Harvest Crew Profile Part 2

The youngest member of our crew this year is Eric Mooney, aka  Mooney Man.  Eric is a great worker and we really enjoy having him around.  He spent some time in the field with us last year, but this year he is coming out every day.  Our plan is to train him to drive both the combine and the tractor with the bank out wagon.  The last several days he has been on the combine with Ron.

Perks of driving the combine for Eric include scoping out the best places to hunt deer in the fall!  On Saturday he and Reynald saw a 4 by 5 white tail deer and today the field crew saw a doe and fawn AND a young bull moose!

Here are a few images of Eric working harvest.  We look forward to having Mooney Man hanging out here on Rolinco Road for several more years.

Eric gets to help with the morning servicing of the machines.  Here he is pictured with Reynald and Uncle Doug, all in their coveralls!  

Eric climbing up in to the combine for a day of driving lessons.

Reynald and Eric in the combine.  

Enlarge this photo and look who's driving!

Eric in the driver's seat.

Eric had to give up his combine seat for an hour or so while the John Deere salesman came out for a ride.  

We're making good progress with harvest.  So far things are running very smooth.  It's supposed to get hot though, starting tomorrow.  The forecast is for hot, hot, hot for the next seven days at least.  Here's keeping our fingers crossed that both humans and machines will survive the heat!

Harvest support staff

I took photos of our harvest support staff yesterday.  It seems like a lot of vehicles but each has a purpose!   I love how they are all lined up at the edge of the field.

Support staff line up!

The Tonner.  The tonner has tools, the welder, small air compressor, grease gun and extra grease tubes, etc.  Kind of the all around service vehicle.

Raymond is our fuel truck.  He carries fuel from our bulk storage at the shop, to the field.  I love Raymond!

Green Gator, or Gigi.  Gigi tows the big air compressor that we use each day to blow off the chaff and dust from the previous day of harvest.  This helps reduce fire danger.

Big Boy.  Alicia is driving Big Boy back and forth to work.  She fills on road diesel at her place each night, in to the slip tank on Big Boy, then fuels both semi trucks in the mornings.

Bertha is full of water, in case of fire.  

Meet the Crew

I thought it would be fun to introduce you to our 2017 harvest crew.

New to our team this year is Frank.  He's originally from Wisconsin, which you can only detect when he says the word, Wiscaaahhnsin!   He has been driving big trucks for over 30 years and we really appreciate his experience.  He's easy on the truck clutch, gets the load to the elevator and then gets himself safely back to the field.  We're learning some interesting stories about his life growing up as well as during his adult work life.

Frank currently lives in Sprague so it's a fairly short commute for him to arrive at the end of Rolinco Road each morning with a smile on his face, ready to haul some grain.

Frank!

He loves this truck and especially loves the electric roll tarp!

We had a super productive day today.  Kept Frank and me busy all day long!  Hoping tomorrow goes as well.

Alicia loading my truck for the last time today.

Day 2 comes to a close

First day of the Last Step

Harvest is the end of our year.  The crop that we started harvesting today, is the result of two years of work.  It's always exciting to see what comes of that work.  We do all that we can to provide our wheat plants with the best chance to produce.  Factors beyond our control determine the final outcome.  After one day of cutting our crop, we are encouraged to see the our best efforts, and a curve ball or two from Mother Nature, are resulting in an above average crop.

A few images from day one of our 2017 wheat harvest

Moving the combines and bank out wagon to the field where we will begin cutting.

Ripened wheat, nearly as far as the eye can see!

Alicia and Eric Mooney in the tractor that tows the bank out wagon.  Eric is a terrific helper. 

Alicia in a sea of grain!

Me and Baxter in the same sea!

The first cut.  Reynald is cutting the "landing zone" where the trucks will pull in to be loaded.

Our field manager!

And a happy farmer!

It was a good first day.  Just about as smooth a start as one could expect.  Looking forward to tomorrow!

Uncle Doug unloading one last time tonight.

Reynald sweeping off his combine windows for the night.

And Uncle Doug doing the same.

Evening line up.  Done for today.

Eric and the gator.  They go well together!! 

Alicia happy that the first day is in the books.

On your mark, get set.....

wait!  We've all been working extra hard to get ready for harvest.  Alicia and I did all the rod weeding last week while Reynald worked on getting all the harvest machinery ready to go.  For a moment we though we might start harvest on Monday, then Tuesday, then Wednesday!  The draws are still a little green so we've been waiting.

But, some of the neighbors are cutting, and it's near impossible to sit around and watch that happen, so we're going to cut some grain tomorrow!

Both combines, Arthur the tractor and the bank out wagon.

Starbucks and Double Shot ready to haul a couple bushels of grain the next few weeks.

Raymond is filled with fuel and ready to go out to the field.

The last few days, Reynald and Alicia have been working on the second set of grain seeding drills.  They have put the hitch together and today they got the hydraulic cylinders put on.  It''s been terribly hot.  They are both going to be ready to get in to air conditioned comfort tomorrow!

The faithful gator hauling pieces for the drill.

This is the drill hitch that Reynald and Alicia put together yesterday.

Another view of the hitch!

I puttered around in the yard today.  I decided to harvest my garlic since I can't harvest wheat.  It's a bumper crop, though I'm disappointed in the size of the garlic heads.  I wasn't able to plant as early in the spring as I would have liked.  I may have to go back to planting in late fall.  Nevertheless, we should be able to keep the vampires away!

This is one of five piles of garlic from the garden!  

A new Fisherman

We launched the SS Rolinco last week on Wednesday for a five day tour!

The launch

Baxter is ready to go!

We traveled to the St. Joe River, just above Avery, Idaho to my dad's favorite fly fishing spot.  Alicia is interested in fly fishing and this is the perfect spot to learn.  Dad has taken her shopping and outfitted her, so at least she looks the part!

Alicia in with her new fly fishing vest.

In one of the many pockets is a crimper to take the barb off the hook.  The St. Joe river is all catch and release so barbless hooks must be used.

Grandpa Jim and Alicia with some of their gear.

The last morning grandpa wanted Alicia to try out her waders.  She wears them well!

Crayton and Beth joined us as well.  Beth has an interest in learning to fly fish, so Grandpa held a casting class shortly after we arrived and set up camp.

First, instruction in the parking lot.

Now you try it!

Next, the live demonstration.

And away we go.....

Alas, it turned out to be a difficult fish catching week at the St. Joe, which meant that there was a lot of casting practice!

Alicia, Beth and grandpa watching on.

Grandpa Jim in the professors chair where he could see all his students!

Crayton wet waded and tried a few casts.

I even tries a few casts.  It's really fun but super challenging.  

Sometimes a tangle!

Mornings and evenings are the best time for fishing, so in between we went for jeep rides.  We took one really long trip that took us to the top of a high peak, where we could see for miles.  The bear grass was in full bloom and spectacular.

Crayton and Reynald planning the jeep route.

While dad and Alicia were talking flies!

Looking down the canyon to dad's favorite fishing hole.  We didn't try to hike down!

Such a view

Bear grass in bloom

The forest clearings were thick with blooming bear grass.  Entire hillsides of white.

The next day's jeep ride was a bit shorter.  Alicia was interested in checking out the Hiawatha bike trail.  Crayton and Beth have ridden it in the past so were good tour guides.

The Hiawatha trail is the old Milwaukee railroad grade.

There are several tunnels on the grade.

Going through a tunnel

We had terrific meals, wonderful conversation, fly fishing lessons, and time to relax.  It was a great break from the hustle and bustle of summer time work.

Even Baxter relaxed between worrying about the chipmunks and mice in the SS Rolinco!

Next up......harvest!