Smokey Skies

I apologize for a lack of posts these last few weeks.  I still haven't figured out how to upload photos from the new camera, and I'm not in the habit of using my phone as a camera, as much as I should or could. 

I have a bunch of photos on the camera, so one of these days, I will post several harvest photos, well after the fact! 

For now, I will try to remember to use my phone more to shoot images of what is happening on Rolinco road!

We've had several weeks of smokey skies, but yesterday the air quality was terrible.  The smoke was thick, making it difficult to be outside for very long, and reducing visibility to 1/4 mile.  We woke up this morning to more of the same, but by mid morning a strong wind began, bringing in more smoke, but also moving it along!  It's still pretty bad this evening, but not nearly as thick as all day yesterday.

With the bad air quality, Alicia and Reynald and I decided it would be a good time for me to hop on the mower and get a few acres of stubble chopped.  We spent a few hours getting the mower serviced and moved and I was up and running by noon yesterday.

Here are a few images of our project.

We hooked up Indy to the mower which has been parked at Pumpkin center since last fall.

Looking east from Pumpkin Center to the combines parked on top of the hill, which you can just barely make out through the smoke.

Alicia came across a huge hornet nest, built in one of the drive line covers.

She sprayed the nest with starting fluid to kill the hornets.

Upon further inspection, we found several more nests so went home to get the wasp and hornet killer.  Much more effective than starting fluid!  

Alicia was removing the drive line covers so that Reynald can grease.

Alicia is happy after killing at least four large hornet nests in the mower.

I checked the tire pressure on all the tires.  When tires sit this long, they naturally lose a little pressure.

In this image you can make out the FAA tower which is about a quarter mile away.

This is the neighbors house, which is again, less than a quarter mile away.  

The winds are predicted to change mid week, hopefully moving some of this heavy smoke out of our region.  Looking forward to seeing a blue sky again!