TravelStream™ news feed for member momadunc on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/momadunc en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:21:07 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/momadunc/3/1254172527/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/momadunc/3/1254172527/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/momadunc/3/1254172527/tpod.html Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:21:07 -0400 The Harvest Excursion

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Welling, Alberta, Canada

I didn't realize how long it has been since I last posted! I think that I mentioned in the last post that I was going for more x-rays. It turned out that in addition to breaking both bones in my left wrist, I had cracked the ulna in my right arm - both arms were in essence out of commission! With some help with evening meals from the Walter family, I managed and Don didn't miss a beat! The first couple of weeks, thanks to pain killers, I slept. Last week I started to visit the field with the supper delivery and towards the end of the week, Don and I figured out a way to get me up and down the ladder on the combine so that I had a couple of hours each evening riding with him. Don has been leaving here about 7:15 in the morning and returning between 1 and 2am most days so we don't see much of each other. During the day I've managed to keep up with e-mails, facebook, and do some genealogy data input with one-handed typing.

This harvest season has been phemomenal on two counts - one fantastic yields and two, great harvest weather. Until the last few days, the famous Lethbridge winds have only occasionally visited and the weather most days has hovered just below 30 degrees C. As a result harvest has proceeded quickly and may finish by mid October. Don admits that it may take a bit of an adjustment but he will be ready for a change of pace!

We also got word that we finally have a firm sale for our house and now the scramble begins to work out the logists of the 'move' and departure for a winter in the south again. It looks like we will be back in Almonte for much of the month of November.
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Welling, Alberta, Canada

Still 'just' managing! I go for more x-rays on monday.

Finally spotted the doe and two fawns that others had noted in the field. Facebook has been a boredom prevention tool this week. Computer is working much better.

Today they started to work on the barley. Its a bumper crops this year. The weather is hot, dry and dusty. Lisa took some pictures of the harvest on monday and here they are.
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Welling, Alberta, Canada

Got a great sunset shot this week!

This week has been a real stuggle with neither arm working properly. Even brushing my teeth is a problem and eating a challenge. Dave and Lisa's visit was welcome for reasons I had not anticipated when it was planned.

Dave rode the combine with Don on Saturday evening and Lisa couldn't leave until she rode on Monday. Sunday was spent in errands and another viewing of the Lethbridge Bridge which celebrated it's birthday this weekend.

Dave couldn't leave without 'fixing' our computer. So far, the reformatted disk has only resulted in mimor data loss - things that were overlooked in the backup. He tasked me with working on our ITune library, something I could do with limited movement and left some programs for me to reinstall.

Don continues to enjoy his adventure. He is finding it easier to get to know the other younger workers in this home location. Long, long days continue.

Two finger typing is tiring!
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Welling, Alberta, Canada

Tuesday, I headed into Lethbridge to connect with Donna Brown, a friend from Almonte. She was in the west to visit her Mom and during her visit found herself involved in helping her Mother get the house ready for sale in preparation for a move into a retirement home. As a result, I spent the day helping to prepare for a garage sale.
Coming back to the motor home at dusk I took a tumble and ended up with a trip to the Raymond hospital. Fortunately, Lightning, one of the workers camped nearby, came along shortly after it happened. I've broken both bones in my left arm at the wrist. A goof (I touched the fiberglass before it was cured and it collapsed) during the cast application sent me back to the hospital for a new cast Wednesday morning. While there, I mentioned that it was my right elbow that had troubled me more than the wrist during the night. They x-rayed and couldn't see anything on the films but phoned yesterday to say that the radiologist report indicated cracks in the ulna below the elbow. They will rex-ray in 10 days to make sure that it is healing properly. Needless to say, I'm having some difficulty doing the most basic of things! I decided to do some one-handed typing this morning as it requires a minimum of motion for my right elbow and I need to develop some co-ordination with my right hand - I'm left-handed!
Don's nights are short so he is scrambling in the morning to assemble his lunch. Fortunately I had prepared and frozen some sandwiches ahead. Dave and Lisa will be here on the weekend and I'll get them to help me get organized for the next week or so.
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Welling, Alberta, Canada

Yesterday we were thrilled to have Brian and Rose Sarsfield from Carleton Place, ON drop by and spend the night dry camping beside us. A family wedding here at the farm gave Don the day off today, so we did a short tour of the area last night and again this morning to show them the machinery and then out to the St. Mary's Reservoir near Spring Coulee. Just as they were leaving at noon, Bob and Karen Ritchie, our 'railway friends' from BC, drove in. We have been looking forward to seeing them again as we had such a great time with them in AZ last March.
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Welling, Alberta, Canada

Saturday afternoon, on our way to get some groceries, we checked out the longest trestle bridge in the world, spanning Oldman river here in Lethbridge. Shopping is about 22 km away, and once supplies get low, it means a trip into Lethbridge. We viewed the bridge from the park along the river and Bob was thrilled when a train crossed the trestle on cue! Next weekend marks the 100th anniversary of the bridge with appropriate events planned. Then back to the wheat field for dinner.
Sunday we headed for Waterton National Park and the scenic drives within the park. There was lots of wildlife, including a black bear feeding on berries in the ditch along the road - right beside the truck.
Monday, we checked out some campgrounds, visited the Galt Museum that has a feature exhibit on the history of the bridge and then headed for the railway museum at Sterling. It is a fledgling operation featuring the former Sweetgrass station which once included both American and Canadian customs and the border marked by a white line on the platform. Bob found a speeder, just like his, but in much poorer shape he assured me.
Then back to the farm in time to connect with Shelley so that we could follow the supper truck to the field. Don's group is working on the Blood Reserve where much of the crop is located. He was able to take Bob for a short ride. Bob's background is in the construction and servicing of large logging equipment so the machinery used for harvesting was of great interest to him.
You really get a sense of the vastness of the prairie when in those fields. The combines try to stay together out there as, once separated from the others it is easy to get lost. We got a sense of this when we decided to find our way back to Lethbridge on our own. We traveled for 45 minutes on gravel roads trying to get to the highway but did not find a connector. We followed the Blood Coulee - deep and wide - going into and out of the coulee at one point. Then we seemed to be along the Oldman Coulee before finally connecting with hwy 509 which led onto hwy 3 into Lethbridge.
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Welling, Alberta, Canada

By early afternoon today the landscape in the vicinity of the the motor home changed dramatically. After several days of repairs and replacment of parts (Don spent 2-3 days doing nothing but replacing knives on headers), the combines started to roll today. There was a general sigh of relief as this group gets very jittery during down time. Even Don was ready and raring to go by Monday night!

After sorting through some cupboards and doing 'housework', I settled into a day at the sewing machine on yet another project. I'm enjoying the time I get to really focus on my art work!

We've got several groups of friends passing through over the next couple of weeks and got a call tonight indicating Rose and Brian will be the first, arriving tomorrow afternoon.
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Welling, Alberta, Canada

We are settled into our new home behind the bunkhouse on a farm south of Lethbridge and enjoyed a great bacon and eggs breakfast on the edge of a wheat field overlooking Alberta prairie in one direction and the Rockies in another! This was a lazy day as Don seemed to need to stay quiet. A short drive this evening gave us a great vantage point to view an southern Alberta sunset.
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Welling, Alberta, Canada

Friday was clean-up day and this machine clean-up was particularly intensive as not a trace of dust can be emitted if the customs people at the border ask for the machine to be started. They use both high pressure air and washers to do the job. The combines will be driven, minus headers to the farm at Welling AB. The headers will be trucked. This is about a seven hour trip for the combines and luckily Don will not have to do this although I think a part of him would like to. He is very stiff from doing the work on his machine! The travel time is much less for us in the coach although we will have to stop for fuel and propane.

I've been busy this week as well. A friend in Ottawa sent me notice of a call for entries for a show at an art gallery in Auburn, NY. As a result, I completed a piece that has been on the go for a while and found a way to hang it for photography ( used two extension poles, one for a white sheet from the Salvation Army center and one for the fibre art, suspended between mirrors at the front of the coach)! Not as good as studio conditions but I thought the results were not bad considering. Then I had to search out packaging and CDs to prepare the entry. Now the waiting game!

I sent the entry off Friday morning and when I got into the car to go to the post office, discovered that my windshield had cracked. On our way to Calgary on the weekend, we drove a section of highway where they were laying new stone chip surface and I remember commenting to Don that I would be glad when we were through that section. When I checked, I found a particle from the errant rock embedded in the rubber seal at the bottom of the window under the wiper blade! Preparing the coach for crossing the border was delayed while I had a new windshield installed. Then back to the coach to make salads etc. to ensure that all fresh veggies and fruit were used. Even though I had not purchased any items for the last week, it was amazing how much was still there. The up side was that we have salads and apple crisp ready for moving day and beyond!


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Great Falls, Montana, United States

After working until midnight most days this week , including Wednesday night, the harvesters were rained out on Thursday by noon . They are near finished here in Montana but need a few more good harvest days. A wedding at the end of the month in Lethbridge is adding an additional layer of urgency for some of the crew. I spent Friday morning assembling a fibre art piece, preparing it for quilting. The picnic table was the only place where I could lay it out to assemble the layers. A little narrower than ideal but it worked, especially for using the spray glue that keeps the layers from shifting.

By noon on Friday it was decided that the weather was not going to improve and that everyone was free to do their own thing until Sunday night. We have been accumulating mail in Calgary and had some other business to do so decided quickly to pack the car and spend the weekend with Dave and Lisa. It's about a 5 1/2 to 6 hour drive to Calgary but the highway is excellent and there was little traffic. The pictures show how heavy the sky was.

We really enjoyed the weekend and had a great salmon meal on Saturday with Dave and Lisa. They certainly are a busy pair! Saturday afternoon I was able to connect with Lynda, my new favorite hairdresser, and got a much needed haircut. Sunday noon we headed back and today by noon, Don was once again headed for the field. I haven't been out to the fields lately but he tells me it takes over an hour to get to where they are working.

Today, laundry, groceries and cleaning chores ate up most of the day. Tomorrow the sewing machine beckons. Oh and there is some mail to sort, file and do follow-up on. Life keeps getting in the way of the fun stuff!
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