"I just wanna get done"...

Even though I haven't done many farming posts, surely ya'll are smart enough to know that B-rad has been spending every waking minute in the combine.  Like seriously - the boy works 14-16 hours a DAY.  It's maddening.  

He always gets into the 'I just wanna get done' mode when he's planting, side dressing & then combining.  So when I say, "Hey-can we do this?" or "Hey, can you help me with this?" the answer is always the same, "I GOTTA RUN."  To which I reply, "Is it REALLY going to kill you to take a couple hours off?"  

The answer...

"I JUST WANNA GET DONE."  

Aaaaand there it is...

13 years...you'd think one day I'd learn...

So anywho this year we knew they were going to finish early (usually they are done around Thanksgiving & it's not uncommon for B-rad to eat a gluttonous turkey lunch & 'go run the combine' after) because there wasn't much grain out there to be had so they could drive super fast.  (UHM, like 5 miles an hour rather than 3...  Told ya it was maddening...)  

I took him lunch on Saturday & he was in the next to last field before being done.   I stayed to ride around with him for a couple of hours because I was bored it was too nice of a day to be cooped up inside my house.  

This is what I got to look at for 2 hours.  I can't believe B-rad does it for hours, days, weeks & months on end.  I would be even more crazy.  This year there is even more urgency to 'get done' because we are going to have to file a claim with our insurance & we can't do that until all the weight tickets are in & they know exactly what we didn't have.

 In keeping with the 'I just wanna get done' theme, they unload the combine 'on the go'.  See the red thing on the left?  That's the auger that unloads the corn from the combine. (I'm sitting inside the cab of the combine looking out.)  Our 16 year old nephew, Brady's, job this year was to drive the tractor with the grain cart beside him... (Isn't he like way too little to be doing that stuff?  He was just like 5 the other day....)

B-rad turns the auger on & they drive down the field whilst unloading corn AND still running the combine at the same time.   Seriously.

It sounds simple enough, but it's not.  It's a delicate little dance they do to make sure:

a) That they don't hit each other.

b) That they don't lose any corn by one of them going faster or slower than the other one.

c) B-rad doesn't run over or miss any corn still standing.

d) Brady doesn't run over any corn still standing.

You can see in this pic just how close they are... this crap makes me nervous...

 B-rad did get done Saturday night.  YAY!  This is always a happy time in our house.  And while you might think the work is done & B-rad can rest & be a normal human again - think again.  They had to move all the equipment home Sunday & they cleaned it up.  There is ALWAYS something that can be done on the farm.   (But in the spirit of full disclosure, if the weather gets too bad to work outside, it's not uncommon to find B-rad asleep at home in his chair.  Like forever....) PLUS eventually the grain we were able to harvest needs to be taken in & sold.  Maybe he can cut back to 10-12 hour days instead?  Lucky guy...