Dad Knows Best

Did you ever have one of those days? Well, I am on day 2 of one of those days. We are on the eve of the eve of harvest. It seems as though this harvest has nearly been here for a month now and we have been taking the corn crop to town one coffee can at a time. However, this week it was finally determined that it was actually time to fire up the combine and kick off fall harvest 2018. That easier said than done.

For a couple of weeks Dad has been after me to check the equipment out. We needed to get the trucks out and fired up and see what the combine needed. I kept putting it off, maintenance is not one of my favorite jobs and to be fair, we had several other things that needed to be done before harvest. We spent the last week shearing trees and giving calves shots.

Its funny how no matter how old you are that you should listen to your parents. Last winter we had the combine completely checked out and fixed before we put it in the shed. In theory that should have made getting it out for fall harvest easier and quicker. In theory. I also knew that the trucks had all been working fine when we put them up and I had winterized them. I had also checked on them a couple of times during the summer to make sure no rodents had taken up residence. Starting up for fall harvest should have been a breeze. Should have been is the key theme in this story.

Last week I got the bright idea that we would take the trucks into our mechanic to have them gone through before harvest. We made the appointments and went to get the first truck. It started right up and I pointed out to Dad that my whole plan seemed to be working this was going to be easy. I pulled out of the shed and immediately remembered what I had forgotten. The brakes were a little soft. We worked through that and I got the truck into town. Upon inspection we found that one of the tires was going bad and two others probably needed replaced. A call to the tire shop revealed that it was going to take a couple of days to get this accomplished. No worries, we have two other trucks and can function for a couple of days with them.

I moved on to the next truck in line in the shed. I opened the door and immediately noticed that a rodent and probably a big rodent (pack rat) had taken up residence. This is never a good sign and really made me nervous. I have had mice run out of hiding and over my feet but a pack rat would be a whole different story. I do learn from my mistakes and tried the brakes. Nothing, absolutely nothing. A problem that might have something to do with the large rodent in residence. Well, we could function with one truck for a while, or at least we were going to have to.

To get the third and final truck out the combine was going to have to be moved. No problem, it should be field ready and fire right up. Funny thing, it seems that the guy who put it away last fall had forgotten to unhook the battery cables. The combine was deader than a doornail, it was going to be easier to charge the batteries back at the shop so I unhooked them and proceeded to drop one overboard as I moved it to the truck.

The combine became the immovable object in the way of my last hope for a running grain truck or for at least the next couple of days. I surveyed the situation and decided that I could maneuver the truck out if the other truck with no brakes could be moved. After a couple of minutes of pleading and persuading I got the truck fired up and moved it very slowly out of the way. Much to my surprise the last truck fired up easily, had brakes and seemed to be road worthy. I guess when it comes to our trucks one out of three isn’t bad.

I got the remaining truck down to the mechanic without too much trauma and the batteries spent the day at the shop alternating between the charger. Tires were ordered for the other truck and it was carefully driven to the tire shop. Meanwhile we drove past several other farmers out picking corn. Dad pointed out that they must have spent a little time preparing for harvest last week.

At this point my best laid plans were smashed to smithereens and we were on day two of pulling out of the shed and starting harvest with no acres of corn picked. I had no choice but to admit that he was right. Harvest is a marathon and not a sprint so in the end my lost days probably won’t matter, I hope. However, that is not an easy thing to tell yourself as you watch two picture perfect harvest days slip by. Especially on the eve of the eve of harvest.