bob and I jumped into the truck and headed to town for a celebratory supper. It is good to see him and the entire gang up here. In addition to the regular crew, Chris's dad (and my good friend) Bob is up here, and they hired a new employee; Ty, Ty is a nephew of DeAnne and Farmer and used to live just down the road. He is back now and is starting his career in farming.  

The Sunday before I left Barb and I spent the day at home together, packing and getting things ready in the camper. The afternoon, we just spent on the couch watching TV. When happy hours arrived (which is really any time Sunday) Barb made me an Old Fashioned. 

I would think most of you know what is in an Old Fashioned, but if you do not here is the perfect short video to get you on the right track. Credit to my neighbor Jim for showing us the video. The only difference between the guy making one on the video Barb is that Barb made it with whiskey, so she must be from Illi-noise.

Up here at the farm, we have yet to get a seed in the ground. Still a little early. as the soil temps are not quite where they want them. There are a couple of crops they can put in the ground when it is still cold (peas/wheat), but there is plenty to do while waiting for things to warm up. 

Concrete for one. Actually, concrete for 2 and 3 as well, as that took the majority of my time this week. They are putting in a concrete pad for 10 more bins. Two pads; one 18'x10' and the other 18'x178'. That's right, 178'!

First, the dirt work. The first pad was pretty easy and only took an hour or two. The second pad took days and multiple truckloads of gravel to get the base all set.

We've poured the small pad, (left above and below) I did not take any action shots of the pour, but it went well, and we are happy with the results. The bigger pad needs a lot more prep work. We have the grade set and have started the form boards. Here is the thing about pad for grain bins; they are not your standard 4" slab, these slabs are 14"! As a result, you need lot taller form boards and a lot of bracing as you can see the start of on the right side, below. 

While I was busy with that, Chris, Dylan and Farmer Bob were busy doing other things. Chris and Dylan were cleaning seed for both themselves and customers. Cleaning the seed, takes out the impurities (rocks, weed seeds, broken seeds) so, what they are left with is just clean, plantable seeds. 

Although the picture above looks like a convoluted mess, there is definitely a method to their madness. Starting in the upper right, you see the red grain cart. The blue conveyor takes the seed from the cart and dumps it into the first cleaner which takes out the other weed seeds and anything else that might have been scooped up during harvest. The impurities go into the semitruck in the back left side, the good seed then go into another conveyor and dumped into another cleaner which sorts the seed by width, straining out any undesirable seed and dumping them into the smaller truck dead center. The final product goes into the semitruck closest to you and is either planted here on the farm or sold to another farmer. All the rejects either go to the elevator or sold to locals for chicken feed. 

Confused by that picture? Me too!

Meanwhile, Farmer Bob was busy scraping off the topsoil for a new driveway for their next project. (After the grain bins) This scraper is pretty dang cool, it is laser operated so you are scraping of just what you want leaving a perfectly level driveway, or banking it, if so desired. 

Barb and the girls are doing okay. I talked to her multiple times a day to see how her days are going. She has been down a few days with a cold and actually said she was glad I was not there as she is so miserable. I told her that if I was there, I would take care of her. She said, "That is exactly why I am glad you are not here". I am not sure how to take that, but I think what she is saying is that she does not want to spread her miserableness to me. 

That is it for this week! The next few days will more than likely be more of the same. Getting the seeders ready for the field, prepping more concrete and generally going to bed with a aching, sore body.