Ole Pappy
While harvest time is an exciting time of year when farmers take in the crop that is their lively-hood, it is also a dangerous time of the year.
This past week has proven that to be true. Tuesday’s tractor fire northeast of Minneota was just one example of the danger.
Farmers are pushing to beat the weather, trucks and tractors are all over the area roads and it’s easy for accidents to happen. On Monday, the driver of a semi died in a train-semi crash along the Kandi-Chippewa Line Road near Raymond.
Daniel Roy Schmidt, 79, was pulling a trailer full of sugar beets traveling south on the Kandi-Chippewa Line near Highway 23.
Apparently the truck was struck by a Burlington Northern Santa Fe train shortly after 6 p.m. The semi tractor landed in the ditch between Highway 23 and the railroad tracks, and the trailer appeared to be wrapped around the train’s lead locomotive.
The Minnesota State Patrol, reported a 76-year-old Canby man was injured at 4:22 a.m. Monday when the semi-truck and trailer he was driving went into a ditch and rolled in Yellow Medicine County.
Ronald Luwayne Olson, 76, was driving a 2 semi eastbound on Yellow Medicine County Road 46. The truck and trailer were traveling too fast to stop for the stop sign at state Highway 67 north of state Highway 19 in Echo Township.
The driver lost control, entered the ditch and rolled, according to the State Patrol. Olson was transported by North Memorial Ambulance to Avera Marshall with non-life-threatening injuries.
He was wearing a seat belt. There has been no further report of his condition.
Last Saturday, a fire caused minor damage to a grain dryer at a farmsite at 3:55 p.m. in Meeker County near Cosmos. The dryer sustained minor damage and there were no injuries, according to the Meeker County Sheriff’s Office.
Fire also destroyed a machine shed and its contents Friday on a farm northeast of Buffalo Lake, but the owner was able to remove a John Deere Gator before the fire reached it.
Monday a Balaton man, 71-year-old Charlie Timmerman fell off a grain bin. He complained of back pain.
Then on Sunday, Brad Pagel of Slayton survived a tractor rollover accident. Pagel is Commander of the Slayton American Legion Post 64.
Apparently, he was cleaning manure out of the cattle yard at the rural Garvin home of his parents, Kay and Darrell Pagel, when the tractor tipped and pinned him to the ground. It’s difficult to drive anywhere in the area without encountering a big truck, huge tractor or other farm device on the roads.
Recently, I was driving into Minneota on Highway 68 from Ghent, about dusk, and encountered a HUGE tractor-type vehicle pulling out from the FCA station. Someone going too fast wouldn’t have been able to avoid this vehicle, especially if they weren’t paying attention.
We all need to take special and extra precaution this time of year. While it’s great to see so much activity in the fields, it’s a dangerous time. We all know about it, but we need to understand the situation the farmers are currently engaged in. Because of weather conditions, they are hurrying to get the crops in.
Most of them do the best they can to be safety cautious. Drivers need to understand it’s a dangerous time of year and take care to keep the harvest safe as possible.
LAUGH A LITTLE: I drive like my brother! I’m driving with this guy, and he runs right through a Stop sign.
So I say, “Hey, that was a Stop sign.” And he says, “I drive like my brother!” A few blocks later, he plows right through a red light. I say, “You just ran a red light.” And he says, “I drive like my brother!” So now we’re coming up on a green light, and he slows down. I’m confused, so I say, “It’s green; why are you slowing down?”
He says, “My brother might be coming.”
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: As my Ole Pappy used to say, “You’ll always learn more when you fail than we do when you succeed.” Ole Pappy helped this young man grow up by being there when I needed him most. When I got the most discouraged, he always had a way of picking me up. He offered the advice that I should learn from failure because it taught me the greatest lessons in life.
Thanks Ole Pappy.