Finishing up....

We've been in a big push to finish the corn and Grassy and I were both called into service when Bruce moved to the Ehlers farm on Friday. We had to haul wagons about 3 miles home so it was going to take both of us to keep him going.

This is Bruce's dream, Grassy was unloading the wetter corn into the drying bin (above) and I'm unloading the dry corn into another bin. He is the happiest when he is juggling at least three things at once, that used to drive his father crazy.

On Thursday we saw smoke billowing to the south of us and knew it was not good, this combine started on fire and it spread to the field of unharvested corn.....

....that makes our old combine, put out of commission by a fire in the motor, look pretty good. We think the insurance company is leaning toward putting a new motor in rather than total it out.

When we pulled it away from the bean head, bean stalks were stuck, making it look like the emoticon with 'Blah' coming out. It looks lonely out in the middle of the field, waiting for the final verdict. I can tell it doesn't want to end up at the combine graveyard.

"I can be useful again, I promise!"

We three worked all day and into the night, then Bruce and I were up at 4:30 AM on Saturday to finish unloading wagons before heading off to the annual Viking weekend in MN. Dennis and Debbie from WI met us at Bruce's sister, Carol's and hubby, Tom's house. Of course the first thing we did was go out to eat at our favorite sports bar and restaurant. Niece, Katelyn, who is going to school in MN met us, we ate, drank and were very merry.

 Then we all went back to the house where most of us fell into a stupor brought on by too much food. We went to bed early, the BIG GAME was Sunday and Viking Fans were off to the stadium,  convinced that this was the year for a VICTORY!!!

Tom and I, along with his faithful dog, as long as she is on a leash, Tinker, went for a walk, it was a beautiful day.

The fall colors are spectacular and were duly admired.

Back at the house, Tom and I caught up to the game and indeed, they were VICTORIOUS!!! Smiles all around from the returning faithful fans. They sang the Viking song with gusto, then came in the house and fell ravenously on the food that Carol had prepared and I warmed up.

Carol shows off her new Viking tattoo, she gets one every year but this one was much larger.

We hated to eat and leave but the farm called, there was still corn to be combined, arriving home about 9:30 PM after being stuck in a traffic jam on 169. How do people drive in that traffic every day?

Monday morning came too early but this was to be the day we would finish!! YEAH!! I shouldn't even complain, by the time I called Bruce to see where he was, he'd been to Ehlers, combined a load of corn and was back at the farm.

 I took my coffee to go and went to unload  while Bruce finished his chores, the cows were gathered by the gate, waiting for some silage. 

 By that time, Grassy had arrived and we all took tractors and wagons to Ehlers, where Brandon, our crop insurance guy, brought us all a tasty lunch to the field.

What a deal!! But did he think that we will expect that every year now??

Grassy was gone unloading and I was riding in the combine with Bruce, every time he unloaded from the combine into a wagon, he exclaimed over the corn. But it is beautiful, isn't it?

We did finish, filled all the bins with one big wagon left over that Bruce put in our shed, waiting to be hauled to the ethanol plant later. Grassy went home, Bruce took the baler to the corn field and I went home to the gazebo with my book, after all, Zoe had not had her gazebo time while we were in MN and she expects it every day.

And I can't disappoint my Zoe.

One of the top ten reasons NOT to visit the emergency room....

cold sores!

There I was, one week ago, sure that the news was dire, but I should start at the beginning.

Nearly two weeks ago Bruce and I were riding to MN with Janet and Gerald to a funeral visitation when I felt, what I thought was a pimple, beginning on the side of my nose.

WHAT THE HEY???? At what age is there a moratorium on pimples?? It's just darned embarrassing, especially there, for all the world to see. To make matters worse, another erupted under my nose, great! As the week wore on, the 'pimple' on the side of my nose turned into a sore so I found some antibiotic cream in the medicine cabinet and started doctoring it to no avail. Every morning I got up and looked in the mirror, only to see it looking worse and worse and it was very painful. Friday morning was the final straw, my nose was red and swollen, I looked like Rudolph's little sister and made an appointment with my ARNP, Judy. She took one look at it and shook her head, she said the nose is a really bad place and she wanted me to see a dermatologist, that is when I let the panic that had been building all week, take root.

I knew it, it was skin cancer. Family was home for the Big G's 75th birthday party on Saturday and were going out to eat at Germantown, one of my favorite places but I was in no mood to be around people. And I couldn't get in to the dermatologist for 10 days, more time to fret and worry.

Saturday morning I got up, looked in the mirror at my red, swollen nose and saw a new place under my lip and really freaked. I called Bruce, he came home, took one look at me and said, "You need to go to the Emergency Room."  I did not argue. I dressed and drove down, promising to call him as soon as I heard anything.

Dr. Harrison was my former GP, she sold her practice and went to work in the Emergency Room and she was on call. After lots of paper work and questions and waiting, Dr. Harrison walked in my room, looked at me and said, "Fever Blisters!"

 FEVER BLISTERS??? 

After I picked myself up off the floor, I realized that they acted exactly like cold sores, the breaking out, the pain, the oozing but never on the side of my nose, what's up with that? Plus Bruce and I had both had a bad case of what I fondly referred to as the crud. Mine hung on and on, I was run down and that is when the virus attacks. 

Dr. Harrison gave me some high powered pills to stop the current eruptions, I had to let the others run the course and one week later my nose no longer looks like I've been on a month long bender but I'm left with a big, ugly scab that makes people politely avert their eyes.One thing I have noticed is no one comments on it, unlike if I had my arm or leg bandaged and gimped around, everyone would ask what I did. A huge sore on my nose, the lip is zipped! It's kind of funny, For me it was a huge relief, cold sores, who'd a thunk??? 

We went off to Foof's birthday party with a light heart, I chattered away in the car and finally asked Bruce, "Can you tell I'm relieved??" Yes, he could tell.

FEVER BLISTERS????? It's darned embarrassing!!

"They know my voice"....

I've always loved this bible verse: John 10:27,

'My sheep cows hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow me."

It fits perfectly as I watch Bruce stand on the hill of the pasture and call his herd of cows, "C'm Boss, C'm Boss."

They hear his voice and they come.....but it helps that there is a combined field behind him and they know it's time to escape the pasture and go on a treasure hunt to find the elusive corn that fell in the dirt.

Bruce always bales a lot of cornstalks to use for feed and bedding in the winter and he decided, belatedly, to bale the field that the cows were now in. Cows like nothing better than a cornstalk bale to rub and bunt around but Bruce didn't think they would pay attention to him. 

He was wrong, the cattle were drawn to the big round bales popping out of the back of the baler and immediately surrounded the bales. Bruce had to leave his baling and drive them away before they could destroy any. Zoe and I were snoozing in the gazebo, isn't that what you are supposed to do on a warm Sunday afternoon, when the phone rang. 

"Will you come help me pick up bales while we still have some to pick up?"

The cows had pretty much tired of the novelty but Louie, the head bull, was going from bale to bale, rubbing and butting. He managed to tear off some of the net wrap before we rescued them and hauled them to the field by the bins where they are stored for the winter.

Next spring when the last ones are removed, the dogs will be called into rat duty, they move in and build condos for the winter.

I was laying in the grass trying to get shots of the Little Red Hen family and it's not easy with a look like this!

"What do you want NOW???"

I bribed her with some left over popcorn so that got me back in her good graces.

The chicks are starting to grow into their feathers, the chick on the right definitely is going to be a frizzle like her mother.

I haven't decided the parentage of the two yellow ones but they are now getting brown feathers.

We have some hawks migrating through so the little red hen keeps her eye on the sky.

And then Mollie and Murphy discovered me laying in the grass and I was mobbed, photo shoot over.

Hawks got nothing on two exuberant collies.

A week in review

A lot has happened since the phone call from Bruce one week ago about the combine fire, we've spent a lot of money, traveled a lot of miles, and sweated bullets trying to retrofit our aging cornhead to fit the beautiful new combine.

Kind of looks like poor relation mounted on it but it works well.

But first news from the coop, the Serama romantic triangle turned into the band of four when the little hen from last year joined Larry the third and his two women on their high perch. Larry took to her.

"Hey, Sweet Thing!"

But the girls did not put up with that and the next night, she was kicked back to the outside.

"Beat it, hussy!"

Monday morning, with Grassy's help, Bruce and I started the weaning process by inserting the plastic, Quiet Wean, tags into the calves noses.

"This really sucks!"

They do not appreciate the hard yellow plastic tags that prevent them from nursing, cutting the bond between their mothers.

They huff and puff and toss their head, but the tags stay put.

I bought hunting vests for the dogs to try and control the amount of number of stick tights and burdock that ends up lodged in their coats. Mollie was not sure she liked it but Murphy took to her's right away, raising her paws when I bring them out, ready to get dressed. I was just sorry they didn't have pink camo for my girls, but I did get them from a Hunting Dog website, I guess hunters don't go for such foolishness.

We finally got the new combine home from Tom's Repair late Tuesday afternoon, with only 2 1/2 rounds of beans at the Ehlers farm, Bruce was anxious to finish. But it was a learning experience as this combine has so many more bells and whistles. I was in the companion seat trying to make sense of the huge book with Bruce asking me what 'this' and 'that', pointing to monitors on the control panel.

I didn't end up being a lot of help but I was there for moral support as he figured out all the icons and finished the field.

Bruce had to retrofit the combine to the corn head, it was another trip to ICON at Paullina and shelled out more $$$$$ for a magic box of everything he needed. If it was only that easy. Nothing fit, Bruce cut and drilled, welded and screwed, bolting things on and taking things off to refit. I again wasn't much help, I could hold stuff but I was mainly there for moral support.

I don't know how he figured it all out but late in the evening, just as it was getting dark, the worst was over. Bruce quit for the night and finished the odds and ends on Thursday morning and soon it was ready for the maiden voyage!!

Excitement abounds!!

It works!!!

Great joy spread throughout the Kingdom!!

What a beautiful machine!

My farmer loves his new machine.

It gobbles up the corn....

....but where deer trampled wide swathes, it still plugged up.

Darn deer!

It's fun to sit in the seat and see the corn pour into the bin through the back window.

Bruce's good buddy, Grassy, showed up to help, he kept me from having to run to try and keep up. He also had an update on all the rumors flying around, one that made us laugh was that the "Deal fell through, Bruce didn't get the combine!" We have no idea where that would have come from but that is small town living, everyone knows your business. That can also be a blessing so we don't take offense.

Our neighboring farmers moved into their corn field and when I looked at our field with the three of us, a combine, two tractors and five wagons, I thought we were just like the Pruntys.

Except that they had two combines, two semis and two big grain carts, other than that we were exactly alike.

We filled the drying bin in one short day, actually we overfilled the bin and had to take some out, I guess I better keep a closer eye on it from now on, Bruce had to pull a wagon load back out but no one was hurt. It was time to head home for a shower and a bite to eat before bed.

I shut up the chicken house, my war on rats has either eradicated the scurvy vermin or greatly diminished them but I don't take any chances with the baby chicks. One little girl was peeking out from under her mother who was giving me the stink eye. 

I have started letting them free range in the afternoons when I decided I could trust Murphy. Last year she killed some of my chicks so I was very hesitant this year. She seems to have grown up a lot and pays absolutely no attention to them. Last year she got her butt paddled if I caught her in the coop but she has proved her worth with the rat infestation and has killed some in there. I've watched Murphy go in, check for rats, and come right back out.

It's a beautiful Friday afternoon, the sun is out, the sky is blue with puffy clouds, it's a great day to be a farmer. I had some errands to run so Grassy was called into service again. Don't tell Bruce but I'm getting a little spoiled. So I better get my work clothes out and head to the field, over and out!

It's good to be farming

Fall is the culmination of all Bruce's hard work throughout the year, the weather and commodity prices are out of his control but he uses technology to try and level the playing field. Last fall I wasn't up to helping with harvest but he had his good buddy, Grassy, who stepped in and did all the hauling. Our elevator built a new dump pit last year and I got to use it for the first time this year and it's pretty neat! 

They know who you are and what you have on.

They tell you which pit to use....

....Pit #2 is the new one and there is so much room, in the old cement silo with our big wagons there is only inches on each side for clearance. 

I LOVE pit #2!

Back at the scale after weighing in, a little scale ticket pops out of the 'toll booth', Janet is smart, she uses her grabber to take the ticket and doesn't even have to leave the tractor.

With my luck I would lose the ticket and it would fall into the pit under the scale.

I hauled a few loads to town and then who should come riding to the rescue??

Grassy!! He decided things were getting boring in Meriden so he came to help.

To reward him for his good help, he gets a picnic supper while he is unloading beans at home.

To find Bruce to deliver his picnic supper, I looked for a dust cloud in the field, it's a dirty job but luckily he is tucked away in the combine cab.

He smiles, there is a hamburger sitting there with his name on it.

You might ask what I did with all my free time, I canned 11 quarts of pears that the neighbor gifted us, it only took me three days.

Betty Crocker I am not.

Then I cleaned up my kitchen, which took one whole afternoon, it looked like a bomb went off.

When it is extremely dry and dusty, farmers must be vigilant to prevent combine fires from accumulated trash.

Bruce learned the hard way to be extra vigilant when the combine caught fire in the field, he was lucky and caught it early, emptied a fire extinguisher on it and put it out. He was able to drive it back to the farm where he power washed it and waited for Tom's Repair to come put it back into peak running condition.

Nate got him up and going the next day and Bruce and Grassy finished at home, he thoroughly washed the combine before going to the Ehler's farm. We felt extremely lucky, it could have worse, if he had stayed late in the field the night before, it would have happened then and been much harder to fight it in the dark. He caught it early so there wasn't a lot of damage.

Yes, it could always be worse.....and it was. He was 2 1/2 rounds from finishing at Ehlers when it caught fire again and did a lot of damage. Too much damage for Nate to fix, it will have to have a new motor to run again and for a 25 year old machine, it didn't make much sense.

So after the shock wore off and Bruce slept on it, he was up at 4 AM Saturday, trolling the internet for another combine and found one at Boyden. At 7:30 AM he rolled me out of bed and away we went.

He's kicking the tires and looking under the panels of this beautiful machine....

...made the guy an offer he didn't refuse and he was off, smiling from ear to ear.

It was a long, slow trip to Tom's Repair, which is right on the way home, where we left the combine so Paul can work his magic to make everything fit on the bean head that we have. Bruce and I had to run home, separate the dead combine from the head, which was much easier said than done, load it on the trailer to take back to Tom's Repair, then drive on north to Luvern, MN to get the parts for Paul so he could keep working.

By the time we got back home, we were both pooped, a lot of emotion and stress in the last 24 hours was telling on both of us. I was so appreciative of our neighbor, Jade, who left us a chili supper in the fridge the night before, no cooking and off to bed.

Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest and it was, with no combine, but that wasn't all bad. Bruce got to rest up and watch football, we started the corn stove and built a fire in the wood stove, it was down to 62 degrees in here this morning, it was cold!

Tomorrow is the start of another busy week, we are going to do the first step in weaning the calves in the morning, with Grassy's help, and hopefully have a combine tomorrow afternoon.

Several years ago when Bruce bought the 9400 John Deere, he said, "This should last me the rest of my farming days."

I don't think he is going to tempt fate by saying that again about this one.

What's this going on in the coop?

If you are a regular reader, you know about the romantic trysts that go in the coop, at night Larry the 3rd squires his two little ladies to a roost high above the other chickens, I've never been there to see the actual flight but they must have good navigation to keep from bonking their heads on the roof.

Or perhaps they have.

Last winter we had a falling out, a lovers spat, differences between sisters? Whatever the reason, one chose to distance herself from the other two.

 Larry the 3rd must have brokered a peace treaty and since positioned himself between the warring factions.

Last summer the little red hen hatched a Serama chick and was foster mother to the four Wyandotte pullets, the five hung together all summer and roosted together at night. Lately I've found the little Serama by herself during the day but still hanging with her foster sisters at night. Since the invasion of the rats, I've been very diligent about counting heads at night to make sure no one was missing.

Last night she wasn't with her sisters and, after searching the coop, getting ready to interrogate the dogs, I looked up. 

Larry the 3rd's little harem is growing but will the other two little women accept her?

It's a soap opera around here, I will keep you updated.