poor farmer/logger

Some guys still trying to do their first cut here. Sandier land that didn’t grow much all summer now has a little bit of growth finally. Not sure how it will winter being cut so late though.

Well today was a bit of a interesting day and not in a good way. Kind of started out last night in a way. Clipped a moose or horse on my way home from the field with my duramax. No real damage thankfully. It came up on the road last minute in the dust at about 11:00 last night. Hit the brakes and swerved last minute. Could just hear a slight thump. Hit my bumper and pushed it in a little bit. Fast forward to this morning and we were nicely getting set up for the day. I hadn’t been out yet and sad was just getting ready to go out the door. I could hear this noise rev up east of the house. Sounded like someone driving by. Went and looked and I could see this blue cloud of smoke. Peeled out the front window and here’s a police Yukon suv parked. They were out and on the move already. I went back to the kitchen window and pointed opened it and said look south. Some little ******* had run off on them in I assume what was a stolen vehicle. They dumped it just east of our place and ran across the field into our yard. Cops said were chaising a guy that has a gun so stay in the house. I asked if he wanted me to put the drone up but he declined. Hung around for a few minutes and the cruiser left the yard in a hurry. Killed a half a hour or so then went and unloaded the semi. I decided to hop on my quad and go take a look around. Another Yukon was parked just past the corner and a tow truck was there so I went to see what was up. They’d caught them all by them and found the gun. They’d dumped it on the road just a little further east again. Everything settled back down after that again. Don’t exactly need that kind of bs to wake up to though that’s for sure. Got some more canola off today and filled the rest of my bins so it was a kind of early finish for the evening. Have a load on ready to go to the elevator in the morning. Price isn’t great but I don’t exactly want to buy another bin either.

Got done the straight cutting yesterday. Got moved out to my swathed canola this morning and started making some headway on it. Had a spreader drive bearing go out this evening so hot crap down for a bit. Had a good old bearing in the cab so I got it tore apart but my absent mind took the pulley off not thinking. Shaft was flared a bit so I had to clean it up. Didn’t have to the tools with me so I’ll have to finish that job in the morning. It’s all back together otherwise though just need to put the pulley back on. Canola has been yielding pretty good so I’m happy about that. Too soon to know what the swathed stuff will do but I got 55 out of the straight cut stuff. Best over ever done and more then I thought it would do judging by the stand. It was fairly short but bloomed a long time. Hopefully my swathed stuff gets close to 50. It has some poorer spots and that green piece that I haven’t even swathed yet. Taking the swather over tomorrow I think to nock it down. It’s turning now. Not a lot in the pods though unfortunately. Thankfully it’s only 5 or so acres.

What’s the moisture for rice coming out of the field like that? Looks like tough chewing alright. Bet it takes lots of hp.

Morning started out looking rough. Drove the combine to the field and had rain drops on the window. Thankfully the stuff that the radar showed this morning missed us. Managed to go till about 5:00 and the rain finally caught up with me. Had it come by within a mile or so a couple times but managed to keep going. Last time it opened up and poured down for a minute or two. I was trying to fill up the hopper and was off back on a small field doing the first round. Unfortunately didn’t get back to my opening cut before I wrapped up the pea auger with straw. Hopper was full by then anyways but I had to backtrack back to the road. Felt different to be siting at the table at supper time lol.

Doesn’t take long to shine them up that’s for sure. Floor on that header is in pretty rough shape though in a couple spots. Should be replaced but I’d like to find a newer platform with pickup to replace the whole thing.

Well we’re on the home stretch now. Close to 3/4 done. Going to straight cut my canola that I sprayed a whole back tomorrow. Had a look at it tonight and it’s good a ripe now. Some is actually way to dry I’m afraid but it is what it is. Actually wouldn’t feel bad if it rained a little bit overnight or tomorrow morning. Could use a break anyways lol. Canola On our north quarter yielded pretty good. It almost averaged 55. Just a little bit short. Still the best we’ve ever had regardless though. Ironically on our poorest quarter lol. It’s not as bad on that side of the field but still has a fair bit of sand running through it so it just shows how much yield we could’ve had at home if we’d had the rain when we needed it. It’s not quite all done yet so not positive what the yield will be but thinking in the 45-50 range. Mines up in the air yet. Hoping to get surprised in a good way as the other canola yielded a little better then I thought it would so hopefully that trend continues. I wouldn’t complain if I ran out of bin space. Lol.

Well the cereals are all done now. Finished up the last little patches of barley this afternoon. Spent the later part of the afternoon going over the combine and servicing it. It needed a oil change a few little things addressed. Hopefully get going on canola tomorrow and maybe make up some lost time if things go smoothly. Shouldn’t have to haul any more grain into the elevator so that frees up a few hours of the day. Water pump went out on the combine the other day so had to run to Melfort late afternoon and grab one. Easy repair at least. Not quite half done yet. After tomorrow maybe, depends how the day goes.

Well few more Smokey days here again. Was really bad for a couple days. Today it cleared up real nice for a change. Had a little set back tonight while combining though. Got out of the combine and could hear wheat raining down. First thought it was the overfull hopper but not so lucky. Found a hole in the hopper under the unload cross auger. Not sure if it was plugged up with dirt before and started to leak or if it’s new. Pretty sure it wasn’t that big before so thinking something broke through but don’t know for sure. Have to rig up some kind of patch tomorrow I guess and look for a liner kit later on again. Couple options in the states but haven’t found anything locally at all. Wheat is about half done now. Barley is basically all done. Have about 4 acres left that I need to swath yet. Canola is all swathed except for what I sprayed so hopefully it will be ready by next Monday. That will be 2 weeks. Stuff at home would likely go by the end of the week but don’t want to push it either. Little rain wouldn’t hurt. Talking a slight chance tomorrow but nothing for sure. Wheats running decent for the year. Seems to be around that 50-60 bpa. Considering our best average is 71 I’m happy with that. Barley was only about 65. Grade isn’t great but it should make a #3 yet. Haven’t hauled any in yet. It’s not quite dry either but it will keep for a while anyways. Coming off around 15-16. Was unloading the semi this afternoon and heard this awful racket. Thought something was coming apart on the auger for a second lol. Quickly realized it was the spray plane going across the road. Got out in time to see him buzz the church and make a couple more passes.

Finished up my canola yesterday afternoon aside from those green patches I cut out. Got the swather moved homE safely again. Pow wow traffic wasn’t to bad thankfully. Last night there was sure a pile of cars on the road though. Got started back up combining barley late afternoon. Got tough around 8:00 though. Managed to get the semi full again and quit at 9:00 though. Was odd I was up in the middle of the night and it had actually warmed up outside. The grass was dry again and the wind was slightly blowing and the very heavy smoke that had moved in was mostly all gone. Helped me get a early start on spraying my canola. Not sure if that was the best move yet but we’ll see I guess. Shelled out a little bit and of course trampled some.

Well little more progress today even though it started out wet. Started swathing at about 9:30 I’m the rain. Couple hours in the sun started to come out again. Managed to start making decent time. Got the one small field all done and then got to work on the bigger one. Was just getting to the point where I could clip along at 5-5.5 mph and I broke down. Was heading east and could smell a odd smell. Was kind of like burnt oil but also kind of like what canola dust smells like. I couldn’t see any smoke behind me so I carried on the last couple hundred feet to the headland. Turned and headed back west and all of a sudden I could smell it more and see a blue haze blowing past me. Turned the swather out into the open and jumped out to see what was up. Here it had a loose fiting on the front hyd pump. I didn’t have the tools needed to tighten it so I called home. Mom and dad brought out some wrenches and I figured I’d be good to go. Unfortunately I discovered that the o-ring had also blown out when the fitting came loose. Trip to town in the morning I guess as I don’t have any orb kits here at all. Mean time while I was waiting for the tools to get to me it poured down rain again. Field was actually getting muddy.

Finally made a little bit of dust today. Took another load of barley on this morning and got stuck in a big line up so I didn’t get back as quick as I’d hoped. Was going to spray my canola when I got home but the wind had picked up pretty good so that got put on hold again. Talking rain for tomorrow maybe so I’ll hopefully get a good bunch of my canola cut down if it does. Pow wow starts on the reserve on Friday so I want to avoid as much of that traffic as I can. Moving the 30’ swather on the 20’ road isn’t all that much fun when it’s as busy as a highway lol. Shut down fairly early tonight. Swore I could see a few rain drops on the window just before I quit and it sounded like it was getting kind of tough. When I got out of the combine at the semi though it felt nice out yet. Lights aren’t great though and it was getting hard to see anyways. Need to do some upgrades on it but not sure what yet. Barley isn’t running great but there’s a little bit there.

Moved out to the reserve and started swathing my canola yesterday. It’s still a touch green so I left it and came home and got the combine set up to do barley. Got one hopper off last night before it got tough. By 8:00 the tires were shinning on the combine 😢. Got up at 5:30 this morning to this mess. Heavy heavy fog. Practically zero visibility. Just so happened the coop was supposed to be bringing out the hopper cones and bin packages this morning. Had my doubts they’d come when they didn’t but they took all the back roads and made their way here safely. Got another load of barley hauled in and the bin crew was just finishing up when I got back home again. Roughly 3 hours a bin to put them up. That’s a little on the high side probably. Have to level them and position them yet but they’re here that’s the main thing.

Cut down some canola this afternoon. Didn’t do a whole bunch but got the field opened up so I can cut a bunch tomorrow hopefully. Cut out a few green spots along the outside of the field and where I brushcut last fall. Wont be able to do the whole home quarter but probably 80 % looks like the pictures.

Took off on the quad this afternoon to do a crop tour. Went around to all the fields. Barley is standing up better then I thought it would be yet. Didn’t snap any pics but it should hopefully go by Monday if the weather cooperates. Going to take a few days to dry down again. Had more thunderstorms roll through this afternoon. I actually got rained on on my way home. I stoped at the edge of a bush bit I looked at the sky and the radar and decided to make tracks for home as there was a lot more coming. Turned out to be the right choice as there was some hail there just after I left. Parents were at the neighbors when I drove by. They texted me a few minute after and said it was hailing there. Canola is in lots of different stages across our fields. Mines looking fairly ripe on top but when you open the pods the seeds are still pretty green on top anyways. Small field by home is almost ready to spray though. Maybe try mid next week. Hopefully get some canola swathed in the next few days before I start combining. Need to spray some cereals yet as well.

Well harvest has been at a halt for the last week pretty much. We haven’t started yet but there’s been a few guys taking off tough barley and maybe dry peas. Think I’ve got everything pretty much ready to go just waiting on the weather to smarten up. It’s like we’ve been living in the clouds the last 3-4 days. Just a steady fog/mist. Only 4/10” of rain but everything is just absolutely soaked. Trying to drive the quad around the yard and you’d swear the tires were 4 feet wide from all the mud they pick up. Was supposed to get a hopper or two delivered yesterday for the new bins but that would plan got scrapped. Getting one for sure and dad may be getting a second. He’s still undecided. Should’ve had a couple more smaller ones too but there’s a limit to what a guy wants to spend lol. Stupid bins sure haven’t gotten any cheaper either.

Buy king of obsoletes and you can build one of your own too. He sent his south a few weeks ago to be sold unfortunately. Was hoping he’d get it going but he gave up when parts got expensive and hard to get.

It’s a neat display for sure. For me there’s no replacement for fireworks though. Listening to a swarm of bees just doesn’t have the same effect lol. Pretty neat when they combine the two though.

Kind of the same thing happened today to Winston. Mom went in to the truck to get some tools and left. Dad came back a hour or two later and put the tools back and here’s Winston laying on the truck seat waiting lol. He had jumped in while mom wasn’t looking and figured he was going for a truck ride lol.

Lol. I really should do more proof reading I guess lol. Fat fingers and speedy typing don’t always go together lol. Add in a stupid autocorrect and it really makes me look dumb sometimes 😂😂

Well nothing to report here yet for harvest progress. Just when things get looking good it rains again. Had another 1/2” last night again. Just enough to make the yard all muddy again. Was just starting to dry up from the rain we had the other day. Canola is getting close to ready for swathing now. Field at home is almost overripe in spots so not sure what we’ll do. Hollows are still very green. Mine is a bit more even bit I think I’m going to spray about 60 acres to try and straight cut. Wheat and barley could easily be sprayed now as well. If we wait it out it may not be much difference in timing though as the time it takes to dry down from spraying may not be a whole lot different from what it will take to dry down naturally. See how things play out I guess. This is the small field that I’m going to try spraying. It could almost go down now if I was going to swath it.

I wouldn’t call myself educated that’s for sure mike bit I did pass all 12 grades and kindergarten on the first try so I’ve got that going for me lol. Never carried onto any post secondary education. Seen people go through get university degrees and end up as car salesmen or some other job where a fancy education isn’t necisarnaly required. Not that those are jobs aren’t good jobs but people are coming out of university making with a 100k plus student load are barley getting by making their payments and trying to live comfortably. Trades are where it’s at in my opinion unlike what a lot of guidance councilors used to say. Go to school for a year and then apprentice and pay your way through the rest of the schooling as you work. Come out with a journeyman’s certificate making 100-150,000 a year. Yes you have to work your but off to make that but what you make is yours(aside from our nosy governments😡) School of hard knocks is one of the best schools there is too. Nothing like experience. Only way to learn is by making mistakes, growing from them and not making them again. Sometimes takes a while but eventually you get it figured out. That’s about the time that some young bloke comes in and tells you you’re doing it all wrong though and thus carries on the cycle lol. Somehow I can picture you politely telling them to go pound sand in maybe not as polite terms mike lol.

Yup 21 years ago since I graduated. Time flies. Summers are just a blur now. Least winter lasts 6 months so I get a tiny bit of downtime here lol.

Yup. Sounds normal. You did the right thing revving the motor up. They need heat to burn out properly. I keep after dad not to idle the skid steer around while it’s doing it’s thing. So far hasn't caused any issues but im sure the day is coming.

Our canola is probably 2 weeks away from swathing yet. Probably going to spray some and try straight cutting some of it for a change. Just shy of another inch of rain here this morning again. Hopefully that’s it now for a while. Not going to do the cereals any favors that’s for sure.