My Job

I know, I know, I’ve been off the grid for a while and this is where I have been.  It is the scale house on the farm, where trucks from the field stop to be weighed and unloaded.

My job is to register the weight and record the moisture content before dumping the grain into pits where augers and legs will route it to the bins.

This is what it looks like from the outside.

My little red shack is on the left, the corn dryer is on the right and the scale is in between.

Here I am unloading corn.

I hate this trailer because it hates me.  I swear the roller bearings on the dump doors are square.  It takes all I have to turn that crank.  When it is near the end of a twelve hour day and well below freezing with a 40 mph wind roaring around the bins, it takes more than I have to open the doors.

Working on the farm reminds me of my days in the steel foundry.  There is a lot of big stuff in motion and all of it is looking for an opportunity to crush you, so no matter how tired you are or how cold or late the hour, you have to stay on your toes and trust nothing.

Today is a good day.  Snow has shut down the combines, so I get the first day off in a while.  Still, I would not have it any other way.

Here is a more peaceful shot from the bean harvest.