On Saturday 9/30, the guys quit around 5 because of a breakdown. It was kind of nice that our whole family got to be home and eat supper together and just relax. Sometimes we need a calmness in the midst of the rush and business. On Sunday 10/1, evening, Mark needed Luke to take the tractor and loader up to the gym to help clean up some things. Luke hooked the loader up and took it to the gym for Mark to use. Apparently he did not have it properly attached. Mark went to use it and the bucket loader fell off in the back of the dump truck. Luke was pretty upset with himself and worried about it the rest of the day while we were at the Apple orchard. On Monday 10/2, our combine driver ran a metal wheel disk from the planter through the combine causing so much damage. The disk had fallen off a few years back and we searched near and far for it. Unfortunately the combine found it. The combine was out of commission for a couple days as they tore into it and replaced parts. On Tuesday 10/3,since the combine would be out of commission, Mark decided to lease a combine form JD out of Nevada. Time is everything and during harvest you just cant afford to miss out on precious time. We didn't get going in the field until late in the day and it was making bad sounds. The rented combine had a faulty part that we had to replaces as well. On Wednesday 10/4, our combine driver drove the combine into a skink hole. Last spring we had a giant hole from bulldozing an area of trees. The tress were burned and the hole filled back in. That area had some more settling to do and the tire of the big ol combine sunk way down into it. It sunk so far it caused a lot of damage to the frame and even to the cab. We ended up driving it back to the dealer and thankfully insurance covered that incident. On Thursday 10/5, we were able to use the Petereson neighbors 30 ft head combine. It was smaller and very slow going, but at least we could go. During all the trials and breakdowns, our crew was on it! They jumped into action, tearing things apart and diagnosing the problem. Sometimes one of them had to drive hours away to get a part and some stayed up late or arrived extra early to lend a hand. We are thankful to have a professional former John Deere mechanic on staff too. It made for an interesting and stressful fall, but we are thankful nobody was hurt and grateful for a great crew and to finish strong.
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