Dogs

We finished harvest a week and a half ago.  It went much smoother than some.  I think we went six weeks without any major rain delays, and our breakdowns were minimal.  We had near record corn yields, and the highest whole farm soybean yield ever.  

The one breakdown that I thought would be major was when the lower gearbox on the combine unloading auger went out.  It was late afternoon and I called the service manager at the dealership.  At first he said I should drive it all the way to the dealership to work on it in the shop.  I didn't want to do that, so I talked him into having a mechanic stop by yet that evening to look at it.  He showed up around 6:30 and determined what parts he would need.  At 9:00 the next morning he was in the yard with all the parts, and by noon we were running.  I figured they wouldn't have all the parts, and that we would be down a couple days!  A very pleasant surprise indeed.  The bad news was that the parts alone cost $3500, then with service call and labor the total came to over $5000!  Right after harvest I decided to replace all of the snapping rolls.  That was another $13,000 expense.  

On our 1 hour, 40 minute drive home from our farthest away farm, we were treated to this view, which looked like the sky was on fire.

One day during harvest, the neighbors were contacting each other because two Great Pyrenees dogs had gotten away from the owner and were roaming.  My brother and nephew were back at the farm loading a steer to take to the locker, and the dogs were around the buildings.  They shut them in my barn until John could get them after work.

Most of the grandkids were able to ride with me on the combine this fall.  We've done a lot of babysitting this fall which has been fun.  Including keeping four for a whole weekend.  That brought back memories of raising our own four kids, but we have much less energy now!  I forgot what it was like to get four young kids ready for church on Sunday morning, but we made it on time!

One afternoon last week when I was doing tillage, there were two dogs bedded down in an adjacent field.  I tried to get close to them a couple times, but they would bark at me and move away.  I didn't see any collars on them.  The neighbors again were communicating as several others had seen them roaming the area for a day.  Towards evening neighbor Brent went out to the field and tried to take them some water.  They went on the move and he followed awhile, but lost them in the dark.  The next morning the County Animal Control was out looking for them, but I think they were out of the area.  We probably won't ever know if someone was missing them or if someone dumped them in the country to get rid of them. 

Last Saturday night we attended my 50 year class reunion!  It was held in Doug's Singing Shed, which was not a very far drive.  It was a really nice venue, much nicer than my shed.  Less than a quarter of my class was in attendance. We really enjoyed catching up with each other, and remembering and retelling stories.  It is hard to believe that much time has passed and I was surprised at all the old people there!  Earlier this fall we also attended the old farmer's wife's 50th class reunion in Gridley.  She had a much smaller class and I know several of them, so I enjoyed that too.

And ye shall be holy men unto me: neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field; ye shall cast it to the dogs.                                                Exodus 22:31