22 Nov Christy: A snowy end

It’s been a great week of finishing customers and beginning the process of bringing all our equipment back home. Pretty soon Gary’s yard will be busy and full; cleaning up equipment and getting everything stored for winter.

The Roscoe, South Dakota, crew is still chipping away at Gary’s corn. All customers were wrapped up a couple of days ago. With a little snow delay, we’re thinking the final stalk will be picked on either Monday or Tuesday, and we can call it a year. We’ll be looking forward to seeing our crew from South Dakota when they return.

(Photo by Patrick Gomon.)

Our Elkton crew pulled in on Thursday, bringing a combine, service truck, and two more campers home. They pulled the campers into the shop right away since we had snow and freezing temperatures in the forecast.

Paul also finished combining the last of our crop Thursday just in time before the snow. We still have some trucks to unload at our bins, but it’s done. And it’s a really good feeling to be done. We didn’t get too much snow at home, but farther north at the field I believe they received quite a bit more. It was icy after the snow, but it’ll be gone in the next day or so. We’re supposed to get temperatures back in the 60s briefly next week.

After finishing up the last fields between Elkton and home, we had everyone besides our Roscoe crew over for supper. It’s relaxing to finally sit around a table and eat, instead of grabbing and eating on the go. I made country style ribs and shrimp, twice baked potatoes, rolls, and apple crisp with vanilla ice cream for dessert. I think everyone was ready for a nap afterwards.

From the first day we cut this spring, to what should hopefully be our last day combining this coming Tuesday, we will have spent 165 days on the harvest run this year. That doesn’t include the two weeks we sat in Texas waiting for the rain to quit, or all the time spent this spring preparing for harvest, but those are the days that count at the end of the season. That’s almost a whole school year.

Going forward, Rhonada and I will spend the majority of next week cleaning out campers and getting them ready to be winterized. We should see the Roscoe crew pull in early in the week, and it’ll probably take a few more days to retrieve everything that hasn’t been brought home yet.

Then what’s next is always the hardest part to me. We say goodbye to the kids that stuck it out with us this year. I always tell myself I’m not going to cry when I take them to the airport, or they stop by on their way out of town, but I always do. You grow to love these guys, and all they’ve helped us accomplish. We wish for all that come through our crew the best on their future endeavors.

Christy Paplow can be reached at christy@allaboardharvest.com.

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