This picking is a lot more fun when you are not losing your rear. Yields are up almost a hundred percent over last year and prices are up nearly fifty percent. [We'd rather forget last year. That was ugly.]
Some of you may remember me saying I am only one broken bolt from disaster. Well Friday afternoon it hit. The big red machine in the picture above is called a module builder. We dump cotton in there. The cotton is then picked up and hauled to the gin to be baled. Well, we lost an hour and a half Friday when one little bolt, on one chain broke. We had to un-jam the chain, install a new master link and then re-align the tamper. I hate when that happens. no matter how well we prepare these things happen with old equipment. I seem to remember a saying about Mother Nature siding with the hidden flaw. We try to make most of our repairs like an Indy pit crew- get 'er fixed and back out in the field. We stock the parts and tools for common things that break. In this case I did have a chain master link ready to go.
I would really freak out if we were picking under the threat of rain. But, I gotta admit the weather has been fabulous and the weather man is on our side for the coming week also. So, break downs are frustrating, but they don't give me the heartburn they usually would. We still gotta 'whoop and scoot'. We should finish first picking this week. Then we have to second pick. Then we have to work in the stalks, disc the ground down, bed back up and get the wheat planted before the heavy winter rains hit. So, while we are enjoying the warm weather we are not relaxing at all. There is still plenty of work to do. So, we have taken a Sabbath rest. We had a great Sunday afternoon dinner with our daughter and her family. Tomorrow, first light, we'll be back in the field getting the picker ready to go back at it.
I hope y'all have a great week.
P
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