I have been getting some feedback that people wonder what is going on.

I was kind of waiting, as Jon was working on something that I thought I might blog about yet.    He told me officially today that is not going to work out.

So, this is my last blog entry for 2010.   The equipment is all cleaned and put away for the winter; all the employees except George and Jake have gone back to their homes.    Thank you to each and every one of them.   I wish them all good luck in whatever the future holds for them.  

Thank you to all of you, too, for reading my ramblings and making comments.    There are some nights I wonder why I ever got the idea to do this (when they forget to send me the pictures or tell me what is going on particularly) but most of the time it has been fun.   I do plan to do it again next year...hopefully you view that as a promise and not a threat.

This winter we hope to be able to attend the Ag Connect in Atlanta in January and the US Custom Harvester's convention in March.   Hope to see some of you there.

In the meantime, I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving...there really is SO much that we can be thankful for this year....and a great Christmas.  Remember..Santa is watching..and he has all the latest technology so you can't get away with anything.

Peace and Love to you all...Suzy Orr

Posted by suzyorr at 4:01 PM EST

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Another day with electric company working on stringing wires on the poles they set yesterday.   That meant that...once again!!!...my electic was turned off.  I am sure getting tired of flashing clocks and having to every water faucets sputtering air.     I am told to expect this more times until it is finally all redone.   This is what I saw when I left for awhile today.   Looks like they are having a party.  

Here is what some of the guys worked at today when the electric was on..

Posted by suzyorr at 11:04 PM EDT

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The first order of business is that Jon came in today and said he had made a mistake and the correct spelling is  SHAWN Feikert.   At the time he told me ShaUn, I questioned that, as I have never seen it spelled with a U.  But he was sure.   LOL.    I had tried looking it up in the phone book, but he is either unlisted or only has a cell.    Whatever...now you know.

Jon sent me this picture today and said I was to caption it  "Lowe & Young has so many parts, they have to stack them to the ceiling".  

Posted by suzyorr at 9:34 PM EDT

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Wow...some wicked weather brewing out there right now.  High winds and they are saying it is going to get a lot worse before it is over.   We are under tornado watch and we are supposed to get slammed in about an hour.  Radar looks ominous. 

I thought I'd better blog now, as who knows if we will have electric later.

Right now the guys are out doing something that they always enjoy.   A class from ATI came to see our machinery (I think this is an agronomy class).   Over the years we have hosted many classes and for the most part have found it a positive experience.  Perhaps some of you visited our farm that way at some point.

For those who aren't familiar with ATI (Agricultural Technical Insitute) this is a branch of The Ohio State University and is located in Wooster.   Jon graduated from there.   If you know a student who is planning to make ag their life, I encourage you to look at ATI at http://ati.osu.edu/    

Posted by suzyorr at 2:09 PM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 26 October 2010 2:20 PM EDT

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Yesterday afternoon at 2:50 I got a phone call from Jason that he and Jim had just finished harvesting the last field of soybeans!    They have all 10 of our trucks plus Sheldon's semi loaded to go tomorrow, but it's all harvested.    Yea!

Now whatever will they do with their time?  I am sure they will find lots to do yet.   They have some things in the planning stages, so I'll tell you about that later if it works out. 

Jon told me tonight that I have been spelling SHAUN Feikert's name Sean.  Sorry.   Since I have only had my name (Suzy)  spelled right maybe a half dozen times in my whole life, I can relate,  Shaun. 

Tonight we all got together at our daughter Becca's house for the annual pumpkin carving evening.   Here are pictures

Oops...in this last picture, Megan and Jake's masterpiece at the far left doesn't seem to have made it.    

Posted by suzyorr at 10:15 PM EDT

Updated: Sunday, 24 October 2010 10:57 PM EDT

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They had hoped to maybe get done harvesting soybeans today but the rains put a stop to that.    Maybe tomorrow....hmmm...where have I heard that phrase before?  

The crew spent a good part of the day washing up the trucks, manure tankers and tractors.  They had three power washers going, so were able to get quite a lot done.   Thanks, guys!  You are all such good workers!

While we couldn't run the beans, they went to watch Sean Feikert running his 12 row head  in corn.  

Posted by suzyorr at 9:24 PM EDT

Updated: Friday, 22 October 2010 12:11 AM EDT

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Yesterday while George was out deer hunting he found an abandoned car in the woods behind Jon's house.   It turns out it had been stolen in July.   In order to get to where it was left, it had to be driven along the edge of a corn field, then into the woods.   They ended up high centering on a stump...but if they had gone 15 feet further they would have ended up in the creek anyway.   

The owner had already collected money from the insurance company and bought another car but she was happy for a chance to come reclaim her belongings from the car. 

Now...why would anyone steal a car and then leave it...not even taking the portable DVD player in the back seat?    Just weird!!  Clearly they are of limited mental capacities. 

Here is a picture of where they went into the woods and then a picture of the car.

Today they hauled corn to Mansfield and continued to haul manure to our fields.    

It is raining out right now, so I am not sure what will be done tomorrow.   If it is dry enough, they plan to go down and harvest soybeans for Mr. Daugherty... for whom we have harvested beans for quite a few years.   He is in his 80's and still very involved in his farm.   His grandson is a good friend of Jon's who worked for us in his younger years and the guys really enjoy working for his grandpa.      

Posted by suzyorr at 10:15 PM EDT

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Another busy weekend is done.   I told you last time that our combine is down..AGAIN!    On Saturday they went down and picked up this machine which we can use until they figure out what is wrong with ours.

Most of us went to Megan's last game of the regular season in Rittman, and Jim stayed home and combined corn.   He called about 6 and said he was finished.  Corn is done for 2010!    Still hard to believe we are done with corn already!     

Today Jon has been harvesting beans for Jim's cousin, whose John Deere combine has been in the shop for a long time.   

All crops are done here on the home farm and they hope to start working at harvesting the last of the soybeans that are at Missy's parent's farm West of Wooster (about 10-12 miles from us).  

Jim and I were able to go to both of Jake's hockey games today.   After the 5:30 game, we treated the whole family to Red Lobster and then went to our daughter Becca's house for this:

Thank goodness they ran out of candles...if they had put all 64 on it, the cake would have melted.   As you can see...I am loving being surrounded by my 7 grands.    They surely add so much joy to my life!   But...O....M....G......I am going to 64 years old tomorrow!!??  How can that be?    

Posted by suzyorr at 10:32 PM EDT

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It rained a little bit earlier today, but tonight it was a clear night..perfect for a high school football game.   We don't have anyone playing on the team..yet (Justin is just a 5th grader)  but we do have a grandson in the band. 

Jim was not planning to go to the game as they were hoping to finish up the corn today and move out to the other side of Wooster to finish up the soybeans.    However...the (sorry, but I can not print the words that Jim said here) combine once again had belt issues.  This is at least the 8th belt this damned machine has eaten.   I am of the opinion that it is painted yellow not only because it is a Caterpillar..but because it is a lemon.    When it runs..it is great.  On Thursday afternoon Jon combined 18,000 wet bushels of corn.    But 8 belts is at least 8 belts too many!    I would imagine many of you have never replaced this belt...much less 8 times!!!

We are under frost alert for tonight.   The average day for frost in our area is Oct. 16th..so that is right on schedule.   

This blog seems to have totally eaten my last entry.    At least it doesn't show up on my computer.   I read it right after I posted, but hadn't looked at it again until tonight, when I see it is missing.   Oh well..I am sure you won't miss my profound comments.

Before they decided to combine, some of the crew were working at hauling manure from our pit to harvested corn fields.   Jon's son, Jason, was in charge of running the pump to fill the tanks.  

.

Posted by suzyorr at 11:08 PM EDT

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If you read the blog last year, you know that I often pick literary quotes as titles...usually deep reading like...Winnie the Pooh.   

We had been told to expect rain today but we got about 15 drops on the windshield about 5 o'clock.  Not enough to stop the combine.     Jason came over after school and got my camera and took another 387 pictures of the combine running the the field East of the farmstead.    He really took some nice pictures, but you've seen quite a few of the combine running already.   I will include a couple though.   This is of the combine and Fendt and grain cart unloading.  You've seen a couple like that too, but the reason I chose this is that you can see how beautiful the trees are right now and also because the set of buildings behind them is Maple Grove Amish School that somehow was built on the North East corner of our farm many years ago.  

 Good picture, Jason! 

I thought this was a neat picture too, and know that it involved some work on Jason's part to take it.

The day started out with visits from some people from the electric company.  They staked out where they will be putting new poles and worked for a while getting some wiring restrung.  However, they got an emergency call and had to leave, so Jon decided that while the electric is already turned off, he would continue working on the wiring.   

Do we own a bucket truck?  Why, no, now that you ask,  we do not.   But, hey, when did such mundane things bother these Orr men?   After all, we have a pay loader,  a set of steps and some ladders.   

I am always glad I don't know about these ideas until they are done!   I hope our insurance agent doesn't read this blog!!

Posted by suzyorr at 11:24 PM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 12 October 2010 9:15 PM EDT

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They started combining beans in the field west of the house this evening.

Jake, Megan, Jason, and Justin came over to ride go carts and decided to take my camera and take some pictures.    They brought the camera in and downloaded the pictures to my computer..and they had taken 877 pictures!!!   Digital cameras are great, aren't they?  Can you imagine trying to take that many pictures back in the "olden" days? 

I told them I would post them on the blog, so here ...a FEW..of the better ones are (and...NO, Megan, I refuse to put the one you took of Jake spitting, no matter how artistic it is)

I really like this one they took of the combine and our pond.

Here are the boys riding the go carts in the area beside the field.   While they look close the the combine, there is actually a creek and an open area between them.  The camera makes them look closer than they are.  

They had such a great time together.   Jim called and said he was enjoying listening to them laughing.

The go carts just got back from the shop.   Earlier in the year they couldn't get them to start, so we hauled them to the shop and just got them back this week.   The older red go cart we have had since Jon was a kid.   Jim and my mother went to farm auction to buy something totally different.  Mom was listening to them bidding on the go cart and she leaned forward and said to Jim "my God, they are going to get $300 for that!"  Jim thought she told him to bid $300...and the rest is history.  LOL.  She said many many times as she sat and watched many kids riding it that she never regretted it.  Besides, she loved to tell the story on Jim.  Obviously, me too.

Here is a picture they took of Jim in the grain cart and Jon in combine.  When the bin in the combine gets full, the lights come on to tell the grain cart operator it is time to unload.

They were out there so long, they could take the same picture a while later

Posted by suzyorr at 8:56 PM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 12 October 2010 9:18 PM EDT

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They worked at combining corn yesterday and got everything full so that Jim and Jon could take the time to watch some high school soccer games last night.   After the game, Jim and I went to a great party at friends (thanks Emersons for a great time!)  and Jon thankfully came home.   He was sitting in his living room and just happen to look out in time to see our main electric pole on fire!    He came over and got the fire out before it damaged any buildings.    A call to the electric company brought a bucket truck out around 1 AM.   This was on my computer this morning..with a time stamp of 1:10am.... it's the bucket truck and man working in the dark.   Gotta love Jim's photographic skills.

As Jim so succinctly says...the electric pole is a "cluster@uck of wires" .   We have had the electric company out any number of times but guess it needs to be totally redone.    Sadly, we have done so much adding on and changing over the years, and, obviously, the wiring has been done by different people with different ideas.    For many years we had a great electrician..but he was always worried about keeping costs down.  After over 40 years, it is in need of replacing.   It was just adequate at the time, but as we have expanded and grown we added more wires until it looks like this (I just took this and you can see where the box is black from the fire). 

Because we had wet corn that needs to be dried, they are running the generator to do that.     They were able to get some wiring fixed so that we do have electric in the house, but the wiring that went to the water pumps is shot.  We have had to string a water hose from Jon and Mo's house over to our house.   

Did you ever notice that you don't think about using something like electricity or water until you don't have it?    I can't tell you how many times I tried to turn the lights on last night before I finally just went to bed.   Same with the water this morning.    A person has an automatic routine they follow every morning...and it was hard to get my head around things not working.  Lots of "duh" moments.  LOL.

Posted by suzyorr at 5:35 PM EDT

Updated: Sunday, 10 October 2010 9:32 PM EDT

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Since the weather is still so nice, they have been able to continue harvesting corn.   Again this morning they had a bunch of the trucks all loaded up, so they could take them down to Coshocton.  It is about an hour drive down there and they close at 11:45 on Saturdays...so we needed to have the trucks ready to go.

Jim called and said he is glad they got an early start, as there is quite a line of trucks waiting to be unloaded.

He took the "scenic" route down ..which proved to be a mistake as there is some kind of event in Charm today...he thinks every amish man, woman and child in a three state area is walking along the road.   I looked it up online and found it is "Charm Merchant Days"...lots of events, including a rodeo, going on yesterday and today.  They sure have good weather for it anyway.

Yesterday this mechanic from Krone in Germany came to go over the chopper.

I am told that he is going to pull the engine out of the chopper and send it back to Germany where they will run diagnostic tests on it.    Guess that means we are done with it for this season.  

Are the rest of you having troubles with skunks this year?   I don't think I have ever seen...or smelled...so many dead skunks as I have lately.   The kids' school bus hit one near us the other day...phew..does it ever smell!   Jon saw one walking out from where the employees park across the road the other day.    Guess they have no natural predators.    Sure wonder why Noah took them on the Ark with him!  Also mosquitos, flies, and mice.  

Posted by suzyorr at 10:50 AM EDT

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The last couple of days the corn has really been rolling through the combine and dryer as they chalk farms off the "To Do" and move them to the "Done" lists.   

As before, some of the trucks are busy hauling corn to Coshocton to sell while the grain cart and a couple of trucks work here at home.    When they are working so close, a couple of trucks is all they need. 

Jon sent this picture of Missy's Dad, Sheldon Metcalf,  and his truck loading up a load of dried corn the other day.

Yesterday the Goodyear Blimp went over the farm and Jim took this picture.   I realize that many of you have likely never had a chance to see this, while we see it often.  Any time there is an event in Columbus..like a golf tournament or an Ohio State football game, it goes right over our farm.   You can usually hear it coming for a while before you see it...sounds like a loud lawn mower.  One year we had the pleasure of seeing four of them going over together...they were having some big retirement ceremony for one of them at the OSU game.  It was quite a sight!   You know, no matter how often I see this, I still run out to watch it every time I hear it coming.  I never get tired of it!  Wasn't the sky beautiful!

Isaac (our 3 year old grandson) and I enjoyed being able to sit out in the yard and watch Jon combining right across the road.   Isaac loved that "Missy Mo" was driving the "BIG tractor and grain cart"   He was totally amazed that she was able to wave at him too. 

Posted by suzyorr at 4:06 PM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 7 October 2010 4:24 PM EDT

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The combine has been working today and some trucks have been hauling corn in from the field and other trucks are hauling dried grain to an elevator.   They started out hauling to Mansfield but after a couple of loads, are now hauling to Coshocton.  

The field where they are working today is up along US 30, our "Swinehart Farm".    (Do the rest of you call your farms by the names of former owners?     I used to laugh at Jim's dad talking about farms that way, and now we do the same. )   Last night as we drove by on 30, I took this picture of Jon just beginning to combine.  It's not the clearest picture...but, remember, I was a passenger in a car being driven by Jim.      

 Jim shared this picture of our drying set up at work.

 Jim was driving the grain cart tonight and sent this picture.  As you can see, there is 15940 pounds on the cart...they normally put roughly 32000 on a truck. 

Posted by suzyorr at 9:08 PM EDT

Updated: Monday, 4 October 2010 10:31 PM EDT

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The combine hit the corn field for a few hours this afternoon.     

While they were doing this, some of the crew were busy hauling grain to the elevator for a neighboring farmer.

They had just gotten a good start but they chose to stop early so they could attend Megan's soccer game at 7.  It hard to believe we are already combining the end of September ...lots of years we are trying hard to get done in time for Thanksgiving.  

The CAT mechanic is supposed to be here tomorrow morning to do some more tweeking on the machine, but I am sure they will be back at it tomorrow.   

I promised to show you the wet bin in action.  I like the effect Jim caught in this picture...the corn looks red hot! Looks like something in a sci-fi movie...like we are using a laser to dry it as it comes out of the truck bed or something (shh..that is our secret, don't tell anyone about it).  

Posted by suzyorr at 12:00 AM EDT

Updated: Friday, 1 October 2010 12:11 AM EDT

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Today the crew spent the day working out at the grain bins, hauling in gravel and setting up the wet pit for unloading wet corn.   They should be starting to combine the corn soon and wanted to get this ready.  When they start hauling in, I will try to get some pictures of this bin in action. 

I baked cookies for them and when I went out to find them, this is what I found.    They looked like they were solving the world's problems...and, no, I didn't see anything of interest in the bed of Jim's truck.    They made very short work of my cookies though.  

Posted by suzyorr at 10:36 PM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 29 September 2010 10:38 PM EDT

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Remember when you were a kid and you'd hear adults talk about how fast time goes by and you'd think they were crazy.    Now I am one of those old ones and I can tell you that it is true.   Just hard to believe that September is almost over.  Someone told me some obscenely small number of days until Christmas the other day.   I am proud to say I didn't hit them. 

 Part of the crew came home from making fourth crop of haylage in W. Ohio and some of them stayed out there to haul manure.    However, they had heavy rains over the weekend, so they came back "home" yesterday.    They are busy out in the shop cleaning out truck doors, and cabs.    Once the weather is better, they will be going out again.   

Jon, Jim and Missy attempted to start harvesting soybeans on Sunday but they proved to be too wet yet. 

I am happy to tell you that we got a nice rain overnight.  It was so dry here.  I guess it's not good for trying to harvest crops, but it will have to rain a lot more than it did to stop it for very long.   

Jim sent this picture yesterday.    Do you recognize what he was showing?    

It is truck 12's transmission...gears are clearly troubled.  It shows what the lack of oil can cause. Why was it out of oil?  Guess you'd have to ask the operator.  Oh, wait, you can't, because he flew away.

The next couple of pictures are of the kids 4-H welding projects.   They all did good jobs.  At the Fair they were just sitting there..no explanation of what they were.   Every time I went through that section, there'd be people looking at them...with quizzical looks on their faces, trying to figure out what they were.  

This is our grandson Jake's project...a set of fold up steps for the back of Jim's truck.  They finally got it attached to the truck yesterday.   Jim says they really worked well as he had to get in and out of the back several times already. 

 Megan and Jason made the same projects..one painted  white, the other black (sorry I don't remember which was which).   They are racks to hold the kernal processors...as you can see, they can pick it up with the skid steer and move it around..out to the wash rack and back into the shed.   Very convenient.    Here is the white one...the black one is in the back of the shed with a new KP on it, so Jim couldn't get a picture of it.   

Every year they make useful projects that we will have around the farm for  many years.  

Tonight Jon's daughter, Megan's soccer team is doing something interesting.  The players on the home team will be wearing white socks with the pink breast cancer ribbon logo on them, and Meg's visiting team will be wearing pink socks with the same logo.   I guess all the girls teams..volleyball, soccer, and tennis are doing this county wide.  I hope I get a picture of her to share.  Perhaps this is a national thing?   Whatever..it's a good idea to help make these young women aware. 

Update:  Here is a picture of Megan and her friend Tasha after the game.  Jon won this pink game ball in a drawing:

Posted by suzyorr at 12:05 PM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 29 September 2010 10:41 PM EDT

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I just got home from getting Jake at hockey practice and figured I had better post quick, as it is almost tomorrow already.

They headed out to W. Ohio to do fourth crop of haylage.  Jim called about 10 and said they had gotten around 100 acres done, so they should be able to finish up and be home tomorrow night. 

He thought someone had sent me pictures, but I don't seem to have any in my inbox.   

It was over 80 here today..guess no one told Mother Nature that summer was over a couple of days ago and it is now fall.    

Hope those of you fighting the mud get a break soon.   I have read of some major machinery damage caused by trying to pull one very expensive piece of machinery out with another very expensive piece of machinery.   Sure has been a year to test a person, hasn't it?   

I have seen a lot of combines in the fields in this area, but we got our crops in later than some of them, so it will be a while until we will be combining our own crops.    I haven't heard any reports on yields or moisture.  I noticed that one neighbor started a week or so ago and only did a couple of rounds and hasn't gotten back in again, so I wondered if it wasn't too wet yet to harvest.     This is still early...lots of fall left to let it dry down some more.  These high temps the last couple of days surely must be helping with that.

Posted by suzyorr at 11:50 PM EDT

Updated: Friday, 24 September 2010 7:36 AM EDT

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First a brief history: The Farm Science Review has been taking place for the last 48 years.  For the first 20 years it was at rural location near OSU's Don Scott Airfield. 

28 years ago a lady named Mollie Caren donated her farm to OSU to be used for this purpose and it all moved out there.   It is west of Columbus off of I-70.    By having a permanent location, they have been able to build a lot of permanent buildings, restrooms, etc. 

We are always amazed to see the former location..it is totally built up in houses and apartments...not "rural" any more. 

It is a great chance to see all the newest and greatest for many years.  One year we even had a booth there, selling our fiberglass "Orr Quik Spred" manure tanks. 

When Jon was 3 or 4,  he got away from us while attending the FSR and was lost for quite a while.   We were frantic...he didn't think he was lost at all, he was just looking at all the neat machinery and was able to do it a lot faster without one of us telling him constantly not to touch things.   His side of the story is that he was just standing on a fence looking at a calf and Jim and I deliberately walked away and left him.   He thinks we were trying to get rid of him, but he fooled us and found us anyway.  

Our schedule most Falls has not allowed for  attendance in quite a few years.   This year Jim and Jon were able to go again.    Jon was able to get the use of this 4 passenger golf cart for them to get around.   This was done for Jim's sake...but who seems to be sitting on it in this picture?  Also..those of you who know Jon, are you surprised to see what he is doing in this picture?   Thanks to Mast-Lepley for allowing them to use this neat set of wheels.   I am sure Jim really was grateful for it!

Jim has been sending me the following pictures all day.   They must be of things he found particularly interesting so I will share them with you:

He wanted to show how accomodating they are to golf carts...with the nice wide lane down the middle of nicely paved roads.   The roads are one way and when they register and pay the $10 fee, they are given a sheet with a lot of "thou shalt nots".    Jim said it really was a great way to see things..and Jon is right, Jim would never have been able to see all the things he did if he had been trying to walk.  

If  you look carefully, you can see Jon and George inside this tent talking to the salesmen. 

This was one thing they specifically wanted to see..an Oxbo merger.   

Posted by suzyorr at 6:20 PM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 22 September 2010 8:57 PM EDT

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