The day started out with a call from my neighbour, (whose fields we rent) Aldon Smith. He wants to dredge his pond out a needs a place to spread some (very wet) top soil. I had the perfect place, (where the field had been dug up for the chicken barns across the road), but it still had corn on it.
Since we were all done the soybeans, it would only take an hour or so to change heads on the combine, and adjust the settings, and harvest the acre or so where we wanted to put the top soil. Not really a whole day changing proposition. Or so I thought..
The trouble started when I tried to adjust the bottom screen for corn. The whole thing was lose, and the bolts that hold it in place were gone. Not being able to actually get it back in place, I started the process of pulling out the top screen so I could see what was wrong with the bottom one. Several bolts, and minutes later, now with the help of ‘senior management’ we pulled out both screens to find out the whole track that the bottom screen mounts on was cracked and broken. Not sure how we finished the soybeans with it like that! (or how long it had been broken)
Luckily, we have a spare (burnt) combine with just the right replacement part! Of course this involves one person climbing inside the combine to hold the bolts, while the other person on the outside takes the nuts off, first for the broken one, then for the replacement, and finally to reinstall the replacement.
Now normally I’m a pretty nimble person, but at some point early in the day, I pulled a back muscle, and it just kept getting worse all day. That left my dear, pretty-darn-nimble dad to do all the climbing into the back of the combine! (I considered it a victory just to move.)
So us two old folkies (I’m pretty sure I was playing the part better than he was) managed to get it all back together by chore time, and the next morning, 24 hrs later than anticipated, I got that one acre of corn harvested, and ready for some real good top soil!