I'm not sure if this qualifies for a throwback, but someday it will. Row markers! For those of you who may not be familiar with them, the planter has these arms on the sides that fold out and mark a path so that the driver has a line to follow when he turns around and goes the other way across the field. That way he is not accidently overlapping rows or spacing passes too far apart. Ingenious! (At the time.)
With the new GPS technology, row markers are almost obsolete...unless you are having trouble with your system working. I asked Quentin why he still had them on the planter, and he said they make nice weights to help keep the ends of the planter down in the ground. I guess they are good for something.
With the auto-steer technology, the driver doesn't even have to steer except to make turns. That came in handy this week with the air conditioner broken. I pulled up to the field with lunch for Quentin and found him riding on the step outside the cab. He would get the tractor going down a pass and then stand with the door open for some fresh air. It was so windy the door wouldn't stay open unless he was holding it! Then, he would pop back in near the end of the pass to get the tractor and planter ready to turn.
After finishing up on Steeby's, the men decided to wait for a rain to continue planting. They only have around 50 acres left, I think, but there isn't hardly enough moisture left in the ground to get the crop started. We have a good chance of rain Sunday-Monday so we will hope for some nice moisture then.
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