Father's Day at Gavilon

As luck would have it, Father's Day was marked by my son having to load a train at work.  His Father and I spent the morning in Jefferson, WI at a flea market.  (Let me say that the weather was perfect!)  When we got home, Mr. Hollow settled down to catch the NHRA races and lounge around for the afternoon... But that plan soon changed.  Farmerboy called and said that he was able to get permission for us to see him working at his job.  I do not know if my son realized it, but the visit was one of the best gifts that he could have given his Dad.  Mr. Hollow was thrilled to watch his son at his job.  :)

 

Here is Farmerboy as he loads the cars.  The big screen shows the different bins that he is pulling the wheat from (and lots of other stuff that I did not know! ;) ).  The smaller screen shows the amounts that he is dumping and different viewing angles of the cars as they pass by.  To the left of my son  is a window that looks down on the cars.   He keeps in radio contact with the driver as they carefully move the cars into the loading area.  I believe it is a team of 5 men plus 1 supervisor that loads the train.  It is a small crew that does an enormous amount of work in about 8 to 9 hours.  AMAZING!! 

 

** NOTE** Next to this room, there is a room where the inspectors do their job of making sure the product is of the right quality.  These gentlemen came from 3 hours away to do there job.  YIKES!

 

I ventured out with a hard hat on to get a picture of one of the outside workers.  You might need to click on this picture to see him walking down the cars to flip the top doors open.   There is another worker on the other end that will close them after loading.  They wear a wire and harness for safety in case they should ever lose their footing.   There is another man (not pictured)  that checks the underside of the cars, and another that drives the engine.

Mr. Hollow and I had a wonderful time visiting with some of the members of the team and watching them all at work.  They should be very proud of themselves.  For being a new facility, all of the crew (which consist of all local residents)  work like a fine tuned machine to turn these trains out and get the grain on its way.  :)

Introducing The Dark Knight ~ LLama

Let me introduce you to "The Dark Knight".  This is the papered name of Farmerboy's newest addition to his flock.  He is a handsome black and white llama that has the most endearing large brown eyes that you have ever seen!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The Dark Knight" has been christened with the more common name Luke by Farmerboy.  Luke's long curly tresses are so soft.  They took me by surprise.  I thought they would lean more to the texture of sheep's wool.... definitely NOT the case.  :)   

 

As you can see, he isn't very tall but has long ears that remind me of a donkey's.   Did you know that llamas do not have teeth on the top of their mouth?  Just a hard pallet.  Their lower teeth are similar to the shape of our upper teeth.  Luke is the most fascinating animal and was as curious about me as I was of him.  He kept walking up to me and allowing me to pet and talk to him.  He is a very endearing 2 year old.  :)

 



 

 

 

 

I wish that this photo had sound.  Luke kept humming as he walked around.  Here he is with Farmerboy as they hummed a tune to each other.  After they were done, Luke put his nose up against my son's.  I have never seen such a gentle soul as this wondrous critter.   The little lambs were not sure what to think of him (his hair is trimmed in a show cut), but Ariel and Lego accepted him into the group.  I am sure Luke will win them all over, and they will soon be great friends.