In the Final Week of the Beet Harvest... and got Extended :-0

Wellll... thought kinda that today would be the plug pulling last day of our 2014 sugar beet harvest... buuuuuut... me being me... I was bad... and they've held us in detention. :)

About half the crew got their walking papers today... I expect most of the rest will get it tomorrow... There's few acres left to harvest for this yard.

How-some-ever ... there's several other pile grounds that work on past the end of operations in the Sydney yard. That means the Quality lab that we work in at night will continue to crank for another few days.

Soooo... we, Heidi and me, were asked to stay on in the yard and the Quality Lab until ever'thing is shut down... yeah... my work ethic apparently let me down one more time. :-P

I'm guessin' it don't know I'm a lazy buster would rather sit in the shade and drink cool beer than whistle and spin on the job! Aw... it'll come out ok... two or three more days of work will pay the diesel to get south so no complaints... and to tell the truth, I'm not sure I can afford any more burnt bridges... so I agreed to hang on. :)

The past few days have slowed down a lot.... and then were juiced up with moments of OH CRAP!

Yesterday, a trucker got her bed full up not realizing the gate hadn't opened... Now... the Piler operator was tryin' to get her attention and get her to drop her bed before... OOPS!

Yup... the gate popped with the bed full up... which meant... the load didn't come in any sort of a controlled dump... nope... it came with a rush and a hustle! filled up the hopper and flowed right on over the back gate...

*NOT how you're supposed to dump your load of Sugar Beets*

The gal drivin' the truck was suitably embarrassed. She climbed out of the rig apologizing like a Nunn caught in a bar with a beer in her hand and squeezin' the leg of the hunk by her side... by the local Bishop.

Yes sir. There was some little conversation as we labored to clean up the mess as to what might could have been the screw up that caused this lil gyration...

Yeah... most wanted to blame equipment. "the bed stuck"... "it was the trucks fault"... 

Now... me... being the pragmatic, seen quite some little bit sort of a fella... paints it this way... Though the driver claimed the bed gate "hung up"... I'm sorta kinda doubtful. The fault I'm sure and certain enough to bet both my kidneys and half my liver goes this-a-way...

First... the piler operator was at fault when he failed to stop her raising the bed when it had gone 1/4 up without the gate opening... The driver was at fault when she failed to see that she wasn't dumping anything when the bed was a 1/4 up... Ether person catching it at that point would have prevented the mess...

Buuuuut... it gets better... see... I don't buy the bed gate was "hung up". My money is on; It's late in the harvest. Everyone is getting tired... and she simply spaced out, tripping the gate to release... when she realized it wasn't... she jumped and scrambled to pop it... buuuut her bed was way up so WOOOOOSH! it unloaded. :) What she SHOULDA done is drop the bed and start over... (Lesson Learned)

The folks on the ground were only talking about the mess on the ground. I told 'em as we worked; "count your blessings. We're all lucky none of ya'll are squished."

Huh? They wondered. What are you talking about? ( see... most of  'em are from "other" backgrounds. This sort of thing is new to 'em... )

This is what I been 'round my whole lazy life!

See... with that heavy load still in the bed, and that high? if the truck isn't sitting on level ground?... just one wheel down in a bit of a hole?... WHAM! It falls over... if the load (and most aren't) is loaded off center in the field? WHAM! it falls over... If one side of the load slumps faster than the other when it dumps? with the bed that high? WHAM! it falls over.... sooooo... the mess on the ground was the best thing that could have happened in that deal!

It pays... to pay attention... when ya'll work 'round big equipment. Never Ever Ever... get into that zone beside a dump truck that the bed can fall on if it tips over... It ain't no rare occurrence... When the bed is in the air... that zone beside the truck is a Kill Zone. Stay out of it!

Took six buckets out with my bobcat and piled behind the piler before I could get close enough to the hopper where I could even start dumping into the hopper to clean it up. :) Ha ha...

Then today... a weary driver pulled another, longer semi rig with a belt unloader system crooked into the piler... Oh crap... broke part of the suspension frame of the bed and had it wedged into the hopper as he crossed it crooked pulling in. :) another embarrassed driver. Poor bugger couldn't roll forward and couldn't back out (crap happens with big equipment)

Took pulling the broken frame with a chain come-along over far enough to clear the Piler parts and pulling the tail of a 95,000 pound semi truck over with the "big" loader as he backed out to get him free... and get back to piling beets!

Yeah... it ain't all just boring Sugar Beet Piling. We got us some excitement on occasion! So... when you're working such a job? and you're getting weary? THAT... is the time that a lil' bell should go off in your head... "Brian said take extra care and watch what you're about RIGHT NOW!"

For us, Two Farm bred lady bosses... a couple of rednecks and a farm boy or two got it happening. :)

I'll take rednecks and Farm/Ranch raised over all other sorts ANY day. :)

Sooo... we work and we work and we work till the work is done... and then we roll south.

There's two ways of sayin' that that come to mind;
1. If you take a fellas money... you do the job he paid you for.
and
2. If you take a man's money... you ride for the brand.

If you can't hang... saddle up and ride! :)

Yes Sir... I'm stronger right this minute than I was a month ago when we pulled in. I truly like it when I'm challenged and come out on top! ... annnnnnd... just a mite of a braggart about it too! :)

Big Head and all... I'm...
Brian