Harvest 2013 begins

Well I had great intentions of editing another video for youtube tonight. Shot some scenes of moving machinery on the weekend , getting the swather out of the back of the shed, driving 2 cylinder vintage John Deere, etc. Then I remembered that I left the Gopro camera out in one of the vehicles. And since it is pitch dark out there now, I still haven't fixed that yardlight, I guess I won't be going out. Chances of meeting up with a skunk, racoon, or some other form of wildlife in the dark I can do without.

Stay tuned, the video will happen.

In farming news, harvest has begun. I spent the last two days swathing canola. One of the cleanest, tallest, heaviest crops I can recall. It was hard to swath but hopefully will reward me in a high yield. Crop prices have dropped but I don't usually expect to win the lottery of high yields and prices together.

Fields have really dried up and its hard to believe I had 16 inches of rain in a month back in July. Dark clouds built up this afternoon while I was swathing and finally turned into quite a thunderstorm this evening. Now, to swath cereals or not? If forecasts are right we will have a warm September and the cereal crops should ripen naturally not requiring swathing.

 The canola as it stood last week when I was trying to decide if it was ready to swath.

Coyote Stole My Cat Dish

Thought that catchy title would get your attention. I didn't see it but don't know what other animal is big enough or smart enough to carry away a heavy old cast aluminum frying pan (cat dish).
Temps have finally warmed up to normal and beyond for this week. I heard 34C on the radio today. Not sure what that is in farenheit but it is beyond the comfort zone for me. Luckily my work was being conducted from inside the air conditioned tractor cab other wise I might not have done much today. The nice weather was ideal for our crop tour/trail ride to the hundred acre woods and beyond last Sunday. Many crops were looked at and much scenery seen.

The day before I took in the local museum day and antique car show. Parking my 49 year old Chevy along side the "real antiques" was fun. Although some of the other owners had spent a fortune in rebuilding and restoring theirs while I have done nothing much more than wash and wax the old Chevy II.

Crops are still late and slow developing but this heat wave should bring them closer to normal stage if it keeps up. They are heavy looking and should yield well. Hopefully well enough to compensate for the recent drop in grain prices.

Barn Painting 2013

Barn painting day, first of August , 2013. Finally getting around to a job I have had in mind for quite a while. Had to be a fairly quiet day to use the sprayer so the wind didn't carry the paint away . I hadn't painted this old barn in years and it was overdue for another coat of red. After numerous complications and holdups I finally got painting in mid afternoon and finished the two worst sides by quitting time. It looked so good that next day I went to work on the new (1954) barn. It took a lot of hose to reach that barn from the air compressor and I probably wasted as much time rigging up an air line as I would have required to actually do the job with a brush.

Once set up it worked well and probably saved paint compared to a brush. Except for the full can of paint I accidentally spilled all over the ground in front of the shed when the sprayer cannister fell off.

Nice cool weather around 70 degrees for the job although this continuing below normal temperature is causing concern for some as the crops are slow to ripen and early frost is becoming a concern.

I finally got finished the second operation of chem fallow last week. Well overdue and the weeds were getting really big. Over 15 inches of rain in 30 days kept the fields so wet that it was really interesting dragging a sprayer around the field with four wheel drive, the only way to get the job done.

Forecasts of an excellent crop are driving grain prices down so I am glad to have almost emptied all the bins selling out before the price got any worse.

Here is a shot of the same old barn back in the fall of 44 when it was undergoing a renovation by my two grandfathers and a great uncle.