Harvesting

 One cool, brisk morning in the field, our  #1 cart operator thought we needed something hot to drink.  She put in a call to Faire Coffee and Emily was gracious enough to deliver lattes to the field.

As we were finishing one field last week, the local wildlife put on a show for us.  There was a bald eagle that sat on a fence post off and on during the afternoon and watched us.  A couple of hawks circled overhead waiting for the rabbits to get chased out.  I watched one dive bomb a rabbit at the edge of the field, but he couldn't get it carried away.  There were also a couple of coyotes running in and out of the corn catching rabbits.  As I was finishing one land, I was pushing several rabbits ahead of me.  A coyote was a hundred feet ahead of me in the corn rows, staring me down, waiting for the rabbits to run into him.  But, as the combine got closer, he chickened out and would back off another hundred feet and turn and face the combine again waiting for the rabbits.  This happened several times before one of the rabbits darted out of the land to one side and the coyote was quickly on it.

We had one day that produced a light dusting on snow.  We shut down for the day, not wanting the combine problems we had last year with snow.

Harvest is just about wrapped up.  We have one field of replanted soybeans left, and a few acres of replanted corn that will top off the bins.  We should be done before Election Day, Lord willing.

And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.

Matthew 10:42

Wagon

 The oldest farmer and my mother lived on a rental farm when they were first married.  The landlord built a new house for them that was finished shortly after the wedding.  They lived there until 1960 (ten years) when the landlord kicked them off of the farm.  Mrs. Hooten told dad that the reason was because he had too many sows on the farm.  I think he had 10 or 11, while she only allowed him half that.  Mom thinks it was because by then they had four kids and she was worried that that many kids would destroy her house.  Whatever the reason, my grandparents moved to a farm near Deer Creek so that my parents could move to the home place.  Grandpa farmed a couple more years until he retired and had an auction.

The Rokey family moved up to the Goodfield area from Sabetha Kansas in '60 or '61 and old John Rokey attended my grandpa's farm auction in January of '62.  He bought one of grandpa's flare box wagons.

John (the 2nd) owns a bucket truck that I have the privilege to rent when I need to get high, safely, and before harvest I used it for a day.  We had been visiting earlier and he told me he still had my grandpa's wagon in an old barn, and asked me if I was interested in it.  He pulled it out for me to see and I jumped at the chance to buy it.  He was even very generous with the price, especially since it had sentimental value to me.

After being gone sixty years, the old wagon has come back home!

I am not exactly sure what I am going to do with it after I clean it up.  I was a little worried what the old farmers wife would think of my purchase, but she actually liked it, and was thinking of ways she could use it as a decoration on the farm.  I think it will look good behind her dad's John Deere 60 that we own.

Now thou art commanded, this do ye; take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.

Genesis 45:19

Fortunate

 The good news is, I missed the mailbox.

The day started off pretty nice.  We had a good frost overnight, but it was clear and sunny with a slight breeze. It looked like we would be able to cut some beans once the sun dried things up.  We were able to start combining at noon.  The moisture tester in the combine had been acting up all last week and the mechanic had tried to fix it.  It still was acting up, so he showed up shortly after we started, to replace it with a new one.  It took longer than expected to replace it because the software also needed to be updated, but he finally had us up and running with a properly operating tester.  Cousin Virg and Darin stopped by with a snack (cheese, of course) and then Darin rode with me in the combine and my brother gave Virg auger cart lessons.  About the time they needed to leave, the sickle broke, so they helped us remove the broken one and put the new one in.  We finished the dry soybeans in that field and trucked the head down the road to the next field.  The field entrance is on the East side of the old McClallen house, and there was an already harvested field on the West side of the old McClallen house, so we decided to put the head back on in the empty field.  Once the head was reinstalled, I just had to drive a block down the road (with a 30 ft. head that takes up all of the road) in front of the house and into the field driveway.  There is a electric pole directly across from the house's mailbox.  Apparently about 32 feet apart.  I slowed down to a creep and tried to slip between.

The bad news is, I bumped the pole.

The pole snapped off about ten feet above the ground and fell across the platform.  Some wires draped over the combine, some snapping.  There was a temporary spark show in front of me on the platform.  The road was blocked, and everyone living along our road lost power.  There was a mixture of dread, humility, and thankfulness.  My brother was following in the pickup and quickly called in the emergency.  I stayed put in the cab, not knowing if any of the lines were still hot.  The fire trucks and rescue trucks showed up first, followed by the Ameren crews.  Once they had the line grounded at the end  of the road, I was allowed to leave the combine.  It wasn't a very heavy pole, and they were able to lift the pole off of the head without any further damage, clear away the wires, and give me the go-a-head to extract the combine.  I was able to back out of the spot and down the road to where I had started from.  We started up the machine and fortunately everything worked normally.  There are some scratches, some broken reel fingers, and a bent reel pipe, but no major damage!  We called it quits for the night, and an hour after I was home, the power came back on.

I'm feeling fortunate and thankful.

It is the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22,23