Cockshutt 50 Piling flax straw

More old video from the VHS tape collection I am gradually converting to digital. Saving family history. Although it does not seem like so very long ago to me, it is just over 20 years. Dad was always happy to run his old 50 and the blade whether it be pushing straw, snow, dirt or manure. That manual steering was heavy and the blade made it even heavier so you kept warm trying to steer the old 50. I guess he made 50 years on that tractor. Bought it in October of 1960 and I think he was still able to drive it in 2000.

Flax Still Haunts Me

Although this is the second year in a row that I have not grown any flax, it has come back to haunt me. The latest damage flax straw has done showed up on my swather this week. While getting it ready to swath this year's canola I looked into fixing the oil leak from the "wobble box" knife drive that had kept me busy adding oil every day last harvest. On disassembly we found a tightly wrapped band of flax straw around the drive shaft against the oil seal which had damaged the seal causing it to leak. Almost unbelievable but it is just another episode in the trail of destruction caused by trying to harvest flax.
Just off the top of my head there was the time straw wrapped around the drive shaft of the tractor almost starting a fire. The time it wrapped around the truck drive shaft to the point that it tore off the hydraulic hoses for the lift. The time it wrapped around the return drive shaft of the John Deere combine causing a small fire we were lucky to catch in time. The time it wrapped on the rear beater shaft of the John Deere damaging the beater and the body of the combine. Not to mention the hours of torture I spent laying on the straw walkers sawing straw off the beater (Twice!). The straw chopper wraps that burned the drive belt. And thats just the John Deere, the one that I bought to replace the International that absolutely could not handle flax straw. The countless hours we spent cutting flax straw off the International I could not even guess at. The modifications tried in a vain effort to improve straw handling.
Yes, any fool can grow a crop but harvesting it is a whole new ball game and I'm out.

Bad Luck,

or no luck at all. That expression kept running through my head these past few days. The flax field disaster just won't end. I've given up on trying to get it through the combine without burning the machine or field down. Now trying to dispose of the crop swaths is a mammoth task. The flax rake won't work at all. The harrows are working but slowly as some of the old swaths from last fall are almost glued to the ground. It all helped influence my decision to never try growing flax again. Weeds growing like crazy in the global warming heat we have endured for a couple of days. I should be seeding, or anhydrousing, both actually. But I can't til this straw is out of the way. I did get a small start on anhydrousing a small field of canola stubble yesterday. It had some surprisingly wet spots where I was lucky not to get stuck.

Dry fertilizer delivered to the yard Friday so that part is ready to go, if I ever actually get into the field with the air seeder.
Flax straw harrowing went well but slow today. Right up until a front tire went flat on the tractor. A 3/4 mile walk across the hundred acre woods to the only available transportation (the John Deere swather). Slow but it beats walking. No spares so that tractor is down til tomorrow. I made use of the wasted afternoon by cleaning up and putting the swather and combine away in the shed til next harvest.
Little spits of rain all over the radar map tonight  that likely won't amount to much. Not that we need any.

Diesel Leaks

Man, I reek of diesel fuel after working on the Massey. As good a tractor as it is, there is not much room to work on certain places. This has been a bad year for leaks on machinery and this one has bothered me since late winter. Thought I had it soldered up last spring but no, it was leaking diesel again. Tried the old stand by JBWeld but even that failed. So today I got a different piece of steel line and with a little custom bending I got it in place. Accompanied by the steady dripping of diesel fuel on my hands at 32 degrees (that is 0C for you metric converts) my fingers pretty much lost feeling by the time I was done. Hopefully when I check it tomorrow there will not be fuel dripping on the ground.

Sunshine on the weekend inspired me to try baling some of the flax straw I had combined. Even that was difficult. After many broken shear pins on the baler , crawling along in first gear, I think I had around 200 bales done by the time darkness took over. The final shear pin broke and that was the end of the day for me.
I'm getting a sore finger from the stubborn "r" key on this laptop. Sometimes it takes intense pressure to get the letter. I'm attempting to chose words that dont' contain many "r" s but that is not always possible. I've pried the r key off and cleaned out anything that looked like it should not be there. So far I have resisted the urge to take a ball pein hammer to the "r" key but for how much longer I can't say.
Today in history, I can remember only a little about where I was on that day when JFK was assassinated. This was an interesting interview with Abe Zapruder's grand daughter

Making a Little Smoke

We had a few inspiring sunny warm days recently that got me out into the field. Not anhydrousing or planting as I would normally be doing at this time of year, but burning last years flax straw. At least it is a start in the right direction on a job that has to be done. Better than sitting and waiting for the ground to dry out.
Actually the field has improved considerably in the past week. The high and dry patches are good but sometimes require quite a detour to get to them around the water and mud areas. Biggest problem right now is the roads are in no shape to carry heavy trucks with fertilizer and seed. Many roads are closed waiting for washed out culverts to be replaced while others are passable but with soft spots just waiting to swallow a heavy truck. My own yard has a few of those plus the quonset has water coming out of the ground. Yes, machinery parked safely indoors is now standing in a few inches of water. Even if I was ready to seed crops I can't hope to get a load of fertilizer hauled in here in these conditions. When will it be ready? I really don't know.
Today with clouds, strong winds and 40 degree temperature it is not looking great. The rain in the forecast might just pass south of me if I'm lucky. Whatever the weather does it still is a pretty sure thing that less than the usual amount of acres will be planted here this year. Still it is not as bad as those that live on low land near the rivers and flooded areas. At least we have hope.