À la carte

 That word came to mind this week as I drove the grain cart all week. Bob S. had to go back home for a wedding. That left an opening in the grain cart. I was more than happy to fill that spot as the tractor has air conditioning and with temps in the 90's AC is much appreciated! Despite having them worked on the trucks, not so much at the moment. 

I have reached the two week point at being away from home. This is when I start getting homesick and count the days until I am released from my servitude and am allowed to roam the country free again. At this point, it is unknown when they will let that happen. I am thinking 10-14 days, I will find out more at my parole hearing later this week. 

We worked on wheat most of the week, getting into the field about noon and home about 10ish depending on the moisture levels and humidity. 

Then sunsets here are beautiful. And there is something about watching the sunset from the cab of a tractor that makes it even more beautifuler (that was for all you teachers out there!).

Here is a video of Dylan thinking he is a he-man of sorts. There was a round bale in the edge of the field that was in the way, his 29-year-old ego and brain said, "No problem, I will just roll it out of the way". Not so much!

Holly had a special surprise waiting for us at our last wheat field. She had planned an impromptu picnic in the field! Complete with a grill, burgers and all the fix'ins! All the spouses and kids attended as well. DeAnne, Stephanie, and Sydney. 

We then took group pictures in front of some of the equipment. She is thinking of making it an annual tradition, I think it is a great idea! She even made a Facebook reel about it which you can see here.

After that field was done, we moved on to Canola! Much slower pace for the cart driver. While wheat can be anywhere from 50-100 bushels/acre, Canola is more like 30-50bu/acre meaning I have a lot more downtime between dumps. Same goes for the truck driver too.

Of course, there is always the morning fueling of the combines. One thing I forgot to mention is that sometime while doing that we are also fixing guards and sections on the header. The header is the thing in front of the combine that gathers all the grain as the combine goes across the field. The section are little cutting blades that cut the stalk of the plant and the guards, well they guard the sections from rocks and other debris. Both are constantly getting broken; we often have to replace 4-10 sections a day. 

Meanwhile back in South Dakota, Barb is as busy as usual. Just when I thought we were done with the rock wall outside the house I caught this image of her scrubbing the wall with what appeared to be my toothbrush! I certainly hope I am wrong as I was planning on using that thing when I got home after being gone for several weeks!

When I called her to see what the heck she was doing, she said she was scrubbing the face of the stone with Muric acid where we got mortar on them. I knew she was a compulsive clean freak, but this is taking it to a whole new level! But what there is more. She said she also took everything out of each and every cabinet and cupboard and cleaned inside of them as well. While I think this is a little over the top for my standards, it is also one of the things I love about her!

Yet another day she texted me a picture of a door saying that she thinks she found a door for her workshop on Marketplace, and she was going to look at it. Now everyone knows that Marketplace is full of reputable sellers and women alone should just rush right to strange houses to look at items, right? Well, that is what she did. Next thing I know she is texting me pictures of windows, insulation, heaters, saws, sanders... She said she was going home to get the trailer so she could bring home all the treasures she bought. 

Here is where I knew that I married a strong and capable woman.... (As if I didn't know it already). The enclosed trailer had fallen off the block of the wood holding it up a week before I left and I had yet to put it back up on the block. This means Barb would not be able to get it on the Jeep without getting a hand jack and lifting it up. I called her and explained the situation to her and to her credit, she did not give one sigh of frustration, she just asked where the jack was and went to! Next thing I knew I received this picture of our trailer full of stuff she bought from the guy! I am sure the guy is going to talk about this crazy lady who showed up at his house to look at a door and drove away with a trailer full, leaving $1,000 behind in the process. We needed all that stuff and it would have cost well over twice that much if we bought it new, so it was a win/win for everyone involved. Especially me, as I did not have to load a thing!

Last, but not least, she broke out the log splitter. I had cut down a couple of standing dead trees before I left at Barb's request as she said she might "put up some wood". Next thing I know I get a couple of photos of a pile of split wood and a full wood storage area!

The critter cams this week showed more of the same. Deer and turkeys. Still fun to see though!

A different kind of "dear"! (or turkey depending on your perspective)

I know I get in trouble if I do not include at least one dog picture in a post. This week I have several for you! First are Dylan's two dogs, Nova and Nellie. They just hang around the farm all day waiting for someone to play with them. 

Barb sent me a few pictures of Zoey and Dakota. Zoey is being her usual goofy self while Dakota is more content just being around Barb and sleeping. 

I do have one "Find the Frenchie" photo for you. Why she does this, I have no idea, but it seems to be a trait with Frenchies. If you google "Find the Frenchie" you will see all sorts of images they seem to be peeking around things to see what you are up to!

You know how much I love picking on my "friend" Dino. The last "dog" image for the week is this one I found on Facebook. Now some of you may think this article was doctored up a little bit, but I assure you, it has not and since it is now on the internet it is true. As we all know, everything on the internet is true!

So, if you see this guy walking around your town, run. Run very fast. Well, at least at a fast-paced walk as he is practically an invalid and limps along at pretty much a snail's pace.