Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Let me finish this song for you...Rain, Rain, go away...come back after we've planted all of our wheat. Yeah, yeah, I know it doesn't rhyme but who cares!

If you haven't heard by now, we've had some MAYJAH flooding around the Eastern half of Montana. We're starting to get a little bit worried, because when the ground gets this wet our tractors can't go in the fields and plant our wheat. The second the ground dries up enough to get the tractor and air seeder in the field, my FIL is out there planting away.

BUT, sometimes he gets antsy and wants to plant when the ground isn't quite ready for several tons of machinery to be driving over it. The result? A tractor stuck in the mud. This is the "Versatile Tractor." It's big and has 4-wheel drive. They need something this gigantic to pull the air seeder, which is the thing behind it. The wheat kernels are stored in the big yellow part, and they run through some tubes to the back, where quick bursts of air make holes in the ground that drops the seed into the ground.


So what happens when you get a big tractor stuck?


You get an even bigger tractor. And a very strong rope. Let me just tell you about this yellow tractor...I can sit inside the tire, and my head reaches that dark spot in the middle. It's GIANT.

Anyways....this is what happens next....you just pull and get it unstuck.

This hasn't been just happening to us...it happens to our neighbors too. While my family was visiting this weekend, we helped brand our cows on Saturday. Everyone else went up to my uncle's on Sunday to brand his cows. My family and I stayed back at my house so we could spend time together NOT working. Well, one of our neighbors comes over and tells me he's stuck...here's how our conversation went:

Neighbor: I need a pull. I got stuck on up on the hill.
Me: (Thinking, does he really expect me to know "said hill"?) Ok.
Neighbor: Is Rick or Pat or Tom around?
Me: No, they're all up at Steve's branding.
Neighbor: Oh. Do you know where the 4-wheel drive tractor is? I know the Versatile's hooked up to the seeder, but they have 2 other 4-wheel drive tractors. Where are they?
Me: We do? I don't know what you're talking about. There's the one hooked up to the sprayer. Will that work?
Neighbor: No, that's a front wheel assist.
Me: Oh. I don't know what that means. But feel free to look around the farm. If you can find it, you can use it.

Man, sometimes I suck as a farm wife! Note to self: need to learn what each tractor looks like, and what they can do. Maybe if I named them that would help! Operation Tractor Moniker shall now be commenced....