January around here has been a month of passing a cold back and forth. Hopefully, we’re all over that now!
Around mid-month temperatures were in the 40s, finally a nice enough day to get the combines out and blow them off. This year we did something different. Instead of fighting crop residue with the shop air compressor and a leaf blower, we rented a larger air compressor and went to work. It was efficient. In about three hours the machines were cleaner (on the inside) than they have been for quite a while. This task had been scheduled for November but a day or two before it was to happen, Mark slipped off the semi-cab step and was banged up for quite a while.
We’re keeping the shop packed full. Unfortunately, waiting on parts is continually holding up completion of jobs. The big space taker currently is the combine and corn head. Hopefully, those parts come in soon and we can move them out! It seems like there are about 43 different things going on at the same time. That’s not even counting trying to tidy up the work areas.
Accidents happen
One of the drivers smashed the semi-truck hood and bumper into an iron post this fall. We did a quick repair job the next day to keep it in service, but the long-term fix of a replacement hood didn’t happen until last week. The bumper is now at the welding shop. Hopefully, we get that back soon.
The truck also went in for a laundry list of little things. As soon as it is ready, we will take it in for new tires. After that, it should be ready to work for quite a while!
We also cycled all the trucks through the shop and installed camera systems on them. It’s something we wanted to do for several years but never got done. Everyone knows “stupid” is a constant on the roadways. Hopefully, this will help us see what goes on. If these cameras work out, I think we will install them in some tractors as well.