A new barista!

Roni Jo arrived at the Rolinco Road Resort Monday afternoon.  She spent some time catching up with her dad and Alicia, and then me in Starbucks.  After talking and talking she was finally ready to take over the wheel of the truck.

Roni Jo and Starbucks!

Both girls started driving really young, so this all comes very natural.  

The first load in to the grain storage silo at Tokio was a little rough.  She said "looks like we have a new barista mama!"  But by the second load and every load there after, there hasn't been much, if any grinding!  She catches on a lot quicker than I do......two loads vs. three years of harvest driving!  Ah, to be young and sharp!

So, here's what it looks like in the field, once the grain cart is full and Alicia comes to fill the truck.

Alicia is filling Starbucks.  We find a nice level spot, at the edge of the field, to park the truck.

Alicia drives Arthur and the grain cart to the tuck to fill.  This way, the truck doesn't bounce through the rough fields.

As stated earlier, it only takes about 3 minutes to fill 1,000 bushels of grain in to the trailer.

Look at the concentration!  The stuff that looks like snow is chaff from the thrashed grain.  It is wise to keep windows rolled up when chaff is flying.  It sticks to sweaty skin and is very itchy.

Once the trailer is full we roll the tarp across the top of the load.  I am spoiled and have an electric roll tarp.   More common is a hand crank, but I told Reynald I was too old to hand crank a 42 foot tarp.

Now you can see that the tarp is completely over the trailer and locked in to place for the trip down the road.  This keeps the grain from blowing out while driving.

Then off to Tokio we go to deposit the grain in the commercial storage facility.

First you pull on to the scale to weigh the loaded truck.  You also weigh after you dump your load to get the net weight of your load.  These scales are just barely big enough for the large trucks.  This plant was built when we were all driving single axle trucks!

Next you pull in to this hut, which has a large grate in the floor.  There are elevators legs that carry the grain from this pit to the big silos.  Again, this capacity was sized for 300 bushel trucks, not 1,000 bushels at a time, so it takes a little time, especially if someone has just unloaded in front of you.

Here's Mike, opening the gate in the bottom of the trailer to let the wheat out.  There are two sections to this trailer, each with it's own gate to empty.

It's kind of dusty, and grain dust is explosive, so no smoking in the hut!

Mike and Roni Jo.  This is Mike's last harvest and then he is retiring after 32 years of working at Ritzville Warehouse.  He and his wife are planning a trip to Boston to see a Red Sox game at Fenway! Of course they will enlist the girls as tour guides!  Roni Jo was just a little girl when she first started delivering wheat to Mike!

You can see that it's kind of a tight fit in and out of the hut!

And Baxter is a great co-pilot!

We are marching right along with harvest.  The crop is not terrific, due to the drought, but we are thankful for what is coming in.  It certainly could be a lot worse.  But the best part of all, is that both girls are back in the field!  It's just so much fun having them here!!!