Donna's hayfield is cut

I got Donna's hayfield cut today.  Well... much of it.   Before the start I got more diesel and filled the tractor's tank.  Things then were working fine.  Several hours later the tractor's RPMs started to fluctuate.  Just like yesterday. 

I was making good progress and figured I would get all the tall grass cut before the RPMs change got too bad.  Then I ran into several areas where the grass was shorter, thicker (more dense) and more wiry.  Not idea for my haybine.  The grass would be cut then lay down on the haybine's bed.  That length was a touch shorter so it didn't reach the conditioner rollers to be pulled through. The revolving wheel helps the grass move along, but works better when the grass is longer.  Then more grass would be cut and lay down.   Eventually the sickle teeth would get jammed up and stop moving.  So I would have stop and remove the grass from the haybine and from the row of the sickle teeth.  I was doing this a number of times on each row.  Going in the slowest gear didn't stop this from happening, just maybe less often. All this was slowing me down. 

The tractor's RPMs fluctuated more often as time was going by.  Finally I finished this area.   Donna had one more area of her hayfield where the grass doesn't grow tall or thick.  One doesn't get much hay from this area.   Even so the haybine would occasionally jam up as the cut grass would just want to lay on the haybine bed.  So I quit.  It wasn't worth the time and effort to cut, especially since the RPMs were acting up more often as time went on.

Donna got a pressure washer for her birthday.  So afterwards I used it to wash off my tractor and some of my haybine.  It is an idea pressure washer and I think I may buy me one.

On the drive back to my place the RPMs were acting up.  Normal. Slower. Normal.  Faster. Slower.  Part of the drive I had a vehicle on the road behind me.  I bet he thought I was an idiot driver for speeding up and slowing down over and over.

After I got home I used my air compressor to clean off all the hay left on my haybine.  Then I parked it.  I'm done with it until the second hay cutting, which is fine with me.

In the following photo the grass doesn't look like it would be hard to cut. But it was the wrong height for my haybine.  I had no problem cutting her taller grass areas.  Donna's field was much harder to cut than my hayfield.

Lay down and jam.

I store my haybine under a box elder tree near my pole shed.  It is out of the sun most of the day.  But look at the black.  The black is from the leaves that fall on haybine, and the sap that drops off leaves still on the tree.   Donna's pressure washer cleaned it off.  The whole area was black before I used the pressure washer and then took the photo before I was done.  The circles show how the pressure washer cleaned it off.