Kylee DeBock / DeBock Harvesting
Well, let’s just say this has not been a normal start to harvest! It’s July 7th and we just got our first load to Kansas today.
We started cutting in Alva, Oklahoma on the 10th of June. It was hot and dry; however, it was a week later than normal! Our Oklahoma run was going well, despite a few breakdowns. We were in the field early and cutting late. We were all worn out just two weeks in.
We finished Waynoka, Oklahoma right before a small shower which really only gave us time to move our campers to Mooreland, Oklahoma. We than continued to cut like mad for another 4-5 days and then…the monsoon came!
It rained for eight days straight! (Obviously, not solid but, at some point, in each day for eight straight days it rained.) Not normal for Northwest Oklahoma.
Although…there is a silver lining!
Dillon’s family scheduled a family reunion in January for July 2-4! Well, in January I am thinking there is no way we will be able to attend. I was so sad we were going to miss seeing everyone. We had family coming in from Massachusetts, North Carolina, Texas, Georgia, Montana and Kansas. Some that we had not seen in about five years and they were all coming to Oklahoma. We would be gone on harvest. “Normally”, by the Fourth of July, we are in Nebraska (sometimes Kansas) and so busy that we wouldn’t be able to stop cutting to run home to see everyone.
But, it worked out and we were there for the whole reunion. We even took in some festivities in Mooreland at the park and enjoyed an amazing BBQ sandwich meal. Colston and I played in a volleyball tournament and the little kids enjoyed some fun games, as well.
We sure loved seeing everyone and I enjoyed watching our kids make some great memories with their cousins. Heck, I’d say all 38 people that attended made some great memories! We were very grateful that it worked out and we were home for the FUN!
Dillon had some business to attend to in Kansas on the 5th, so he left the kids, hired hand and me to finish our jobs in Oklahoma which we did on July 6th.
We loaded this morning (July 7) and brought our first load to Burdett, Kansas. For the past 18 years we’ve been on harvest, I normally drive my pickup and camper on moving day. But when you are short-handed and two of your employees are 13 and 9, you do what you have to to get all the equipment moved. So, today, I drove our Mack truck pulling double grain trailers! My rig is 110 feet long! (Shhhh, don’t tell the DOT) Now the trip is only three hours, but I got it to our destination without a hiccup!
We will cut here today and head back to Mooreland tonight to load, sleep and get our second round of equipment to Kansas tomorrow.
Here’s hoping the sun stays shining so we can get lots of acres cut!
God Bless,
Kylee DeBock
“I keep your law in my heart, so that I will not sin against you.”
Psalm 119:11 GNT
