Another beautiful week of combining weather. Thursday had me wondering where my long johns are. That wind and air was coming off a polar ice cap somewhere. It left a heavy frost on everything in the morning. There was no combining until after it dried off about noon. The guys needed a little break anyway. I have no hoar frost marked for the last days of September and the beginning of October. I have no hoar frost marked until Oct. 20. I think we are going to have a nice open fall, fingers and toes crossed, here's hoping.
On the home front, by the time you read this, hopefully we will be done combining. It was going along good and then the plagieee's struck my equipment. An unloading auger would not come out and after fooling with it for a while, I realized I needed to get help. We phoned Agland and out came Lynndale. A day of testing and then a new hydraulic over electric poppett valve later and now the darn thing works. The bill was such that they can't come out here any more.
What was wrong with the old hydraulic lever in the cab that the 8820s had? I put 6,273 hours on my 1982, 8820 and never had any trouble like that. The only reason I traded it off was the number three straw walker decided to kick number two straw walker and a heck of a mess ensued. The combine was still running like a little top. It died a slow death, piece by piece in Earl Jones' wrecking yard. I felt bad as the combine had served me faithfully over the years but my experience is, the only thing the old piece of machinery can do for you is make the down payment on a newer machine. You use these machines every day in harvest, but a person should not get too attached to them. They are just iron or that's what we tell ourselves. Anyone who has run machinery will tell you that every machine has little quirks and things that make it different from others. Us farmers, we do get attached to our equipment. This is something that Ritchie Brothers will never understand!
Then we had the pickup belts all head west when the combine was facing south. I really hate that when it happens. They crawled out of the guides and got on top of each other. It is a proper bitch to get them back. You loosen off the tighteners all the way. We used a C clamp and the tow rope to put a little side pressure on them. One belt was sacrificed to Murphy's law with a knife. After that, the rest were more agreeable and got back in position. This doesn't happen very often and I really make sure the tighteners are set the same. I don't want to be fixing pickup belts.
To finish off a day we discovered a bearing gone in the shaker arm. Agland gleefully had one at $154. I told Ken. when I was there that there was only 4,000 hours on the combine, I don't know why it would be going now. He said he was glad I came in as it was a Saturday and all the people working there were getting time and a half. We were going to talk more about hard times, but I had to go and get the combine running.
Later in the day one of the combine operators informed me the large drive belt that drives the head of the combine had come to the end of its life. The tightener bracket also needed welding. I guess it didn't like canola. We looked in our belt inventory that is hanging on the wall in my shop. Every kind of belt, but that one. Back to Lloydminster I go. Second trip in one day! Marc found the belt and I was $188 poorer. The other belt I needed is in Vermilion and I declined the chance to drive there. I will get it later. The belt is still running but looks shabby. I sure hope this all helps Ken with his financial hardships.
At the end of the day, one of the alternators quit. Now come Monday, I will have to buy a new alternator just to get the combine home. I am glad we are done.
In political news, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has told a high powered business meeting of Americans that he would not take "No" for an answer on Keystone XL pipeline. He says, "the logic is overwhelming. This project will create hundreds of jobs on both sides of the border." I think it is about time someone stood up and said it like it is! Good job, Stephen.
Joke of the week: What do you get when you cross a cow and a duck? Milk and quackers. As my uncle Harold would say "Oooh boy".
