Loose Horses

I was driving through and out of town the other day and just happened to see these horses loose and munching on grass next to this house! They belong in a corral behind the house. This street is at the edge of town.

Forgot to mention that when the guys were last combining behind our house 2 days ago, Bill & Pam saw 3 deer, a couple rabbits, a coyote and a mystery animal the size of a Lab, tan color - maybe a small cougar. Whenever driving here, you usually see wildlife of some sort crossing the road or along the side. Have been seeing lots of deer lately as their hiding places in the corn are shrinking.

Bill asked if I wanted to go out to eat tonight and then surprised me by taking me to Sum Hing! He didn't use to like Chinese food but has found Sweet & Sour Chicken, Pork & Shrimp. He always said that he got hungry too soon after eating Chinese. It was so funny the first time we had Chinese here together; his fortune said "Soon you will be hungry"!!!! Still laugh about that.

Crazy October Weather

It's been a busy but different couple of days since I last posted. After waiting until things dried some yesterday, the guys got the rest of our corn field combined. I then got the stalks all chopped and Carl got quite a bit of the field ripped. He did find there was a problem with the auto steer on the 4 wheel drive tractor though. Bill talked to technical help on the phone today, and we ended up having to ship the control box off for repair (still under warranty).

Last evening I took food out to Bill & Tim and then headed to my P.E.O. meeting. The guys were planning to combine beans late but it started snowing A LOT around 7:30 so that was the end of that. Bill tells me that snow stops everything. Got 65 acres of beans done last night (about 90 left).

I was gone most of today. This morning I got a flu shot in Humboldt. Needed to go to Poky too and while there picked up a couple of stamping items from a customer that she needs to exchange. Got home and packed them up plus Bill's auto steer and headed to the post office and West Bend for parts.


In the first picture, I'm getting ready to cross our creek to go chop stalks. I took the video as I was driving - kind of hard to do that while driving. Everyone says they want a picture of me driving a tractor because they can't believe it. As you can see, no one is usually in the same field with me to take my picture but this is my hand on the steering wheel! After being at a desk for years, I love working outside and doing something different now!

Around 6:00 tonight, they decided to try to combine but it's sprinkling again now with rain getting close on the radar so Bill is home already.

Early Snow

We have another delay but for snow not rain!! We had light snow until about noon today so no field work. We have 160 more acres of beans to do. This weather is not good for them. This afternoon, Bill installed sensors in the tank of the combine. They'll let him know when corn is up to the top so it won't spill over.

This is the intake I ran over the other day. Bill says the cost of a new one is going to come out of my pay!

We're already really enjoying our stove in the great room. The fire is cozy and it warms up the area in a hurry! It's a propane stove so it has the fake gas logs and will even run when the electricity goes out. It's on a thermostat just like you'd have for a furnace.

I finally programmed the furnace thermostat which was easy and didn't require reading the instructions. We've had so many new things at once that we're tired of reading the books! It's nice to have the temp. go down automatically at night and warm up before we get up in the morning.

UPDATE at 5:00: they have just gone out to try to combine corn here at our house.

The Combine

You wouldn't think so, but farming is one of the top 5 most dangerous occupations. This combine fire happened somewhere in our part of Iowa. It had 10' of flames coming out the back when it caught on fire.

When riding with Bill for the first time this Fall, I noticed a few things that were different with the combine (one year old but new to us this year) like the smaller steering wheel which is easier to see around. It can go 5-6 mph in dry beans. It seems like you're really moving! For the farmers: it has more and better lights, a bigger tank, faster unloading, a better seat for the driver but not the passenger (there is a small seat for riders!), wider bean platform and Bill added that it has more bells & whistles than he knows what to do with, higher fuel consumption and higher payments!

Yesterday we had a little snow on the roofs in the morning but luckily not enough to affect combining. We were up at 6:30 and Bill got home about 11:15 so some long days - but it's only for about a month & a half or so. Last night it got down into the 20's. The weather isn't cooperating real well this year. More rain is forecast for this week. The elevator is open today from 1:00-5:00 so Bill & Tim are working. Still have a few more bean fields to do.

Intake Snapped in Two!

Picture of Mr. Pumpkin - first year to use him in Iowa. Didn't have a plug in to use for him at the old house!

Today was the first day of the new lunch schedule. Our helpers during Harvest, Pam & Carl are now eating together at our house on Thurs., Fri., Sat. and at Tim & Bette Jo's on Mon. Tues., Wed. So today was lunch at our house vs. one of them at each house every day. Should work good.

Today was also the first day for me to chop (corn) stalks this season. I had Bill give me a quick lesson again, but I was hoping it would be like riding a bike! It was, kind of. I hope I get better at it! Last year, my first year, he always told me where intakes were. Today, they are concerned about possible snow tomorrow and trying to figure out which hail damaged field to do next and were getting ready to move from our corn to a bean field when I got started so . . . he didn't think about intakes. I should've known though but was thinking "you go through the grass/waterways". So when I came to tall grass, I thought it was just taller than usual and it was just a little patch! (didn't see the bright orange intake in the middle of it!) Pop! It hit the cab/broke in half! Not good! The only other incident was hitting a big hole - with a front tire. Also not good! Luckily the stalk cutter seemed okay - it was cutting the stalks - so I got finished at sunset (another pretty one). Hope my 2nd day is better!

Then took a sandwich to Bill where he was combining beans. Tim was still there too driving the grain cart. I ended up staying until they quit about 10:00 - to help with moving equipment. They had to park the semis on the road today - dump from the combine into the grain cart and unload into the semis on the road. The semis are too heavy when the fields are muddy/soft. (gravel road so not much traffic)

More Rain

We woke up and heard rain early this morning - ended up being about 1/2" - so more mud and puddles and no combining. It didn't last long and the sun has been out this afternoon, but it is very cool.

Just some misc. Fall pictures. Liked the light and colors of the one with the truck. Bill's doing the end rows next to our grove in the next one.

Today was the last Farmers Market. The Friends of the Library also had a soup supper - chili or chicken noodle soup. Good day for that! I brought some home for tonight.





Tim is checking out the apples on the neighbor's apple tree. The apples looked really good! He said they are sweet.