4...the magic number

As many of you know, my parents came up for the beet harvest with the understanding that Dad would drive a beet truck and Mom and I would drive a tractor. Dad is still driving the truck and...well, Mom wasn't too impressed with the tractor driving. It would have worked out and I know she could have done it, but I left her alone in a field that was just being opened and there was a lot of pressure put on her all at once. I really regret doing that because it set the stage for the rest of the time here. I was able to take some of her hours because she stayed at home and watched Finley for me and Dad still drove his truck, but mom didn't want to try the tractor anymore. In her defense, besides the fact that she was left alone in a tractor in a hard field, she hadn't been in a tractor since she was 10 years old. Tractors may have changed a little since then. =) I learned to enjoy driving the tractor, but I wouldn't have been able to unless Mom had stayed to watch Finn. So, thank you, Mom for wanting to spend time with Finley, doing the laundry, and cooking and cleaning. You were a huge help and it was so neat to watch you with Finn. Those were my favorite times while you were here. That and our many games of Cribbage! =)

So...back to the magic number of 4. When rotobeeting, you have to enter the field with your front right wheel in the 4th row. Harder than it sounds when sometimes all you can see is a field of green. I think you can see the rows pretty clearly in this picture.


The semi in the picture is being filled with beets from the lifter. The lifter is the tractor and machine that lifts the beets out of the ground and loads them into the trucks. On our crew, there are 2 semis and 3 beet trucks (the red one in this picture).


"Name That Row!" That's my new game sometimes when I'm out driving. Can you find row number 4? I was opening this field which means there is no row 4 to go by. The farmer that I'm working for "marked" this row. Wanna know how he marked it??? He pulled back a few green leaves from the beets and then pulled up 2 beets and layed them on the ground. Mind you, the whole field is full of green and white! Now, I would have been able to find it a lot easier if he were to lay out carrots or use flags (like they're supposed to). Nope, I have to find the green and white in the field of green and white. =) I'm getting better since I know how many rows to count over, but boy, those first fields were tough!


This is what it looks like from behind when opening a field. This implement is pulled and powered by the tractor and it cuts off the tops of the beets.


Opening another field. I have about 2 inches on each side of the front tires before I start running over beets and jumping off of the row. If that happens, the tops don't get cut off. If I'm not able to fix it, EVERYONE behind me knows that I made a mistake and sometimes the beets won't get picked up.