Whew

Written: 12/9/08

I finished the last field of soybeans with the 72' bauer before the planter hit the ground. As I was folding up the planter and as I shifted the weight to the drawbar, WHAM, the drawbar broke. I was glad it didn't do this as I was transporting or even planter, for it would have done quite a bit of damage to both the tractor and planter. Anyways, the planter sits out in the field currently as the drawbar gets fixed.


Well, we can officially retire the 72' bauer for this season. After a month, 20 inches of rain, no seed at key moments, and a tractor that didn't want to work for us at the beginning, we are finished with about 2500 hectares (6,250 acres). It's had its fun moments knocking out 750 acres in 24 hours, to its downfalls when you get only one round in and it starts raining. It was also very frustrating when the sun is shining and the ground is in optimal condition to plant and there isn't a seed on the farm to plant. Also very frustrating is when you get one problem fixed, and another arises the next round. Through these frustrations I have come upon a appreciation for convenience of parts, a knack for troubleshooting, and the need, the need for seed. ( haha, I love Top Gun) It has also been very fun running a planter twice the length and triple the number of units as my dad's planter. Disappointing that I wasn't able to run autosteer because of the nonexistence of the Tractors GAI ordered, I was able to hone my driving skills and hope to put them to good use back in the States.

For the next two days we will be helping out on the farm getting the additional soybeans planted with the smaller planters. On Friday all the interns will be in town for one last weekend out on the town. I am really looking forward to that since I have been out at Rondonia the last 6 weeks with only a couple of days in town. However I will miss Dino. Dino left the other day because his father is in the hospital. I won't see him again, but before he left I gave him my Iowa State hat for him. He always told me he liked it when I wore it. He didn't hesitate to return the favor. Today a package came from town, and it was from Dino. It it was a John Deere hat and a note that said, "friend, don't forget me". Anyways Dino will be missed, but I hope to keep in touch with him through e-mail.

Well back to my chocolate candy bar!!!!!!!!



Signing off.................



-Hrubes