jerry takes a ride during harvest

while jerry might have been raised on a farm and spent quite a bit of time there, things have certainly changed over the years. when my brother was harvesting beans next to our house, jerry said, "you know, i've never been on a combine w/ a cab." i convinced him that he should go out and ride around for a while and he jumped on the chance.

we walked down the lane and down the road a bit to where kirk was parked. he had no cell phone signal in the field, but could go to the end and talk. we stood around a talked for a bit, and then i told kirk that jerry would really like to ride in the combine. kirk easily agreed, and he's usually really good to give rides and talk about what's going on. he has a john deere 9650, so it's pretty big.

i think jerry thought that it would be a fairly tight fit in the cab as he probably wouldn't have a place to sit, but he was surprised to find out that this combine has 2 seats in it. much better for men, who seem to have a fear of being too close! i went ahead and just walked back to the house, as jerry would be like a kid in a candy store w/ too much money to spend and i wasn't sure how long he would ride. i didn't want to just stand down the road "waiting" so he could enjoy his time riding and talking.


there is no secret of when this is moving along, as the fog of dust and the hum of machinery warns a person well in advance. i stood on the carport on the east side of the house and took this picture from about 300 yards away. i just thought it looked neat to see the combine making headway through that cloud of dust w/ the sun shining on the side of it.


jerry didn't know i was out there taking pictures (probably because he was so absorbed in riding in the combine and talking) i was amazed that i could actually "see" him in the cab in this picture as these were taken from so far away and then zoomed in. he only rode a couple rounds, but he was gone a couple hours. they had a breakdown, and jerry being the mechanical-minded guy that he is . . . just couldn't help but stay and help see what the problem was and find a solution.



for this day, the solution was to put the combine in the shop, order parts, and call it a day. while they intended to be harvesting on thanksgiving, that option wasn't an option after this afternoon. nothing like a "forced" holiday for family fun time!