Before harvest time fades too far from our memory I thought I'd share a few more moments from this year.
This is what dinner in the field looks like these days:
A simple production. Mom says "Where did everyone go? Doesn't anyone want to relax and enjoy their dinner awhile?" No, everyone is off for one last ride on the combines.
It isn't the easiest thing to drive with a kid on your lap. Especially one that defiantly says "I do it" and takes over the steering. Grandpa is very patient.
And this straight edge on the field wasn't so straight after Eva finished with it.
Beautiful Montana sunsets:
One night we had a storm roll in so we went out around midnight to move vehicles off the field (so they wouldn't get left in the mud.) Tom pulled out ahead of me with a loaded truck and I could see grain pouring out the back. He made it up onto the road a ways before I could get his attention to stop the truck. By then there was a pretty good trail of wheat behind him, and more piling up on the road behind the truck. For some reason the back door (which is is usually never used) had come unlatched. The weight of the load prevented us from closing it, so left the truck in the road, ran back to the house for a crowbar, then back to the truck to pry the door closed. (Good thing it was a remote country road in the middle of the night). By then the rain was pouring hard. The photo below shows Dad and Tom saving the last of what they could after already shoveling a substantial pile back into the truck.
Harvesting canola:
Early that same rainy night we had strong winds that shattered many of the canola pods before we could get them cut. So many weather events that can wreck havoc on our success. First lack of snow, then hail, then wind. Sometimes the odds are hard to beat.
The night of the storm we happened to have some great old friends for company—this sweet Minnesota family stopping on their way through. (Hard to believe we are on the way to anywhere, seems like the end of the earth sometimes, but we are on the way to Canada!) We treated them with a true campout... due to the power outage that resulted from the winds. We told them Montana is still so remote we don't even have electricity up here. Ha.
The blackout didn't prevent us from taking a few combine rides, though, which suited this big boy in front just fine.
A few days later we had more company, my brothers and their families, including my very new nephew, Brandon. (That is material for another post). With Ash to help dad in the field, we took advantage and headed out Saturday evening to Holter Lake to join Tom's family in celebrating Papa's birthday number 6-0. The girls were able to spend a few extra days camping there, but Tom and I were just lucky to sneak away for one quick overnight stay.
Nothing like eating cake in the dark around a campfire.
Except maybe getting up the next morning to go fishing.
The fish knew it was Papa's birthday too and bit his line 5 times, completely ignoring everyone else in the boat with a rod. Birthday luck.
The best part was that the kids did the dirty job of cleaning the fish.
Sometimes it feels like we miss out on a good portion of summer when we spend well over a month of it harvesting. But it just makes us appreciate the priviliages we do have all the more.