08 Jul Sage: Playing the Waiting Game

Dumas, Texas- First off sorry to everyone about not posting a blog in while.  We have literally done nothing here in Dumas since I last blogged, in a sense of cutting wheat.  But we have had a to-do list a mile long to finish up, and we are almost done with it.

The timing actually could not have been better for the break.  We are shorthanded right now because one of our truck drivers went to Missouri for a wedding and has been gone since July 1.  Another couple employees had great opportunities at home and they gave their two-weeks notices a couple weeks ago and now just took off.  Tonight we are adding a couple more truck drivers so that should even out the staff.

As for me, I have been sick since July 3.  I’m still not too sure what it was, but I know for a fact it wasn’t strep (what Sierra had about two weeks ago).  It was some kind of flu that settled in my head, now I have a really bad head cold, to go along with a little bit of cabin fever.

My mom, Lisa, was done here helping, but she just left today.  She came down for a little bit to help with the cooking efforts after our cook left.  Sierra has been taking over that job now that we are sitting still, but will have to relinquish it once we get back in the field.  I’ve learned about my little sister this summer, but mainly, she is one heckuva hard worker.

Around the yard here we have been working on some not so little projects.  We are fixing a header that was dinged up when I was gone (wow we have had some header issues this summer) and that project is almost done.  The cook camper bathroom also flooded so we had to fix the piping on that.  Along with that, came replacing the carpet that was in there.  That has turned into a couple of days project as everything still has to dry, story of our time here in Dumas.

Our future timescale, once we finish up our to-do list is this We have one more day of cutting, whenever it is dry enough to cut.  Hopefully we will be moving from Dumas here by Saturday to Limon, Colo.  Once there we will have all four combines for only three or four days as half the crew will split over to Grant, Neb. to do a very small job there.  That crew will then continue on to South Dakota.

The other two combines will finish up in Colorado then move to Wyoming where we have a tiny, one or two day job before we will split again and move our last combine to Montana, while the other will go to South Dakota.  Everyone will meet back up in Montana after the wheat harvest is completely underway there.

But remember it has to dry out before any of the future plans can happen.  So as of now, we still wait.

Dad showing us how to really play the waiting game.

Part of the crew working on the header.

Sierra shows off her skills in the kitchen.

Rainbows are starting to become a familiar scene this week.

Sage Sammons can be reached at sage@allaboardharvest.com. All Aboard 2010 Wheat Harvest is sponsored by High Plains Journal and DuPont Crop Protection.