Long time, no talk!


Hello again, after much time away! With working in the fields these past two weeks, posting a blog has not been high on the priority list. Besides, Scott had the phone and computer and he was just as busy!

 
So from Rachelle's house (Monday, October 16th) we drove back to Cut Knife and repacked our duffle bags to go farming, Scott in Cut Knife with Jim and Karen, and me (Shannon) to Imperial with Ross and Brenda. Scott helped with combining and baling and finished up on Saturday, October 20th. He caught a ride to Saskatoon Sunday afternoon and I drove in to pick him up.

The baler


The view out Scott's tractor window




Brenda and I with our combines
 
We spent the next week together working for Ross and Brenda, Scott doing a lot of harrowing and me driving combine, one of the things I really enjoy doing! It's not always fun - one evening I picked up a large rock in the header. It was so big and stuck in such a way that Ross and Adam had to take the header off the combine to remove the rock. That wasted 1 - 2 hours of combining time.

Taking the header off to remove the rock


The rock. It probably weighed 50 pounds!
For those of you not familiar with farming, it is common to get rocks in the header of the combine, especially when cutting the crop close to the ground. However, combines are designed to handle this. There is a rock trap behind the header to catch small rocks (up to cantaloupe size). You just have to empty it after you hear the rocks thunk into it, otherwise they may be dragged further into the combine by the crop. And that would be very expensive to fix and cause long delays!
 
Some of the crops we harvested this year were canola, wheat, barley, soy beans and flax. Depending on the temperature, wind and humidity, we would work from about 10 am to midnight, sometimes even later if bad weather was in the forecast.
 
Among the good things about driving combine are the things you get to see. This year I saw a variety of deer, several moose, a porcupine, a bald eagle, a skunk, and lots of geese and swans. I also witnessed some amazing sunsets!
Some breath taking colours!
We spent Monday, October 29th with Scott's parents in Watrous. We enjoyed ice cream and playing cards. Scott and I actually won three games of Canasta!! 
 
These past few weeks have been a new experience for us as we wait for appointments and continue to wait for results. Thank you for your prayers. We do sense God's peace in all of this. I (Shannon) went for the biopsy yesterday. The staff were so great! They answered all of our questions and were very kind and caring. The results will be back by November 13. We'll keep you posted.
 
As we wait for the biopsy results we will be back to Red Deer to take in a Celebrate Recovery workshop, visit with Rachelle and the kids before traveling to Lloydminster to visit friends and Lindsay's family. After that we will be spending a week house-sitting for cousins in Imperial. We are looking forward to sleeping, reading, walking and watching a few movies together!
 
Enjoy your day and don't just count your blessings, share them!

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