Amber Waves of Grain

We started harvest on Thursday, well, kind of on Wednesday, but mostly on Thursday.  Wednesday afternoon Reynald and I moved equipment to Pumpkin Center and then cut a "loading zone".  The loading zone is where I will park the truck and then Alicia drives to that spot to load me.

Also just wanted to see if everything was going to work the way it is supposed to work, and it did!  

Alicia's plane landed in Spokane at noon on Thursday.  Reynald picked her up and they were home by 1:30 and we were in the field by 1:45!

Here are some photos of the first day.  It's the most exciting day of the year!

Our Amber Waves......

This is my truck, affectionately named, Starbucks.  I named her that because I grind the gears all the time!  Interesting, I grew up driving trucks, but Starbucks shifts differently than the old '69 Ford that I learned on, and I'm slow to adapt.

Baxter is ready to go!

Arthur and the bank out wagon, aka grain cart.  This is where Alicia will spend the next 18-20 days!   Air conditioned comfort, cell phone, some wi-fi service, depending upon the field, and a good stereo system!

Alicia will do Gardner Museum work all during harvest from her tractor seat.  Her boss, Scott calls Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10am, PST to check in and conference.

Here's the combine!  Funny, we don't have a name for this machine!  Any suggestions?

Reynald is setting all the coordinates for the satellite guidance system.

He spends a lot of time on the phone during harvest.  He does a lot of business, but also does a lot of "chatting"!

This is the control panel for the operation of the combine.  Most of those buttons have pictures to indicate what they are supposed to do!

The essential lunch box and water jug.  I pack breakfast, lunch and dinner in our lunch boxes.  We have found that it is best to spread out eating through out the day, instead of  one big meal mid day.  Munching and crunching helps keep one awake and alert.

Reynald loves to give "orders" over the CB radio!

This is what Reyanld looks at all day long!  This is the part of the combine that cuts the grain and gathers it to the center and then up and in to the machine to be thrashed. 

Thrashed grain coming in to the holding tank on the combine.  We call it the bulk tank.  It holds a little over 300 bushels.  It takes three full bulk tanks to fill the grain cart.  It takes one full grain cart to fill Starbucks.  

This is the screen for the satellite guidance.  There's all kind of information on this screen!  To the right you can see a picture which is a real time movie of the bulk tank.  There is a camera mounted on top of the combine cab.  This is just an additional check to tell you when the bulk tank is full.  There is an alarm that goes off too!

Filling the grain cart on the go.  Both combine and tractor travel together as they fill.

Full grain cart.

Filling Starbucks.  This is harder than it looks.  Alicia rarely spills a single kernel.  It takes about 3 minutes to fill 1000 bushels of grain in to Starbucks trailer!  Grain is moving fast and it takes good hand/eye coordination .  I am not good at this!

The nameless combine chomping away.

Starbucks cockpit!  It was 99 degrees and then some, the day we started harvest, and the next day too!  Next week is supposed to be a bit cooler.  Welcome relief for man and machine.

Another look at the "cockpit".  I'm pretty sure I know what all these gauges mean!  I try to keep an eye on everything so as not to get in to trouble.

This is our farm name, printed on the doors of Starbucks.  

This is also on Starbucks.  I don't know why I love this little emblem, but I do!

And, the sun sets on the first day.  

We are taking today (Sunday) off.  The only time we work on Sunday is if it is late in the season, or if there are weather issues.  It is nice to have a day to catch up.  Reynald will do a thorough walk through on the combine, to check for any problems that may arise.   Alicia and I have a list a mile long to get through today!  Roni Jo arrives tomorrow to take over truck driving!