Lawnmower Poker Run

Thurman and Dobbins teamed up last Sunday for the annual Faulkton Lawnmower Poker Run. I sat the afternoon out. The videos that the boys took tell it all; like so many harvest experiences, it is ridiculous but a lot of fun. As I looked through the videos tonight, I realised that they are also a perfect indication of why I needed an afternoon off.

Basically participants show up at the local bar with some form of miniature transport, preferably a ride-on lawnmower. Everyone sets off in a convoy and travels around a circuit participating in various challenges along the road, like the tractor pull. Jim who owns the bar follows the swarm around with his pick-up acting as a mobile bar.

The boys rented a golf cart for $50 and agreed to pay the owners for any damage on its return. The value of the cart is probably about $200, so the owners were getting a pretty good deal. Needless to say, there was a bit of damage, both to the cart and to the eight guys who piled on the four-person buggie. But as Lockie from the Dobbins crew said to me the other night, he's here for "a good time, not a long time".

trucks stepping in when the grain cart breaks down

Christian in the combine
Ron in the truck

Autumn Arriving at our campsite - Marean Lake Saskatchewan (by Ron)

Monday, 1 September 2008

















Wednesday, 24 September 2008

Andrew's Combine Working in Archerwill, Saskatchewan

I took this pic as Andrew was picking up the first windrow of canola in Archerwill, SK. It shows the tiny window of sunshine that we got one afternoon after nearly a week spent in the camper sitting out bad weather.

Limited Phone Reception in Haswell Colorado (Brian)

We're back in the US! Central Saskatchewan is a beautiful place but the lack of communications has nearly killed me. Lots of stories to tell, photos and vids to post, so stay tuned. I've added a couple of back-dated posts below. I'm sorry for the long silence!

when big tractors get stuck

Our biggest stuff-ups often occur on our last day in town. True to the trend we managed to get our granddaddy tractor stuck in a drain while cutting our second last field in Faulkton SD.

When a combine gets bogged, the grain cart, with four-wheel-drive and a set of eight, six-foot tall tyres will usually get you out of trouble, however, this particular field proved too great an opponent.

Scuba was positioning the grain cart so that he could pull Andrew’s combine out of the mud, however, he clipped the edge of the field as he was turning around and was sucked into the drain.

At first the situation was quite tense because it provided a significant delay so close to finishing the job and we were unsupervised when it happened. Greg was clearly unimpressed when he arrived at the field. He’d got the message over the radio as he and Cheryl were leaving town for lunch in Aberdeen.

At first, I was sneaking my camera out whenever Greg wasn’t looking and stuffing it back in my pocket to lend a hand where I could. However, as the tractor became more and more bogged, and we became more and more muddy, grins started to appear on faces as the situation became increasingly ridiculous.

First we tried reversing the cart out the way it came, hitching a second four-wheel-drive tractor to the trailer. This failing, we tried pulling it out through the ditch and onto the road. After snapping a couple of chains, we unhitched the trailer from the tractor and finally managed to pull the tractor up onto the road leaving the trailer in the ditch. It took both four-wheel-drive tractors in a Y-formation to finally pull the trailer out.

Greg has a thing about cleanliness. I guess spending six months of the year in a plume of dust does something to you. One of the first rules he lay down during his pre-season pep-talk was in regard to the cleanliness of the machinery, inside and out. Whenever you see him in the video, he is well clear of the mud; when he’s giving directions, he’s on the road, when he’s in the field, he’s up on the tractor. You’ll also notice a shot of me on my arse in the mud. I went to step backwards and my feet didn’t move. Greg got quite a kick out of this. The dirtiest he got that morning was when he took a couple of steps into the ditch to grab my camera so that he could get a shot of me in the mud.

Timmy

Timmy (Coonamble NSW) is the kind of guy that gets away with a lot through his friendly smile, good sense of humour and outgoing nature. His happy-go-lucky attitude will either show you a fantastic time or get you into a lot of trouble. It is impossible for him to remain inconspicuous; whenever we go out, he will more often than not become the life of the party, whether he’s up on a table trying to remove his pants, flying solo on the dance floor or in the parking lot launching a firecracker off his thigh.

His most infamous night out was in California at the start of the season. The folks in back-road California were amazed to meet anyone from overseas, let alone an Aussie. Apparently Tim and Dan hardly bought a drink while they were there. On this particular night, Tim gradually made his way around the edge of the bar until he was behind it, tea-towel slung over his shoulder, serving drinks and flipping coasters. Management were quite happy to have him on board. In addition to the free drinks, he received his share of the tips at the end of the evening, including $20 for breaking into one patron’s car after he’d locked his keys in.

Timmy woke up the following morning on the back of a tyre truck.

For all of his mischievousness, I really enjoy spending time with Timmy. He’s good fun to be around and his straightforwardness, an attribute shared by all of the country boys, is refreshing.

The trip up to Archerwill Saskatchewan was fairly smooth after crossing into Canada. We'll be cutting just over 5,000 acres of wheat, canola and peas for our farmer up here which will take us through to early October when we need to be back in Faulkton (SD) for Fall harvest.

We're camped at Marean Lake Resort about 20km North-East of Archerwill. It's a beautiful location. Our campsite is near the lake's edge, set amongst private houses and cabins.

It's really starting to cool off. The mercury has dropped below ten degrees the last couple of days. Apparently there will be three feet of ice on top of the lake once it freezes. The smell of log and coal fires at night is fantastic.

We're finding it hard to get started. As is the trend this season, all of the crops are ripening a lot later than usual. We're battling the weather as well. A dump of rain yesterday has put us out of action for a couple of days. Brian has given us a day or two off to come to Saskatoon, about a two and a half hours drive East.

My only complaint about where we're staying is that there is no internet access or phone reception! Loyal readers may have to be a bit patient waiting for updates on the blog. I've taken this opportunity to use the motel's internet in Saskatoon to rush a few posts.

The Big Hat

We came across ‘The Big Hat’ in Faulkton, South Dakota. He’s a member of the Dobbins harvest crew. Four of their five-man crew are Australians. They run two combines. The Big Hat runs the grain cart, which is what he does back home in South-Central NSW.

The Big Hat would go missing every now and then on what he called ‘stealth missions’, chasing various women around town. You’d see him wandering down Main Street in his blue singlet, stubbies and Blundstones almost completely engulfed by the shadow of his Akubra.

Apparently he didn’t drink much before coming to the States. You wouldn’t guess seeing him in action at the bar. He ran out of money fairly soon after arriving in town, so he started up a tab. Every now and then you’d see him walk behind the bar and help himself to the fridge. On his way out, he’d hold up his drink to the bartender who’d write it down in a book.

The Big Hat would get particularly rowdy when drinking Johnnie Red. This photo was taken after he’d swapped his blue singlet with the white one belonging to a guy on an American crew. He ripped the singlet soon after acquiring it so he went looking for another, approaching another harvester at the bar. This exchange nearly ended in a fight. The Big Hat retreated, jumping up onto the bar. Jim the bartender is a really quiet guy who always wears a straight face. He didn't look twice when The Big Hat stepped up onto his bar. He simply moved a couple of coasters and kept serving drinks.

He was back the next evening looking fairly sheepish. I asked if I could buy him a Johnnie Red and Coke, to which he replied, “Nah, mate. I’m not allowed to see John tonight”.

we made it!

Well we’ve experienced the extremes of Canadian customs. After being turned around on our first two attempts, we crossed the border last Wednesday with four semi-trailers and two trailer-homes without anyone reaching for their notebook or little extendable pointer. In fact, we were not inspected at all. The officer at the first checkpoint simply looked over our passports and waved passed the inspection bay.

It was a surreal experience given the commotion that we caused the previous two days. It reminded me of the stunt that the Chaser boys pulled when they attempted to get by various high-profile security checkpoints towing a huge Trojan Horse (click here to see the clip). On most occasions, including at the Australian Army HQ in Sydney, they were waved through without question.

I’ve got a few theories about our experience at Customs. At any port, one is at the mercy of the particular officer that you deal with. A lot depends on the mood that you find that person in. Brian had the clever idea of turning up just before the shift change at 8am. When we turned up at 7:50, there’s no way that the night shift guys would be wanting to muck around with us.

I also think we experienced first-hand the animosity that many speak of between Canadians and Americans. I’m sure there were a lot of slaps on the back for the officer who turned the American convoy around for muddy tyres. Ironically, not one of us crossing the border was American, but unfortunately our equipment was.