halfway. finally.

This seems like a long harvest. Only having one (smaller than usual - we have had 8010's previous years) 2588 combine has made it seem slow. And there is a lot of crop out there - mostly straw, it seems, so that makes things very, very slow going.

For a point of reference, swathing started August 23rd. And I finished it off last night, 36 days later. Both Norm and I were out swathing the wheat - we were supposed to straight-cut it, but first of all, we didn't get a combine that had a header that could do that and second of all, no one's wheat seems to be drying down. Everyone has the same problem around here - we're wondering if it is simply too much plant matter to dry down. We killed the plants with Glyphosate about a month ago, it should have worked by now!

Anyway, Dale trucked grain - we were in little bins of canola yesterday, Norm ran the pull type on one part of the wheat field (his preference) and I had to practice on the big 30 foot self-propelled swather. I only cried once - so that was a good day! My spatial perception needs work (but then, I'm sure I have a disability in that - perhaps there is a name for it). Trying to figure out if the remaining standing crop is 60 feet wide or 62 feet wide is something that takes practice. If it is 62 feet you cut it in two skinny strips first and make a third one so that you don't clip the swath on either side. If it is 60 feet you cut two 30 footers and pray that you went straight. I didn't go straight. Thus the tears. But, I fixed it. And the next chunk I did better.

So today, we're going to try combining the wheat again. And if that goes (which we're really hoping it does), I get to be the housewife today. That isn't my preferred occupation at this time of year - if I am at home and I can't start anything I am less productive than if I'm not home at all. Here, things get messy (two kids, I'm making meals, I'll do down tomatoes or peppers or something); if I'm in the field, it is peaceful. I have no kids. I have no mess (other than grain dust, and a shower gets rid of that). I have no meals to worry about. And the tomatoes wait in my breezeway and I don't have to feel guilty about them.

With any luck at all, we'll finish the wheat tomorrow. Then we'll go back into the oats for a day (these are the yucky oats, the ones we've been dreading all year since they lodged). Then into canola for four or so more days. And then I'll give myself a hangover. I hope.

That's only a week more...considering we've been combining almost continuously since September 12th (sixteen days already) I guess I can survive that long. But, since our best laid plans never actually happen, I'll just be glad when we have this crop in the bin.

We should just be happy to be getting this quantity of crop off- it likely will be the only time in our lifetime that we do. However, it sure has been tough going (we're not doing many acres a day, and the poor combine header plugs almost every swath), and the quality isn't really great. Which only proves the point that you can never have a happy farmer.