This week Mark and I tackled the job that neither of us wanted to do: re-blading the 40-foot vertical tillage tool. We are just getting ready to start the fourth season of use and the blades were shot. Honestly, it wasn’t as bad as we expected. We budgeted a whole week for the job but completed it in about 2½ days.
We probably could have finished even sooner, but we had grain load out issues to deal with the second day, and ambition was hard to find on the third day. We still have some odds and ends maintenance items to do to the machine, but it should be out of the shop quickly. Mark had another project going on today and Ava’s softball team is opening up the college season in the dome in Rosemont, Ill., so we both took the day off.
Delivering grain
The ethanol plant has been down much of the last two weeks for one reason or another, including a small fire Monday. So, we didn’t haul any corn.
We’re hauling soybeans but the lines get long pretty quick, especially after lunch. The guys are only making two loads a day. On Wednesday, one driver went back to take a third load. After waiting in line for a couple hours, the electric hopper openers wouldn’t work. He had to turn around and come home. The culprit was a loose wire in the control box.
Delivering soybeans is a slow process all around these days. The load out hopper where we usually stage grain is unavailable, so we’re having to use the load out spout. Things just aren’t working great. We might be better off if we could get the auger to the bin rather than using the grain leg.
More to do
Between loading trucks, dad has been working with the excavator as our cleanup push continues. We made slow but steady progress this week. We pushed up some of the brush this week, but we have plenty more to do before spring tillage or planting.