View from the Cab: The name game
By: Kent Casson
It must be the fall harvest season because I hear my name quite a bit.
Kent is my name so don’t wear it out. Try telling that to the others involved in the farming operation. The first time I heard my name come across the handheld radio which was on full volume literally made me jump out of my tractor seat. I think I had it turned up too loud.
While driving the semi to the elevator one day I heard, “Kent, do you copy?” a few times. I replied but apparently they couldn’t hear me. Or could they? Maybe they were just trying to have a little fun.
The different tones of “Kent” usually indicate what the mood is like on the farm. If I receive a really loud, “Hello, Kent” when I call, usually something is wrong. Did something break down? Are the crops that bad? Or, is there just too much stress out there?
You never want to hear, “Yeah, Kent?” in an exclamatory tone. Maybe I should just play along and say this isn’t Kent. It is only Kent if everything is going right. The other day while walking around the farmstead, I heard my name being yelled but the person calling it out was nowhere to be found. Turns out, he was under the auger wagon wanting some maintenance help. I’m never good at playing the game of finding where the sound is coming from.
Our harvest season rolls on as we are trying to finish the soybeans as I write this then it is on to corn for several days before the season comes to a close for the Cassons. The beans really dried down during those warm and windy days last week. Unfortunately, the high winds and dry conditions brought field fires to the area. I heard of a few near Champaign and Peoria.
While we were working in the field kicking up dust west of Chenoa the other day, I think every farmer in a four mile radius was out in their field cutting beans as well. Everyone is trying to get the beans out before Mother Nature has different plans. Take last year for instance when we had wind chills in the single digits and snow during the first part of November. Luckily, this year shouldn’t be that late.
