Harvest begins

Larry started combining corn yesterday. They worked the field right south of Clarence. Ben helped by driving the dump cart, Bill used the straight trucks to haul the corn here to the bin and Larry combined. On one trip Bill came in to the house and said "Did Ben call you?" No, he hadn't. Well they had some excitement in town--the corn field caught on fire! What a way to start the season. It all happened while Bill was here--he and I missed out on the whole thing. From what they can figure out, Todd Wynkoop had dumped some hot ashes in the driveway to the field (why, we don't know) and probably when Bill drove thru them to park the truck--in the grass, not in the field--he picked up a hot ember and somehow it got into the field, probably when he turned the truck around to face the road again, and it started the field on fire. Larry was way on the other end of the field when Ben shouted on the CB. Luckily Todd and Tim where at their shop and used their blade and skid stir and the fire company came and we didn't lose much corn. Larry said he put the combine in 3rd gear and tried to combine around the fire as much as he could but at one point decided maybe he was too close to the fire to be safe. All in all, Larry figures he probably only lost about 50 bushels of corn. So much excitement--what can the rest of the season bring?