Be careful what you wonder about.

Throughout the harvest, I had questioned in my brain the connecting device used to join the two halves of the cross auger in the eight row header of the cotton stripper.  To be honest, on our first farm we stripped, I thought we might have a possible problem with the cross auger. 

We stripped about 750 acres after that with no issue, other than an  occasional hint of a possible problem.

We lacked seven and a half passes being through stripping (except for a lake bottom that has been standing water and muddy for months), when the possibility of a problem became a reality.

Let me back up a little. 

On December 17 we were stripping and our intention was to finish and move the stripper to the lake bottom at Wastella.  Just after dark my burr extractor and my fan warnings went off.  We had replaced the main stripper fan belt the day before, and since we right there we went ahead and replaced the extractor gear box belt too.  My first thought was one of these belts had stretched enough that it came off and caused the other belt to come off.

A quick look with my flashlight revealed both belts in place.  When I crawled into the operator platform and hit the switches, they still would not come on.  I pulled the buddy seat back out and began looking at schematics and fuses.  Everything appeared to be good.  As a last resort, I called my friend BJ, the service manager at Hurst in Snyder.  He told me there was a fuse on the back of the machine that controlled the fan and burr extractor circuits.  Sure enough, the fuse was blown.  We replaced it, I pressed the fan switch and the fan came on.  I pressed the extractor switch and both warnings came on and the fuse blew.

We lacked nine and a half passes.  I decided that whatever the problem was, it would have to wait until Thursday morning.

Thursday morning I called BJ and he gave me a number of diagnostic tests to do.  We isolated the problem to a short wire pigtail or the electrical clutch on the gearbox.  Finally the tests pointed at the clutch going bad.

I drove to Snyder and picked up the clutch. ($1710.84).  I left the hands to drop the gear box down so we could replace the clutch.  Late in the afternoon we were back together and I climbed into the cab.  Everything worked and I began stripping.  I stripped one basket and began a second one, when the warnings went off for rows 5,6,7, and 8.  After digging it out, we discovered only the left half of the auger was turning.

We lacked seven and a half  passes with the big machine when I pulled out and drove to the pickup and service trailer.  We removed a shield and found the right hand half of the auger to be disconnected.  We removed the end plate of the cross auger and pulled the big auger out.  A splined shaft that mounted inside the left hand auger and went through the center carrier bearing had broken.

Several months ago I had made reservations in San Antonio, for Georgiana and I to go and spend the weekend.  Originally it was to be a celebration of the finish of the harvest and a weekend of enjoying the lights and activities of the river walk.  These reservations were non-refundable and non-changeable.

I made the call, we were going to San Antonio.  We deserved it, and we needed it.

Friday on our way to San Antonio I called John Deere to make sure they had the parts we would need on Monday.

We had a wonderful relaxing time in San Antonio, it was just too brief.

On Monday Slats and I met at the cotton stripper and we began pulling the left hand auger so we could replace the splined shaft.  The right hand half is a piece of cake compared to the left hand side.  We got it out, replaced the broken piece and then straightened any bent auger flights while we had it out.  We also replaced the carrier bearing.  We finally reached a point where we were just tired of all the lifting and fighting with the heavy auger and pulleys and hydraulic motor that I just called calf rope.  The next morning we met at the barn and straightened all the bent auger flights on the right hand auger.  Once it was ready to go back into the machine I told Slats to come by the house.  I gave him his check and we took off for Christmas until the 29th.  (By the way, Dakota was a no show on Monday the 22nd so I fired him.  He said he had to report for probation but didn't).

On the 29th Slats and I finished bolting the left hand auger in place and installed the right hand auger and bolted it in,  Finally we were ready to go back to stripping.  We finished the seven and a half passes and moved the stripper to Wastella.  We were hoping for just a few hours of good weather to harvest what we could there.

I can now tell you every detail about how the two augers are tied together.  (Ugh).

It didn't happen.  Weather came. We had drizzle, we had rain, we had sleet and snow.  More sleet and snow, and more expected..

We had 59 for Christmas dinner.  ALL of Memama's 17 great grandchildren were here, and all of her 17 grand children were here.  Actually everyone of our immediate family that is still alive was here.  It was a grand day.

Grands on top, greats in the middle, Noble with his new tractor on the bottom.

Georgiana came Tuesday and stayed until Thursday, then it took her two and a half hours to drive to Abilene.

Happy New Year!  It was quiet here,  We had Rotelle dip,  I cooked a ham, Georgina did creamed potatoes and black eyed peas, we cooked cornbread, and we had lots of football!

Here is wishing you and yours a Happy and prosperous new year!

FATHER, thank YOU for new beginnings.  We ask that YOU bless this new year.