Brrrr!

The roller coaster ride that is our weather continues ranging from 90's to 60's with lows in the 40's. We have not had a frost yet, but it is not too far off. I prefer 60's to 90's any day, but waking up in a chilly camper sometimes makes me rethink that. I could turn on the heat, but I am too stubborn. 

Peas, done. Wheat done. Canola done. I cannot say that things are going smoothly, but we are getting there acre by acre. Flat tires, broken gear boxes, burst hydraulic hoses, rocks, shear bolts. Many obstacles getting thrown at us; it seems like we have not had a trouble-free day yet. What have I contributed to these obstacles? A few, but I am saving them for my last farm post so I can take all the ridicule and harassment at once rather than spread it over a few weeks. I will mention this one right now however as it was pretty intense. Farmer was combining canola when he smelled smoke.

Smoke+Combine=No good. So, he booked it over to the service truck, got out and found smoke pouring out of the back end of his combine. Over the next hour and a half, we fought embers that were burning throughout his combine. Residue and chaff build up everywhere as you go through the field and somehow about 20 spots throughout his combine were smoldering. We don't know if it was an electrostatic charge, or one hot ember started all the others, but it was intense. The embers we got off the combine landed in the field catching that on fire. Eventually we got everything out and we were whooped. He went home to hose off the entire combine and was back a couple hours later to finish the field. 

Next up, chickpeas, roughly 200 acres or so. Why God created chickpeas (also known as Garbanzo beans) I will never understand. 

chickpeas

I have never had anything with them in it that tasted even halfway decent. Oh, Barb loves her hummus. Probably because it is one thing she does not have to share with me: gross. Falafel? I don't think I have ever had one, I am a Scandinavian boy from the Midwest, meat and potatoes for me. 

Up until this week, I have pretty much just been trucking from the field to the farm or the field to the elevator. When you first "open" a field, we park the trucks just inside the approach and load there. As the combines get further and further out in the field, we move out there with them. If you have a minute and 15 seconds in your life that you just don't know what to do with, you can watch this video of me driving the semi out in the field. 

Surprisingly smooth. Often times you arrive at the field just as the next truck is loaded, so you just switch trucks and carry on back to unload. Truck, after truck, after truck all day long and well into the night. 

We are down to 5 people right now with Bob S. going home for a few weeks before coming back up. As a result, I switched jobs from trucking to carting. As many of you know from previous years, carting is the process of taking the grain from the combine and putting it into the semi. 

I sit and wait for the combine to fill up. There are lights that start flashing once the combine is getting full alerting me to the fact that they will need to be dumped soon. A bit longer, they will put out their unload auger telling me it is time to unload. I have to approach the combine from the left side staying within 2-3' of it so the auger is over the cart. See that combine header? That is just a few feet off the back track of my tractor. It is worth more than most people make in a year, and you certainly do not want to hit that! Beside the fact that it would bring harvest to a standstill. 

Once the cart is about halfway full or so, I make my way over to the semis and dump into one of them for the driver to take to the farm or elevator. 

This is probably my favorite thing to do up here. Maybe not, I do like trucking too and other tractor stuff. I guess I love multiple things. I just haven't had much of an opportunity to cart the past two falls so right now it is my favorite thing to do. 

It does provide me the opportunity to take a few pictures and this little video while I wait. This video is only 41 seconds. I think it is mesmerizing how these combines gobble up the field and spit everything out except the grain. 

There was a farmer harvesting in the field next to ours one day and I sat there watching him I could not help but feel sorry for him. He was doing it all himself. He would combine until his hopper got full, then he would drive it over a 1/2 mile to his truck and dump into his truck before heading back out into the field and harvest some more. Once his truck was full, he would park the combine, walk over to his truck and take it to his farm to unload it. No additional help whatsoever. 

Even with all the help we have here 10 acres/hour/combine is about all we can get done. This guy doing it all by himself was probably once getting 3-5 acres done an hour. Made me want to go over there and help him, it is going to take him forever to get done!

They also got a new toy since I was up here last. Some of you may remember, it is this time of the year that they need to change the tires on the sprayer from crop tires to the fatter tires. In years past they had to use the forks on the bobcat to do this. No more! They still use the bobcat, but now they have this fancy tire grabber! They also got a new wire-feed welder as there is always something to be fixed. 

The highlight of my week? Well, there were a couple. The first one occurred when I dropped a truck off in Garrison and DeAnne had to pick me up. The first thing I asked her is if she wanted to go to Dairy Queen. When she said "Sure", I asked her if she had any money as I didn't. That worked out well for me!

The next was when we got done early(ish) one day and Farmer Bob asked if I wanted to have happy hour. One does not have time for happy hour most days, so the answer was a definite yes!

As cool as those highlights are, they pale in comparison to this one. Barb said she was thinking of coming up for a few days to see me and baby Tessa. I am pretty sure it was mostly baby Tessa as in previous years she never offered to come up. This set into motion a whirlwind of cleaning. Holy crap, did I have some work to do. Sweeping, scrubbing, cleaning, laundry. As a matter of fact, I better wrap this up as she will be here at any minute. 

Speaking of Barb, she got one more project done at home when she stained the entryway to our property. In the picture below, she was halfway done. The wood on the right is stained, the left, yet to be stained. She says it looks good, but now the wheels blend into the wood too much so she may have to spray those black. 

This last picture is of Ol' Remy (Remmington). He is almost 13 and is having a harder time getting around. Most days he just lays around and passes the day. But on this day, Chris brought him out into the field while we were working on stuff and he wandered out into the canola hunting up some birds. It was bittersweet, you could see his youthful mind wanted to get out there and kick up a few pheasants, but his body fought him every step of the way as he limped his way through the field. I could not help but wonder if that will be me someday. Having the want and desire, but not the physical ability. I suppose it is the fate for each and every one of us at some point. Regardless, what a life. Life is good at the farm.

That's it from the farm next week, next time you are driving down the road and see a combine out in the field with its lights flashing, you will now know that his hopper is almost full and the cart guy (if he has one) will soon be back to take his grain!

Delivery Week!

It's been a busy week here at the farm. The last of the wheat (l) went into the bin today. None too soon either as my sinuses, eyes and throat are really paying the price. We have now moved on to Canola (r). They planted just under 2,000 acres of canola this past spring and now it is time to harvest it. Unlike wheat, canola is a much slower process. With wheat it was everything I could do to keep up with the harvesters. I would no sooner return with an empty truck and another full truck was waiting to go out. Even with two truckers they were sometimes texting me asking me where I was as they needed the truck I was in!

There are a couple reasons the canola is slower. First, the yield is much less than wheat, then there is the grain/seed size. It would take probably 6-9 canola seeds to equal the size of one kernel of wheat. As a result, it takes a couple hours to fill a truck versus 30 minutes. So, I find myself doing this....

This does not mean that the days are any less busy though. In fact, in the past 7 days we each worked over 100 hours.  We can typically get into the field a little sooner each day with canola. So, we are harvesting a little sooner each day and going a little later each day versus wheat. Noon to midnight would not be unusual. Luckily Ty's wife, Stephanie, brings us supper out in the field each day. For a picky eater like me, it forces me to try some new things. I am not a big fan of Mexican food, but I had the best fajitas of my life while sitting in the truck the other day. Some of them even come with dessert!

There has been a lot of talk in the news lately about price gouging and people/companies taking advantage of the unstable market. Well, I can tell you it is not on this end of the spectrum. Farmers do not set their own prices. Commodities are priced based on not only the U.S. supply, but the world supply mainly on price and demand. For example, wheat prices right now are at a low for several reasons, mainly there is a huge supply right now. This bin below holds 50,000 bushel of wheat (3,000,000 lbs) and right now wheat is approximately $4.56/bu making a full bin worth $228,000. Earlier this year wheat was at $7.40/bu making that same bin worth $370,000. That's nearly $150,000 swing in what they could have gotten for that wheat in just one bin! Think about all those bins of wheat across the country and how much less farmers are making now compared to that high. 

Farmers cannot raise their prices to make up for this loss. They have two choices, sell at that lower rate or hold it, hoping the price goes up. Some farmers need to take their grain to the elevator right away to live and pay bills, while others have the ability to hold it until the price goes up. Add to that increasing fuel and electric prices and you can see why the small farms are disappearing across the country. 

Much of this canola is going straight to the elevator to fulfill a contract they had made earlier in the year. Some of it is going to the farm as well. Here is one of my least favorite things to do. I don't hate it; I just don't love it. Checking the grain level in a bin once it gets near the top. Heights never used to bother me, but these last few years it has started to. I am just not as stable as I was used to be. I continue to do it to fight my fear. The views from the top are worth it though!

It is so dry out here that the combines are just in a dust bowl as they harvest. 

I cannot help but think about Farmer Bob in his younger years when he could harvest in an open cab. We get filthy throughout the day in our enclosed cabs. Imagine how filthy you would get sitting out in the open!

Although I cannot check my trail cameras back at home, I can check the ones they have around here. Here are a few of the more interesting ones; mostly catching some yellow-headed blackbirds in flight, which is really cool, but that last one with the deer in the foreground and the pheasant on the fencepost, looks like it comes right out of a Redlin or Kouba painting! 

In the 'pictures from home category', I have a few. There is a squirrel that terrorizes the girls almost every day. You say the word "squirrel" in our house and both of the dogs immediately jump to their feet and run to the door. The squirrel is usually long gone from the bird feeder by the time the girls get there but this week, for the first time, they were fast enough to trap this squirrel on the feeder post! That poor thing did not know what to do!

It sat on top of that post for a minute or so before launching itself at the nearest tree, which was much too far for it to actually make it. It hit the ground with all four of its feet spinning, making it to safety just ahead of the dogs. I bet it won't make that mistake again!

Barb also painted the door going into the garage. Frankly, I never thought of even painting it, but it does look much better! Now if she would only grout the stone.....

She also did me a favor by going to our local liquor store on Allocation Day to get me a hard-to-find bottle of bourbon. Once a month, the liquor store owner takes all of his hard-to-get bottles and puts them out. This is known as Allocation Day. He posts on Facebook what he is going to put out and they are available on a first-come-first-serve basis, limit 1 bottle. Barb got there about 6:20 in the morning and she was 23rd in line waiting for the 7:00 opening. People had their chairs set up, one guy even brought his Blackstone and was cooking people breakfast! See that kid in the baby stroller? Nothing like family day at the local liquor store! I wonder if the baby was able to get a bottle as well?!!? 

I gave her a list in order of which bottle I would like. When it was her turn, my top 10 were gone, but she did score on this bottle of Bookers!

But this ordeal cost me a lot more than the cost of the bourbon. She liked the idea of a Blackstone so much, she went and bought one!

This caught my eye as I walked by the chicken coop. I had heard about the tragedy when the dogs got into the chicken coop killing every single one of them, but I did not know that Gavin (10) insisted on putting up a cross as a memorial. It is hard to read but the writing says: Maple, Brighten, Chuckles, Meadowlark, Speedy, Scardy Cat, Clucker, Blacky, Snowman and the other 9. Tragic, but cute.

All of that and I have not even gotten to the biggest news of the week. Chris and Holly got a brand-new baby this week! By "got" I mean "had" and by "brand-new baby", I mean Ms. Tessa Mae, coming in at 6lbs-6oz. It was a scheduled delivery so at least they got to plan for it. Check out the boys shirts.

Holly absolutely would not allow me to take a picture of her, even before Tessa was born! Baby #4 for these two. Here is the thing about Tessa, she is only the 2nd female baby in the Sobieck family in a couple of generations. Bob S. (Chris's dad) came from a family of 4 boys, and he is the only one (and now Chris) to have a baby girl! Their lives have changed for sure, no more restful nights for them for a while. Chris took an afternoon off the day before she was born and a couple days after, but now he is back at it! 

I'll leave you with this picture of Dylan eating a donut. Do you think anyone else was interested in this donut? This picture is so cute, even Harry would love it!

Chapter 2

A continuation of our saga from last month. If you missed the first chapter, you can read it here.

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 “He’s gone!”, Detective Olivieri said as she burst through the front door of their home in Horace, North Dakota.

 It was Wednesday, Detective Olivieri had just gotten done with her shift at the Fargo Police Department to find her lazy ass husband half asleep on the couch looking at cartoons on his phone. ‘Anime’ he calls it. Waste of time if you ask me, he should be mowing the lawn or getting thing ready in the soup trailer.

 An Orange cat lays next to him, Taco, apparently enjoying the lazy afternoon, Two peas in a pod, she thinks. From overhead she hears a growl. That would be Beav, short for Beaver the ornery cat that terrorizes anyone who visits and gnaws on anything in sight.

“Who’s gone?” he replies.

“The Hater! Someone posted his bail and he just disappeared! Now he’ll never be brought to justice for all the atrocities he has committed on dogs.”

“You want to talk about atrocities, I ran out of beer today, had to go down to the Walmart and buy my own cube!”

The detective then goes to the fridge, pulls out a day-old Cheesy Sasquatch left over the last weekend’s trailer sales and warms it up in the microwave. “What happened to all the aluminum cans in the garage?”, she asks. “Took them into the recycler and cashed them all in, and don’t be asking me for no money, I done already spent it”.

Same old story, rather than arguing with him, she goes into the bedroom and starts a bath. She then heads off to bed, leaving him on the couch.

Meanwhile, just miles away a dark figure is hiding in the bushes near a popular dog park. He takes careful aim at what looks to be a mini-dachshund and fires. The little guy squeals as the hidden figure chuckles and reloads his weapon.

 Detective Olivieri  is greeted the next morning by Chief Roche. He is wearing a coffee-stained Oilers jersey. “Who are the Oilers playing tonight?” asks Olivieri. He always wears the damn jersey on game days. So much for professionalism she thinks. “Those damn Canucks” Roche replies. “Those west coasters think they are so much better than us, hell, they would not even be able to function if it wasn’t for the oil we pump in their direction”. 

Just then, Roche’s wife Leslie bops into the office carrying a brown paper bag with Roche’s name on it. “You forgot your lunch again this morning Dear”, she says. Her pigtailed hair bouncing as she bounces in wearing her usual attire. Short shorts and an Oilers halter top. A cross between Daisy Duke and Betty Crocker, Leslie is always doting on Roche. “I made you your favorite; a peanut butter sandwich and a can of Rig-hand Red”.

 It made Olivieri sick how Leslie waits on Roche hand and foot, making him breakfast, lunch and supper every day. But she can almost see why she does it, he is a big hunk of man, and her mind wanders every time she sees him. If her husband, Dino, showed the smallest amount of ambition, she too might dote over him a little more. But the only ambition he can muster is reaching his grotesquely disfigured hand down into the cooler next to the couch. Those hands, she shudders every time she sees them. Then she looks at Chief Roche's hands. So strong, so masculine, her mind starts to wander again. 

 “The Colibaba’s are coming over for the game tonight", Leslie says. "I am making Yorkshire pudding cups”. 

Upon hearing his name, Officer Colibaba comes into the room. “Take that damn Cancucks jersey off”, Roche yells at him. Ignoring him, Colibaba says, “Di received four reports of dogs being shot last night, sounds like The Hater is still in the area”. “Any fatalities?” Olivieri asks. “No, the dogs are all alright, just a little shaken up. He seems to be using some sort of nonlethal weapon”.  

Splitting up, Roche, Colibaba and Olivieri all head over to the various scenes of the shootings.  After thoroughly scouring the scenes, they reconvene back at the department several hours later and compare notes.

Roche starts the meeting by saying "Give me a briefing on what you found". Colibaba goes first "It was easy enough to find where The Hater hid in the bushes. The guy is an ogre of a man, it is hard to miss. Several Yuengling caps laying in the dirt at the site of the shooting". Colibaba then lays out several photos of the scene, his smiling face on every one of them. "Colibaba, how many times do I have to tell you, not to do selfies when photographing evidence?" "I can't help it", he replies, "It is the only way I know how to take pictures."

"Detective, what do you have?" "I took two crime scenes, both pretty much the same, the Yuengling caps and a big depression where The Hater sat before shooting the dogs." "Here's the strange thing", she says, "There were Yuengling caps at the spot where the dogs were hit, my guess is that The Hater is flicking the caps at the dogs as they walk by." "Fits The Haters profile," Roche says "he is a beer snob, and he does come from Pennsylvania."

Roche continued, "My scene was a little different than yours, same M.O., but my scene had Busch Light bottle caps both at the ambush site and where the dog was hit, either The Hater ran out of money and went to bottom shelf beer or he has an accomplice". 

Hearing this Olivieri quickly stated that she had to go, and rushed out of the briefing room, into her squad car, arriving at her home minutes later. No one was home. Something was nagging at her. Something she saw last night but did not register at the time. She tore through the house searching, drawers, under the bed, in the garage, nothing. Then she saw it. The kitchen trash can was empty with a fresh bag in it. He would never do something like that unless he was trying to hide something. She rushed out to the garage and started going through the large garbage can. Ripping open the bag on top, its contents spilled onto the floor. There on the floor, amongst the regular garbage were several Busch Light and Yuengling bottles. Her hand went to her face, and she gasped as she saw the other two items in there. Packages. Empty packages. The outside of them plain as day had the words; Bottle Cap Shooting Gun, Fun for the Whole Family. 

Seeing this, the room started to spin, she was feeling light-headed, then everything went black. 

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That concludes chapter 2. Is Dino really involved in the shootings? Did he team up with The Hater? Stay tuned for the next chapter of our ongoing saga. 

But first, let me introduce you to the cast of characters. The story was inspired by actual events and actual people (and pets).  Many of you do not know the characters of this story. Consider yourself lucky. For the rest of you, who do know them. My condolences. 

First up is Steve, the forensics expert and his lovely wife Dianne, our dispatcher. I will not tell you which part of their story was inspired by actual events, but here is a selfie of them that I recently received. 

Then there are the Roche's. Again, lovely people with a love for all things beer and hockey. As long as it includes the Oilers. First up Barb and Leslie, followed by Chief Roche wearing his game day uniform. 

The Hater and his poor wife Vicki who he left at home while on this cross-country rampage. Those of you who know him, know I speak nothing but the truth in my descriptions of him. He may try to fool you with the fact that he has had dogs all his life and appeared to love them, but do not let that fool you.

Beer snob Harry, showing off and protecting his beer collection. 

Our ever-vigilant Detective Olivieri. Never leaving a stone unturned, she always seeks the truth. Here she is trying to get to the bottom of an appetizer platter. 

Lisa and Barb, back in the day, enjoying a refreshing beverage. 

Beav. Probably the orneriest cat I've ever met. 

Last but not least, Dino, our apparent accomplice in these dastardly deeds. Nothing I write about him is an exaggeration. I have multiple pictures to prove it! This first one includes his cat Taco. Below that one is Dino posing with an anime magazine in a Mexican convenience store. 

These last two pictures further prove my point. Here is Dino at Christmas getting everything he asked Santa for. The next picture is a few hours later. 

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!