Long ago when I was a fresh faced, newly married, young farmwife, I told my DH that I could drive a straight stick. And I could. I learned how on my dad's VW Bug. Shifter, clutch, 1st, 2nd, 3rd gear and away we go.
I wanted to let DH know that I could do things and be helpful. That might have been my first mistake.
It started out gradually. He taught me how to run the riding mower. Not much shifting involved. But the need to coordinate moving and steering and lifting the mower up and down. Ok. I can do this.
Then there was the lesson in the old green truck. It has a lot of experience under it's wheels and is very patient with a newbie driver. I can only remember driving it a bit around the yard and if a rain storm was on it's way and it was loaded with grain, I could put it in the shed.
As the years went by the boys were born and I did less outside because of having babies in the house. But eventually they grew up, as kids tend to do and I was back to being a helper. Not on a regular basis mind you. Not enough to get any real experience but enough to keep me from getting too rusty.
Harvest is a crazy time. Too much to do. Too few weeks to get it done. Add to that uncooperative weather. And so for a few years we would hire custom combiners. And it was one such day that I was put to work driving a truck while barley harvest was happening.
This truck actually.
It is mainly retired now and is used at the seed plant for moving a little grain around but back then it was our best truck along with it's twin sister. It's pretty small looking compared to what is used now on farms but then it was a big deal.
She's in pretty good shape considering all the work that she's done over the years.
See the little red button on the shifter? I never did learn how to use that. DH said it wasn't necessary and I was good with that. It has to do with split shifting and double clutching. Umm, yea, that's okay. I'll skip that lesson!
So when you are combining and are storing the grain at your farm this is the setup for getting the grain off the truck into the grain bin.
The auger is run hydraulically by the tractor.
And this is the hopper that you have to back up to and dump the truck.
See the little chute in the middle bottom of the truck box?
Here's a closeup shot. You have to get that lined up just right side to side and front to back with the hopper so you don't dump any grain on the ground. You've got to be good at backing up while looking in the rear view mirror.
This is what the inside of the hopper looks like. It's turns like crazy when the auger is on. And you have to stand back there and adjust how wide open the chute is so you have the correct amount of grain going into the auger. Too much will plug it. (Disaster!) Or too little is hard on the auger.
This spinning auger combined with chaffy grain creates quite a dust cloud.
So all of that is the background story to me relearning how itchy barley is.
So would you like to go back in time with me while I remember what that evening was like?
Jump on in!
As I said, we had custom combiners and we were short of truck drivers. And of course that meant that the 2nd string was called into action. (me)
We were combining about 4 miles from home but using the bins in the yard to store the barley. It was a warm day with no wind.
So here I am, wanting to do the best I could but nervous you know. Belly clenching queasy.
Hop in the truck. Head down the road to the field. Maneuver the truck on the approach and into the field. And when you arrive, there are 2 combines with their augers out ready to unload. They have arranged themselves so that both combines can unload at the same time. Pull under the augers and just moments later you are loaded. Probably loaded heavier that you would like but there is no changing that now. Get the truck in gear and make sure you have enough speed on to get back up that approach and turn quick onto the road.
While heading back to the farm to unload you meet the other truck going back to the field. Dust everywhere and you have to decide just how far you dare move over to make room for that truck on the narrow gravel road. And also do you crank the window up to keep the dust out or do you live with the dust and hang onto the steering wheel? Whew. That worked out. Now just to get home and start unloading.
Pull into the yard. There's a nice wide driveway here though. No narrow approach like the field. That helps.
Back up to the auger and get everything lined up just right. 2nd DS is there to run the tractor and the hydraulics to make the auger work. Thank you 2nd DS!
But now you have to raise the box on the truck and open the chute in the back so the barley can run into the auger. Not too much or too little. Remember you don't want to damage the auger. So you stand there in the dust that is just hanging there because today of all days there is no wind, and adjust on the opening of the chute.
Gee, it is getting itchy. Especially around my neck and in my eyes. Rub, itch, scratch.
There are many trips up and down the road with the truck and many times dumping into the auger at home. More itching and more rubbing.
The next day my eyes were so sore. I should have known better. I grew up on a farm. But I didn't remember about barley chaff being itchy and that you really shouldn't rub or itch. There is a reason that a new barley variety that isn't itchy was named "Celebration". Cause barley that doesn't make you itch is truly a celebration!
