Breaking It Down

Dancers might be the only people who like breakdowns. (Or is that "break it down?" I am not, nor will I ever be, a dancer. Just ask my vocal teacher from college when she tried to offer a crash course in choreography before a tryout with K-State Singers. Let's just say it's a good thing K-State Concert Choir didn't require dancing.)

Anyway, "breakdown" is a dirty word on the farm. And, if that's the case, it sure seems we've been doing our fair share of "swearing" lately. It's easier to name the implements that haven't broken down. During harvest, we couldn't keep the trucks going. The combine had an issue or two. Last week, the tractor had a flat tire. At various times, we've had the baler and two different tractors in the shop. I even had my desktop computer break down. It qualifies as a farm tool, right?

The swather has had multiple breakdowns all summer, and last week was no exception. Randy was swathing sudan for a neighbor. It's a slow job anyway. The plants are taller and thicker than alfalfa, so it takes awhile to put it down. One evening, Randy had me bring an extra belt to the field because the other one was slipping. 

I offered to "hold something." But, since I'm about as good at implement repair as I am at dancing, my offer was kindly declined. (I do make a mean sandwich, which gave Randy the energy to tackle the job. Every little bit helps, right?)

Even though I wasn't much help (other than moral support and cheerleading), Randy wanted me to stick around in case he needed to send me for other tools or parts since we were several miles from home. So, while he was trying to get his body contorted inside the baler, I enjoyed the view.

It was nearing the golden hour of dusk, that time when diffused sunlight makes everything pretty. Even though I'm sure this particular sudan hybrid wasn't around when settlers came to Kansas, I imagined the tall grasses of the prairie during pioneer days as the breeze blew and the plants rustled and the cover wagons circled in for the night. 

I used the swather as a picture frame.

I admired the jet streams crisscrossing the sky. 

 

I compared just-swathed sudan's color to some that had been swathed a different day.

Just for the record, I did keep offering to help in between my wandering around. Randy got the old belt removed and the new one installed and rode off into the setting sun, just like the hero on the old westerns.

 

I should have brought my book and just stayed there. By the time I'd gotten home on the back roads (due to resurfacing the blacktop road), it was about time to turn around and come back to pick up Randy for the night. 

We probably saw 20 deer on the way home. Thankfully, I didn't hit any of them: We didn't need another breakdown or repair bill!

He started raking the sudan on Saturday, but then got about 0.50" of rain on it. He'll start the raking process again this afternoon. 

Once it's cured (or dry enough), he'll bale it. Hopefully, the baling can be done without another breakdown to report.  

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The County Line: A Parts House

If this whole farming thing doesn't work out, I think I've found a new vocation for the County Line. I'm going into the storage and shipping business for GE dishwashers. I have already started my collection of inventory. I have three of the exact same part sitting on my porch (or, for the purposes of this blog photo, piled in front of my dishwasher).

I would be happy if I could get just one repairman to install just one of the parts.

This saga began more than a month ago, when I got a letter from GE. It read, in part:

In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, GE Appliances has announced a voluntary recall to repair certain Hotpoint and GE plastic tub dishwashers. ... This voluntary recall is due to an electrical failure in the dishwasher's heating element that can pose a fire hazard. GE has received 15 reports of dishwasher heating element failures, seven of which resulted in fire and smoke damage beyond the unit. Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled dishwashers and ... schedule a free repair or receive information about a rebate toward the purchase of a new dishwasher.

There's no date on the letter, but it had to have been the first week in October, since my first part was shipped October 4, and I called the hotline the day after I received the letter. I was assigned a repair appointment between noon and 5 PM on October 10. It was written in pen on my calendar. All was well. Or so I thought.

I then got a phone call from a furniture/appliance store in my region to set my appointment time for October 10. I thought that's what I'd done with my first phone call to GE. I don't know whether I scared them off by saying that they weren't going to find my house if they plugged the address into a GPS unit. I was just trying to be helpful and give directions that would get them here. I didn't figure they'd want to end up south of U.S. Highway 50 when they should be north of the highway. It has happened to assorted carriers, one of whom left Randy's new golf clubs at an abandoned house.

For now, I guess I won't give the business' name. But when they found out I didn't actually live in Stafford, they decided I lived too far for them to come to my house. And, admittedly, I do live closer to Hutchinson than their location. I do understand that the company only gets a certain amount for coming out and doing a repair. So that Kansas business called GE and said they didn't want to do it. The man from there called me back and told me that a Hutchinson company would do the repair, but he didn't know which appliance store it would be.

I think the arrival of the second part was the result of that call. It was sent FedEx Priority Overnight. If only the repairman had arrived in such a timely manner.

So I waited. When I didn't hear anything from anyone in Hutchinson or from GE for a couple of weeks, I called the GE hotline yet again. And I went through the entire encyclopedia of options, having to type in all my numbers and information yet again, no matter how many times I pressed "0" to get a real, live person. 

Eventually, they told me that A & E Factory Service would fix my dishwasher. I couldn't find that business in a Hutchinson phone book, so I asked where the repairman was based. She said she "didn't have that information."  She also assured me that no more parts would be sent since I had two already sitting on my porch.

Another part was shipped on October 23. It arrived shortly thereafter and has joined its two siblings on the porch. I figure the Fed Ex guy thinks I am a hoarder by now. And he's probably tired of delivering the same part to the same house. I know I'm tired of them taking up space on my back porch.

I had an appointment for Monday, but the most specific they could be, even last Friday, was that the repairman would arrive sometime between 8 and 5.  I was singing for a funeral, so I couldn't be here during that wide time frame. So I've rescheduled for this Friday. Let's just saying I'm not holding my breath, especially looking at online reviews for A & E.

I purposefully buy my appliances from a family business - not a big box store. I believe in paying a little extra to support small-town business and get quality customer service. Admittedly, it was not the business that GE wanted to send to repair the dishwasher.  I probably should have called my own dealer directly to see if they were among the businesses repairing the dishwashers.

Let's just say I won't be particularly anxious to purchase a GE dishwasher the next time around. Sorry I didn't make a long story short. I'm hoping for a happy ending.

A Not-So-Innocent Question

"Boy, that smells good," my hubby said when he walked through the door at noon. He barely had enough time to breathe in the aroma from the bubbly, baking casserole before he asked, "What are you doing this afternoon?"

OK. I've been doing this farm wife thing a year or two (or 29, if you want to get specific). I was pretty sure he didn't want a rundown of all the things I was planning to cross off my to-do list in the afternoon.

"Well, it sounds like it's not going to be what I planned to do, right?" I asked my favorite farmer.

So, what were my clues? First off, I have a hot noon meal ready pretty much every day when he walks through the door. So it usually smells pretty good around here (... if I do say so myself. Of course, in this instance, I don't have to say it myself because he said it for me. OK, back to the story ...)

Secondly, he doesn't usually want a detailed list of my every activity planned for the day.

So when he asked, "What are you doing this afternoon?" I knew it was Farmer Code for "I have a job for you this afternoon."

Am I a detective or what? No, I am simply a savvy Farm Wife who has been around the section a time or two.

In this case, I wasn't getting sent around the section. Instead, I was off to retrieve a swather part in Hutchinson. The swather had a major breakdown last Friday.

Here is another inevitable fact of farm life: Major breakdowns are prone to happen on a holiday weekend, when there is absolutely no hope of the problem being solved before the mechanics leave for an extra day off.

This was no small problem. It had to be hauled to Hutchinson in the back of the cattle trailer because it was too long for a pickup bed. Randy took it to Hutch last Friday, and he was surprised and thrilled that it was already repaired and ready to be picked up.

He was busy planting. Jake was busy working ground. So Farm Wife to the rescue!

I am not vain. But I do draw the line at scaring the poor guys at the Case dealership with my appearance. With no warning about my impending trip, I had not showered after my hour-long workout. My hair resembled the Stick 'Em Up Hair doll I've written about before (Kim's County Line, March 16, 2010: A Living Doll).

I realize I probably would not be as "fragrant" as the farmers covered in oil and grease who had just wrestled with a tractor or swather and were lined up at the parts counter in dire need of just the right part.

But, still, the parts guys do know me by name, so I did the best I could with a little makeup and a little water.

The next problem? I am just fine with driving the pickup and trailer. Hooking it up by myself is another story.

"They'll help you hook it up," Randy assured me.

"Have you personally talked to them and asked if they could do that?" I asked.

Another Farm Wife 101 Rule: If at all possible, have your farmer do the negotiations. It is best if he smooths the path for you. It is best when he talks directly to the parts guy about what part he wants. It is best if the appropriate part is already laid on the counter with your name on it by the time you arrive. It is best that your biggest job is signing your name on the bottom of the sales ticket.

If that sounds like I'm not upholding my end of the "I am woman, hear me roar" mantra from the women's lib movement, that's OK. Everyone is happier with this scenario.

If this transaction has not occurred, it is inevitable the parts guy will ask a question for which there is no answer in your vocabulary. Sorry, but that's the truth.

Cell phones are a great boon to the Farm Wife. But they are most beneficial when your farmer husband has used HIS to call ahead and make sure he is getting what he wants.

And yes, a nice man did help me hook up the trailer. I won't say it was without challenges. It's tough to back up with the fuel tank in the pickup blocking the view. But my helper adjusted for this obstacle. I have been reading male hand signals since I was a little farm girl in Pratt County, so we got the job done.

Yes, I went to Hutchinson yesterday afternoon. My trip did not include a stop at my favorite location - the Hutchinson Public Library. It did not include errands at WalMart, another usual "must do" when going to the "big city."

But I did get to see my friends at Case.

And I did make my husband happy.