Make My Day

October 18th, I still had hope left when I took this photo yesterday evening. The flax straw had been tough going through the combine all afternoon and I had to reduce my ground speed to prevent plug ups. A bit of sunshine and strong winds helped but by late afternoon clouds took over and I could tell things were going downhill. I finished off this little patch of flax and quit before things got too ugly. After tearing up a $318 pickup belt last night when straw wrapped underneath it I was not wanting to do a repeat tonight. The odd spot of rain hit the windshield as I headed for home.
This morning began cloudy as usual, plus fog in the air. Looking out now I see snow falling.
The crop was dry and yielding well. Maybe 35 acres left to do but I guess the deer and moose will have it for the winter now.
There might still be hope for it though. October 29 of 1952 was a beautiful sunny day, or so I am told.

Oh Deer

Well the weather has double crossed me again. Yesterday the forecast was for a good stretch of nice sunny and dry weather. Perfect for haying so I headed out to the hundred acre woods with the haybine and spent the afternoon and part of the evening cutting various patches of hay. The grass was getting damp even as the sun dropped near the horizon. Later in the evening it started to thunder and lightning and sometime in the night I heard the sound of falling rain. Not a lot but not a good thing for the quality of the hay I cut. It looks a little unsettled for the next day or so. Hope I can get some drying weather so I can bale the hay now without losing too much quality.
On the good side, the new sickles and guards improved the cutting ability of the old haybine. Although I didn't finish, I think there should be plenty of hay to get the cattle through the winter,.
Crops looking great with the oats headed out now too. The bloom is off my canola and I see I have as much if not more of the asters yellow disease as anyone else has. If the "sky is falling" crowd is right there is going to be a big yield loss in canola due to this. I can't see it myself but I guess time will tell.
The flax is looking good but I have not seen much bloom yet for some reason. Seems like it should be by now.
This little buck was caught on the trail cam in my yard this week in several poses.

Flax Vac on a Frosty Morning

I'd been a little concerned how we were going to get a semi load of 2 year old flax moved with the driveway having some major soft spots in it from the spring thaw. Well the latest below normal temperatures have solved my problem. At 15 degrees this morning the ground was frozen so hard that the loaded semi (hopefully 900 bushels) did not make a track in the ground. So sometimes cold weather is a good thing.
The old 970 Case was putting out a formidable cloud of smoke running the vac. It sure beats shoveling and is easier on the back.
Flax prices have jumped recently, not quite to the $15 level I was hoping for but certainly a good enough price that I won't complain too much. Plus the fact that the grain had sat in the bin so long that we would have needed to circulate it to be sure all was well.
And if you like to talk old tractors you might like to check out this discussion forum that I frequent called Canadian Antique Tractors