Fall work

So in the two weeks since we've been back from Alberta - there has been a lot to do. Not that we have gotten it all done by any stretch of the imagination, but we're working at it! On Thursday evening after work, we headed out to the farm to haul bales. I jumped in the 4020 (my favorite JD tractor) and Trevor took the Case 930 down the hill - once we were in the field, we switched tractors so I was pulling the bale wagon with the case and Trev was loading it with the JD. Trev loaded two bales, and as he drove away from the wagon to get the next bale, I noticed he only had one of the two prongs on the bale fork. I tried to get his attention, but he drove up to the third bale, stabbed it, lifted, and of course the bale fell off, not to be discouraged, he backed up and took another run at it - whoops, the bale fell off again...still not convinced, he backed up a third time and stabbed the poor bale.... after it fell off this time, he tilted the forks up and realized he had only half is spear... By this time I had nearly killed myself laughing and wished that I had had a camera with video capabilities! I jumped off my tractor and tried to pull the broken spear out of the inside of the last bale he had loaded. It turns out that Andrew had cut the welds on the spear in order to straighten it, and had not had a chance to weld it back on yet....I had a good laugh, but I'm not sure Trevor is remembering it as fondly as I!
Last Friday we were all at Andrew and Jamie's place for supper. Her mom is visiting and invited us all to enjoy chicken stew with all the fixings. We had a nice visit and wished Julie farewell - as she left for a month in Europe on Sunday. I enjoyed visiting my little nephew - its amazing how quickly they change when they're little people! On saturday, Trevor and I spent the morning cleaning up and packing some things in the house - trying to make it more appealing for the next (but so far non-existant) prospective buyer. It looks much nicer now, with less "stuff" around, but I have already kicked myself for packing a few of the items. We found out this week that the current tenants of the house we plan to move into will be out by the end of October. Meaning we will be moving in at that time, hopefully. Of course my mind is going crazy with all the possibities and ideas for the new house - and every appliance sale flyer is sticking out at me (since we will need to replace our apartment sized fridge and stove when we move!) - but I'm trying to convince myself not to get too excited! We still aren't sure what we will do if we can't sell or rent out the house....but it will all come together in good time I'm sure.
Anyways, getting back to Saturday - in the afternoon we went out to the farm, I went traipsing around trying to locate the horses in the pasture, but they avoided me somehow - so Sneef and I just had a nice long walk through the forest in the crisp fall air. Later, I ran down the hill to the valley to where Trevor was levelling the bale yard with his crawler - he let me run it to back blade the levelled ground, and drive it up to the yard - what a feeling of power :P After that, we returned to the field to undergo bale picking take two - this was much more sucessful, we hauled 6 loads of bales before dark. There was only one mishap - when Trevor took the tractor and trailer full of bales up the hill to the yard, he lost three bales about half way up the hill. I had left the JD at the bale yard, picked up the truck and was on my way up the hill when I came across three round bales blocking my pathway. So back down the hill I went - got the tractor, removed the road blocks and made my way up the hill! Velma had just cooked up some tasty soup with fresh veggies from the garden - a perfect way to end the day!
Sunday afternoon we enjoyed lunch at Andrew and Jaime's, then headed off to sort out two cull cows and our 5 grass steers from the herd. With the 7 head successfully sorted and one other calf treated for foot rot - we turned the cows out on another pasture. It was a quick and easy sort for the most part - Andrew even hijacked Trevor's horse and rode for a bit - I'd never seen him on a horse before! Guthrie acted up a bit in all the excitement, but I guess a person can't get too uptight about that.
On Monday night Trevor took the steers and cows to Brandon for the auction on Tuesday and I made some lasagnas - partly just to warm up the house! It has been a cold week, freezing a few nights and not getting very warm during the day - but they say this weekend will reach 27C again!! The rest of this week has been somewhat uneventful, with some work on Pinky the distractor, and a bit of clean-up around here. I have been fairly tired all week - the chiropractor says I'm fighting some sort of nasty virus - he suspects West Nile, but said there's no point in getting tested unless the symptoms get worse.
We got our cheque for the cows/grass calves today - not as much as we had hoped for, but pretty much what I had expected. We only made about $300 on our summer project - 5 grass steers. But when you consider that we didn't put much labour into them, $300 is alright I guess. The cull cows sold for about $300 each, which isn't anything spectacular, but its better then nothing I suppose! The joys of farming - if only there wasn't a money component, it would be so much more fun!!