At the time the deal was made, we did not own any haying equipment. While cutting a few hundred acres of thick alfalfa/grass hay with our jack-knives sounded like a good way to spend the summer and save on fuel costs, we decided it was probably not the most prudent approach to the venture.
So we set out to look for some equipment. We made a deal with another guy to bale the hay, but we still needed to find swather. We looked high and low. A friend told us of a friend whose father-in-law's neighbor might have a swather in mint condition that might be just what we were looking, i.e., dirt cheap. Rumor had it that it had been used very little, just to cut road ditches. After traveling several thours away and giving it the once over, we decided that if it made it through the season, we were in luck. The kind gentleman let us use a specially designed trailer to haul our new purchase back to Rapid.
Since it had sat idle for a few years, it might take a little work to get it on the trailer. So Matt and Joe packed up their standard mechanicing tools - a mismatched set of wrenches, a 5 lbs. sledge hammer, and a can of ether - and headed up to load the swather on the trailer to make the trek back. What ensued at this point is a loose recollection from the guys. It was one of those adventures I was glad to hear about later, and not witness in person.
Using the appropriate tools listed above and a half hour of minor tweaking, the guys were ready to start the old Heston up. When Matt gave the thumbs up, Joe turned the crank. It coughed and sputtered and screamed to life. Within seconds, Joe noticed that the controls were a little leaky, i.e. uncontrollable. The swather started veering on it's own. It managed to bump into the pickup parked close by. At the very same moment, the combination of a battery cable spark and excessive use of ether sparked a fire in the vacinity of the engine. Matt was yelling at Joe, who was too busy trying not to have a demolition derby with the parked pickup which happens to have a $1000 insurance deductible. Matt used his quick thinking and dumped a 20 ounce Mountain Dew on the infant fire. It proved to be just enough sugary goodness to put the fire out.
Soon, all was under control and they started to load the swather on the trailer. After a couple of failed attempts to load it (it has two crazy wheels in the back) they were successful. After the engine was killed, both men breathed a sigh of relief. They started driving back to Lantry. It quickly became apparent that it would be a slow trip as they could only go about 15 miles an hour. But they used the time to listen to a little 810 AM radio and talk about every saddle bronc they had ever rode (I would assume). At some point the whole contraption started to pull a little easier. As one of life's oxymorons, sometimes when things get easier, a lot of times it means, something went wrong. They looked back to see that one of the rear crazy wheels had gotten even crazier, ie, it came off and was rolling alongside the highway.
While they were reattaching the renegade wheel, a wise old rancher stopped and informed them their first of many mistakes was that they had loaded the swather on the trailer backwards. Hmm. Who knew that the thing was supposed to be loaded rear-first.
Anyway, after making it back to the homestead, they unloaded the improperly-loaded swather and began doing the major repairs to it.
Even with the help of Joe's dad, who has worked on his fair share of machinery in his day, some problems were still mysteries. The guys then delved into the manuals. Yes, you read that correctly.
Once most of the bugs were worked out, we set out to load it up again to make the trip to Rapid. This time loading it correctly as instructed. As I mentioned before, sometimes doing things the right way are actually much harder than doing things the easy way. After many failed attempts to load the swather, for the sake of this story, lets just say it dumped itself off the trailer during loading. At that point it took a large loader tractor and a couple of strong-arms to get it back on the trailer properly. I was actually videoing this whole process for the sake of this post. I had correctly assumed that something video-worthy might happen, but my cinematographic duties were interrupted when the guys yelled at me to move the pickup- short, quick, and in a hurry. So the video was basically footage of my feet running to the pickup as fast as possible and then exciting footage of the cupholder.
After the longest trip to Rapid that I have endured, I am happy to report that the old Heston did manage to cut its share of hay this year. It runs a little hot, has a bent header, plugs up constantly, and occassionaly shoots a flame out of the muffler. Our friend, Nick, noted after watching the machine in action for a couple of minutes "It looks and sounds like a giant angry mosquito." Yes, it does but it got the job done this year!
