My initial predictions on the eve of our dry full moon of a weather pattern change were perhaps a bit premature. It is true we did get one week of dry weather, enough for harvest to get going full tilt, but as soon as we got to day 8, we slipped back into our wet pattern. The frustration amongst the farmers in my area is very evident. Cell phones buzz back and forth all day long with neighbors asking, "when do you think you will try cutting?" or, "are you going to try today?". In my immediate location, none of us have drying capability beyond fans, so moisture is a huge problem for us. With short days and cool temps, mother nature is not proving to be a very effective dryer.
The full week we did get was weather we usually get 30-45 days of in September and October, but so far have had for a total of 10 or 11 days this fall. Again talking about my immediate area, no one I know of has storage enough for all our crop,so our elevator is the focal point of activity this time of year. With the forecast of rain for last Sunday, the combines rolled as late as possible last Saturday night, which actually was not very late, about 8pm. I would have liked to have had the capability to take a picture Saturday night as the trucks rolled in to dump their final loads under a clear bright starlit sky on an unusually warm November night, where you could still be in shirtsleeves and be comfortable.
On Sunday morning the rain had not materialized, while greasing the combine I noticed thick black smoke coming from the vicinity of one of my closest neighbors homes across the section. I got in the pickup to investigate as I did not have my pager and as soon as I was underway Mrs. KF called me on her way home from church to tell me the fire trucks were headed toward our house. Knowing then the black smoke I was seeing was not just some brush pile or trash fire, I sped toward the road, meeting the first fire truck at the intersection. Our neighbors detached garage was on fire. He happens to live just on the other side of the line that divides fire districts, and while our station is 3 miles from his home and the other is 8, they were dispatched first, but arrived 5 minutes after our trucks did. There wasn't much left to save, we did keep it from spreading, and after about 2 hours I was able to eat lunch and combine for a few hours. Monday dawned cloudy, and the soybeans were tough, but I crawled through while listening to my combine groan, cutting very slow about 1.7 to 2 mph. Monday night we got a slow half inch, and have sat still since because we have had no sunshine. There is an outside chance of cutting late tomorrow and Saturday, then rain and maybe snow forecast for the weekend.
Looks more and more like harvest for me will go till Christmas, when you combine for 10-12 hours a week, you don't get much done.