10-Year Anniversary!

It was 10 years ago this month (I think, or is it 11?) I was freshly retired, looking for something to fill my time, that I asked the fateful question while duck hunting up here. "If you ever need any help, I'd be happy to help". Oh, how I wish I could take those words back. What followed was 10 years of being up here weeks at a time, being ridiculed at every turn, being blamed for every time something got broke, got stuck or basically went wrong. Never mind the fact that it probably was my fault in the first place. It even got to the point where I could be several states away and it was still my fault. It just is not fair!

What started out as a week or two in the fall has morphed into 5-6 weeks in the spring to help plant and 5-6 weeks in the fall for the harvest. This is indeed my home away from home. In fact, between here and Alaska, I will be away from home more this year than I will be there.  

But this year was going to make all that ridicule worthwhile. As I am sure they have something spectacular planned for this momentous anniversary!  What is the appropriate gift for a 10-year anniversary? A new custom-built tractor? An all-expenses paid moose hunting trip to Alaska? Either would suffice. 

My trip up here was just how I like it, uneventful. The terrain goes from dry prairie of South Dakota, eventually to the farm fields of North Dakota.

Sunflower field

 I left on Wednesday evening. Barb and I drove to Rapid City (separately) to do some last-minute shopping and have lunch with our friends Doug and Lisa, our former neighbors before they moved. One of their favorite restaurants is Everest Cuisine in Rapid. It is near the top of the list of Barb's as well. For me, it is pretty much dang near the bottom. But being the selfless person I am, I went along with a smile on my face. This would be the second time I have ever had Indian food. This first time was a complete disaster resulting in my mouth burning from the one and only bite I had. This time went much better as I requested the 0-spice level of my chicken dish. It was good and I'd eat it again. 

But before I talk about farm stuff, let me talk about our adventures earlier in the week. Sunday, we had Dan, Bonnie, Kevin and Cheryl over for a fishapalooza. Salmon and halibut served several ways. It was all so delicious! Of course we had to play dice games. No one won shake-a-day to the pot continues to grow. 

Something was sure funny when I took this picture!

Cheryl and Bonnie each brought a gift. Cheryl, a fireball sign for the gazebo and Bonnie a raving review on Barb's cooking!

Speaking of cooking, the smoker got a workout this week with Cherry-smoked wings, bacon-wrapped meat loaf and venison summer sausage. 

Wednesday, we woke up to a foggy morning. Quiet, cool and foggy. A perfect morning just to sit and watch, really nothing at all. 

I checked the trail cameras before I left. Nothing too new, but some cute pictures of the fawns drinking water. A family flock of turkeys are in the area as well and we did have two mule deer bucks make their first appearance as well. 

Speaking of critters, one day we were driving down the road and just had to stop and take a picture of these two cuties!

What has Barb been up to? Well, she finished two of her projects. Both with the redwood shelves. The first were a couple of scrap pieces (24"x8") which she made into shelves in the laundry room. Both are adorned by gifts our niece Alana gave us. A ceramic French Bulldog and a picture of Alana and Barb holding the pups. 

The second project was three shelves for my vintage duck decoys. Apparently having old decoys scattered around the house (living room, bedroom, kitchen stair landing and loft) are not Barb's thing so she built these shelves so they could all be together! Well, that is not all of them, only about 1/2, but she has consolidated them. 

Oh, I almost forgot! Barb did one more thing this week. She helped Kevin pour more concrete! He called the other day and asked if she would help him the next day. I think "I'd love nothing more!" was her response. Not a huge pour but one that definitely benefited from having and extra set of hands on site. 

Now, back to the farm.....

I am three days into this year's harvest season. (Those days were 12 hours, 14 hours and 16 hours) A typical day looks like this..... We start sometime between 7 and 8 getting things ready for the day; fueling tractors/combines, emptying trucks from the night before, fixing things, moving grain. We cannot start combining until the crops dry out from the dew/rain from the night before. Below are Chris and Farmer discussing the crop moisture in the wheat to see if we are ready to start harvesting and Chris and his dad replacing a motor on the pivot.

This is the view from on top of the combine. The service truck below carries over 400 gallons of fuel and that tank in the back is several hundred gallons of DEF.

We typically cannot get into the field until after 12:00pm, sometimes 4pm, depending on the weather and how the sun/wind dries the crops. Once we get into the field, there are three jobs; combine driver, cart driver and semi driver. So far, I have only driven semi. My responsibility is to pick up the semi in the field once the cart driver (Bob S.) fills them. 

I then drive to the farm, back up to the auger and unload the grain from the truck into a bin. A typical turn for me is one hour from field to farm to field, assuming nothing goes wrong. By the time I get back, the next truck is full and waiting for me and I switch trucks and do it all over again. So, my view from the office every day is basically this....

Of course, sometimes we do the opposite; take from the bin and put it into the truck, or dump straight from the combine into the truck. 

Speaking of things going wrong. Do you notice anything unusual about the picture of this combine?

Yup, the rear wheel fell right off! Apparently, it is a known issue, and Case was supposed to come out and fix it but had not done it yet. So, we were down one combine for an afternoon. Farmer drove to Mandan that night for parts and they had it back up and running the next day. 

Such is life on the farm. It is not a matter of if something will go wrong, it is a matter of when and what it will be. So far, I have dodged the bullet on anything happening to be, but most of you know my track record, so stay tuned to see exactly what it will be!