Hope Deferred

...maketh the heart sick. I think its an old biblical quotation (Arthur Nevard?) that I have used before here. But its very appropriate for our dismal harvest conditions over the past almost month. Last dry grain harvested here was September 11. There is a huge amount of money laying out in the fields in unharvested canola and not looking like much chance of it getting harvested this fall. And spring harvested canola is basically chicken feed and a salvage operation. Every day we look at the forecast with hope of improvement and all we get is cloud, fog, frost, snow or rain. And cold? Propane use is up 2 1/1 times normal in Sask. mainly due to grain dryers running.
In some ways it will be a relief when real winter snow settles in and we lose all hope, park the combines in the shed for winter and get on with other concerns.
Almost dry enough to cut some of the frozen dead grass around the machinery yesterday so I was doing a little of that with the JD lawn tractor at maximum height so it would not plug the mower. Cleaning up the mower later I managed to bash my head on the sharp angle iron of the welding table. Did not knock myself unconscious but oh man, the blood? Head wounds seem to bleed the worst but eventually with lots of cold water and paper towels I was left with just a large lump on the forehead. Seems like I need to wear a helmet whenever I leave the house.

Hope Deferred (Again)

I know I"ve used that biblical quotation before here. Most likely a reference to bad weather at harvest time. It was one that great Uncle Arthur used on occasion. He was a great one for quotations for most occasions. Many from the bible, some from Shakespeare, some unknown.
This one comes to mind most days lately as the predominantly cloudy and damp weather continues to put harvest on hold.
We did get a rare sunny afternoon today after the fog cleared. Last night's light rain cancelled out any drying that happened in the fields.
Stats are still putting harvest at the 80% complete mark which is well behind the normal for this time of year.
I saw several fields of flax today in my travels. Some still standing and some swathed. Still looking good, just too wet to combine. The standing canola appeared to have some empty pods, likely threshed out by wind or the wet snowfall we had.
Took this photo out the window driving by a field of flax today.