The dream team and my Dad!
With beautiful blue skies we got under way. The combine setting the pace sending out continuous streams of straw to show where she had been. Getting myself familiarised with the tractor took no time at all, seeing as I hadn’t driven it since last harvest. Within a short time I was back in my stride and very quickly collected my first load.
I'm back in the driving seat!
Just starting the second time round the headlands of the field there was sudden activity at the combine. A metal bar that senses the level of the ground had come off. This was very soon sorted and we were under way once more.
The rest of the morning was spent teaching my Dad how to drive the tractor and learn hauling protocol, this was a treat to be teaching my Dad something he didn’t know. He was very attentive and got top marks (but then my Dad does everything well). After a picnic lunch in the field it was down to Dad to drive without instruction (I was merely a passenger). It was during this time we watched the combine disturb a family of pheasants that must have had a nest in the barley, and a young deer that had been enjoying a wee dose.
Steeeeeeep hill!
By 4.30pm we finished the first field, I now felt Dad was ready to go solo and this would leave me free to make dinner. It was on the drive back to the yard that the fateful message came through…a wheel had broken off the combine…..I hereby declare that
It was all going so well!
combining is cancelled until further notice….ok, maybe that was a bit dramatic, but it will take a few day to fix, as we will have to order the parts tomorrow, and hopefully if there is one in the country we will have it fixed by Wednesday. The down side to that is the weather is due to break after Wednesday and then it may be a few more days before it dry enough to start again, but this is farming. Its one giant gamble, still it could be so much worse, we could be that poor family of pheasants that have had the living daylights frightened out of them and be looking for a new home tonight!
Hope you get it back and running quickly. Love the way you talk about your dad. It’s so sweet.
Thank you Bonnie, with a little bit of luck the part should be here today and hopefully we could be harvesting by this afternoon. My Dad was very funny. It was like a complete role reversal teaching him. As I’m writing this I can see him sneaking off down to the yard with a boyish grin, I think it has something to do with getting out of helping me with some sewing and prefering to ride around in the back of the truck while the boys feed the cows. xx
Gina, this is a great series – glad to have found you on the UBC!
Hey Tor, I’m so pleased you liked, glad to have found you too. Your ‘its not a dog’ annimation came up in conversation last night as I watched my brother-in-law and partner have that same conversation, it was so accurate. I’m going to forward it to them today. Thank you for the great laugh. x
Oh Gina,
So sorry!!!
It was all going SO well.
I must say, you’re taking it all rather well – proud of you.
C’est la vie ~ that’s farming!
Hope it’s all up and running again soon missus
Hxxx
Thank you Heather, I’ve surprised myself this time how calm I am about it (and other stuff, which you’l find out in the next blog) though I think you should be taking a huge portion of credit, because its down to your ‘Just ten minutes’ CD. The weather is still holding and it’s quite possible we could be up and running thisafternoon. Thank you again xx