9.23.15 At the Farm

I found this dance party going on complete with songs sung by Liza. It was so fun to watch them have a thoroughly fabulous time!! The boys were swinging ropes or bailing string and everyone was safely above the traffic of the combine and tractor.

The other great thing that was occurring was the older kids working with their dad getting the equipment out. It was tightly even magically squeezed into the shop it was a real effort of patience and inch by inch movement to safely extricate the equipment. I love the teamwork I love the real need and the real joy of being a team.

I keep getting asked if I'm excited for my in-laws to return. Kinda yes and kinda no. I love these moments that we are experiencing. That it's up to us and we have to figure it out and make it happen, I guess it will be nice to go back into my shell and do what we normally do, but I can honestly say I will miss these moments.

I think this is why farming gets in your blood and is intoxicating. It's not the work but it is the work. My kids were having a blast making their own fun, anticipating tractor and combine rides, anticipating parents who were there with them. Grandparents are great but parents are important too. Our family and life dynamic has allowed us a lot of grandparent support sometimes to our determent. These last few days I've been the one with my kids accomplishing these projects. I've figured out a way and Afton is old enough to be out and about. It's different with sick or young babies. But we also have enjoyed having Greg in the mix. He is usually gone working to support us at the shop. We miss him .

I was impressed how my kids knew how to manipulate the combine and are comfortable with the farm machinery pivots,  motorcycles & four wheelers, and whatever else comes up and I  am an uncomfortable novice. I am learning from them and that is good too.

 Last night as we sat in the combine-2 sets of inexperienced eyes- me tightly clutching my heavy sleeping baby, and him running the controls. It was awesome. We don't get to spend time on the same project hardly ever these days. It was one of those "I love you so much" moments. Because it was us, on the same page, hoping to achieve the same objective. Harvesting the corn. Not to mention sitting that close for that long- never happens with all the other bodies that need attention and nurturing. And while the project turned into a fiasco and some major work today it was so good to go through it together.

So we got all set, sent the kids home to go to bed and we proceeded to combine. All was going well until we heard a buzzer and two lights flashed. I knew this happened to tell us the bin was full. We sat there for a minute when Greg realized oh no the unloading auger was on!! The corn diminishing from the back window was a bad sign. I jumped out and found this pile happening. He turned off the power to the entire machine and we realized a lot of extra work had just been made.

 Things went okay from there. We refilled the bin and went and dumped the first load into the grain cart. Again after a while of harvesting it began unloading on the ground. We knew the sound this time though and only lost a few hundred pounds. We refilled the bin and headed to dump. When Greg turned on the auger there was an ominous thump and nothing happened. He began to search and found a broken drive belt. Which is placed under the main drive belt for the entire machine. So that full combine of corn is going to have to be hand moved from combine to grain cart or truck. It is too wet to sit there and at least half will have to be moved.

I'm glad we had this experience together. It's far worse to sit at home worrying and stewing! We both kept our calm and even laughed a little. How thankful I am to have 10 kids to help and make this load lighter. What a bummer they have to be in school all day. We will figure this out, we will learn, and the corn will be harvested.
This is why I love farming!