All over the Place

I was up surprisingly early for how late I stayed up the previous night. I had to be too, it was my day to get groceries. I last shopped two weeks previous. I started the adventure like I usually do, with a McBreakfast that was hastily eaten in the truck parked outside the Walmart. I got the bagel option which apparently is back. I didn’t know it was gone but by them saying it is back I had to have it. Advertising sometimes works. I think I talked about this already. But I didn’t mention the change in egg. They went to the circular fried style rather than the fakish folded sheet of scrambled egg at some point and that was when I stopped getting it routinely. And I discovered the difference in calories. The bacon and egg McMuffin is the second lowest calorie sandwich option. The McMuffin is the lowest but I find the ham chewy. Anyways, leave your thoughts on McBreakfast in the comments if you want to continue this topic. The store was pretty quiet, generally one person per aisle. I missed the best window right at 7am and was coming in closer to half past seven. I filled my cart more than I expected. I was able to find everything I needed for the pending Family Feast. I don’t think my cucumbers are persian but they are mini and I’m counting that. I actually had to wait to check-out and that frazzled me enough to forget to ask about how the Garden Centre worked under COVID setup. I guess I’ll hold off buying any plants for a bit longer. I loaded up my haul and headed home.

I put everything away quickly and got to work at half eight, eight when I had scheduled it. I only had one meeting for the day, an information only session about something that was a US process. I listened in because I was invited but didn’t take much from it other than who to contact if I need information at any point. I worked away on my slides and on checking through some documents for various people. It was shaping up to be a very quiet day. I whipped up some lunch shortly after noon. A bowl of Campbell’s Chunky Potato and Bacon soup and a Stouffer’s Bistro flatbread, steak and cheese. It was a departure from my normal option but was creamy and delicious. As I was shoveling the last nugget into my maw I got a phone call from a colleague. He mentioned he was going to try and witness our new fancy planter in action. I figured it would be good for me to see that too and got the coordinates of the plot. The planting crew got a late start on the day so weren’t arriving to this field until after two, I set my sights at an arrival of half three, enough time for them to unload, setup and be running. I didn’t want to stand around during the setup process. I still had to endure some of the setup but that allowed me to see the loading of the cassettes and the scanning that happens. It is a slick design and really cool to see in action. I brought the drone and captured some fairly brutal video of it going. I might try to knit a few of the videos together for a short one to share with the team. I am getting better as a pilot. I mowed through two batteries and put that way. I always feel a bit self-conscious while running it, like a show-off or knob. But I really like the footage it captures. Anyways, the moral is that I got out in the field, got pretty sweaty doing nothing of consequence and got to see how the fancy new machine works.

Gerbs loading the next batch of cassettes. You slide them in, scan the cassette and then the row unit and it links them together in the system and lets you know if you’ve made an error. Moving from six rows from the two we were using only a couple of years ago is huge too. It has 2x2 banding with the split press wheel as well as in furrow liquid, no-till capable, and loaded with all the precision planting gear you could think of, except smart firmers, for now.

Gerbs loading the next batch of cassettes. You slide them in, scan the cassette and then the row unit and it links them together in the system and lets you know if you’ve made an error. Moving from six rows from the two we were using only a couple of years ago is huge too. It has 2x2 banding with the split press wheel as well as in furrow liquid, no-till capable, and loaded with all the precision planting gear you could think of, except smart firmers, for now.

Here is the front view of the unit, when it is empty. The cassette dumps into those holding cells and the fresh one is slipped above that to await the time it is needed. The cassette shifts forward as each row of cells is planted. When it is empty it automatedly opens the second cassette and dumps it into the cells and plants it. Very cool, wish I could have seen that transition. No more assistants dumping packets on the back with this. They have to organize the next set of cassettes and be ready for a quick swap out.

Here is the front view of the unit, when it is empty. The cassette dumps into those holding cells and the fresh one is slipped above that to await the time it is needed. The cassette shifts forward as each row of cells is planted. When it is empty it automatedly opens the second cassette and dumps it into the cells and plants it. Very cool, wish I could have seen that transition. No more assistants dumping packets on the back with this. They have to organize the next set of cassettes and be ready for a quick swap out.

The cab is now like a cockpit. I’m not even sure I could drive the tractor, let alone run the planter. The screen on the top right is the 20/20 monitor watching the performance of the planter as it plants. The highest screen on the left is actually a portable computer. It runs the software for the planter and also measures performance of the planter. It is what is tied to our interal systems and will tell you if you try and plant the wrong cassettes in the wrong place. All the maps are created geo-spatially with GPS, can’t mess up now. The screen under that is the Trmible montior for the GPS system and autosteer. It looks to be a sweet upgrade to the old monitors from my time (two years ago!). The iPad below is there to map the field with Climate FieldView. It also measures the performance of the planter but maps each component as a data layer that can be reviewed later and placed over yield maps or fertility, etc. It is the same data as the 20/20 but mapped as the planter travels across the field. There are also a lot more gauges and specific output for the tractor itself than I’ve seen. I guess I haven’t been in a real tractor in a long time, generally using the no cab plot planters. Quite a rig anyways.

The cab is now like a cockpit. I’m not even sure I could drive the tractor, let alone run the planter. The screen on the top right is the 20/20 monitor watching the performance of the planter as it plants. The highest screen on the left is actually a portable computer. It runs the software for the planter and also measures performance of the planter. It is what is tied to our interal systems and will tell you if you try and plant the wrong cassettes in the wrong place. All the maps are created geo-spatially with GPS, can’t mess up now. The screen under that is the Trmible montior for the GPS system and autosteer. It looks to be a sweet upgrade to the old monitors from my time (two years ago!). The iPad below is there to map the field with Climate FieldView. It also measures the performance of the planter but maps each component as a data layer that can be reviewed later and placed over yield maps or fertility, etc. It is the same data as the 20/20 but mapped as the planter travels across the field. There are also a lot more gauges and specific output for the tractor itself than I’ve seen. I guess I haven’t been in a real tractor in a long time, generally using the no cab plot planters. Quite a rig anyways.

When I got back home I had a number of texts and various messages to reply to, as well as the big pile of emails. I was feeling pretty tired from the sun exposure and minor exertion of not sitting for more that two hours in a row so didn’t want to put much effort into dinner. I had a number of containers of leftovers so I decided to combine them all into one big bowl of tasty. I had the steamed brocolli and cauliflower from the weekend. I had some extra pasta sauce, because those cans are about 1/3 bigger than they need to be. I had some fried mushrooms that I cooked in bacon grease the day before and I had tots. I heated each element in the microwave and dumped them in a bowl. The crucifers are on the bottom so you can barely see them. I added some cheese and microwaved everything together the rest of the way and then added some dried parsley. It was very good and I chortled it down at a reckless speed. Look at that, had some vegetables even.

The messages I got were an invite to something for tomorrow night, luckily it didn’t start until after the Family Feast generally ends. There was going to be some preparation required. My initial thought was that was going to be a lot and I wasn’t sure how comfortable I was going to be in this setting. I decided to throw caution to the wind and make a run at it. I had previously booked the afternoon off, part of using my phantom Q1 vacation days (only 1.5 of those left) so I would have some time to get ready the next day. I put the Leaf game on and started the prep work. The Leaf game took a tragic turn when their captain nearly got his head broken off and had to be stretchered out of the building. They played hard but I knew then that they would lose the match and I’m worried the series. That is a big piece removed that drasitcally affects strategy now. They lost as I figured they would. I turned up my reading and notes after that and passed out in my books shortly after eleven with a smile on my face. Today was a pretty good day all things considered.