The Adventures of Harlee Dog

Last night I took supper out to the field and of course my trusty sidekick Harlee went along.  When we got to the field I let her out of the car and she ran around sniffing every inch of ground and every milo stalk in the field.

I was parked at the edge of the road, near the grain semi.  The tractor had pulled up to the semi and was unloading the grain from the grain cart into the semi.  I figured I'd stay a while and ride in the combine with The Farmer, but the combine was out in the middle of the field.  I decided to jump in the tractor with the hired guy and ride with him out to the combine.  I sternly told Harlee to stay and hopped in the tractor.

Since we were pulling a huge grain cart behind the tractor, we could not see behind us but I figured she'd stayed close to the semi at the edge of the field.  We drove the tractor clear to the other end of the field and turned around to meet up with the combine and begin unloading the grain from the combine into the grain cart.  As we turn around, who comes running around the side of the grain cart?  That would be Harlee dog.

She was panting hard and had run quite a ways by the time we crossed the whole field.  I crawled out of the tractor and was going to jump in the combine with The Farmer, but first we had to figure out what to do about Harlee.  The Farmer didn't want her to keep running through the field because the milo stalks are taller than her and he was afraid she'd get lost in them.  The only option was to put her in the combine with us.  

Now one of the things Harlee hates most is getting picked up, even by me or The Farmer.  Several weeks ago she followed The Farmer in the tractor when he was planting wheat, and by the time he realized she was following him they were a mile from the house.  So he picked her up, put her in the tractor, and she rode with him in the tractor all afternoon.  So when he tried to grab her to carry her up the combine ladder, she was having none of it.  She knew what he was going to do and took off.

The Farmer told me to crawl up the ladder and wait at the top, because Harlee usually wants to be where I am.  He figured she'd be more likely to let him catch her and bring her up if I was waiting at the top.  So I crawled up the ladder to the small platform outside the cab.  The Farmer crouched down and tried to talk all sweetly to Harlee.  She came running back to him, but stayed JUST out of his reach.  As soon as he tried to grab her, she took off.  You could tell she thought it was a fun game, and she would get tantalizingly close, only to dodge his grasp as soon as he tried to catch her.  Meanwhile I was on the platform laughing my head off.

Well eventually The Farmer did manage to catch her and carried her up the ladder and put her in the cab of the combine with us.  She flailed all the way up the ladder, but as soon as she got in the cab she calmed down and was happy as a clam.

 Here she is riding on the floor of the combine.  She just stared out the front windshield and looked pretty pleased with herself!

 We rode for close to 3 hours, and she really did great the whole time.  When I finally decided it was time for us to go home, The Farmer had to carry her back down the ladder and she was NOT a fan of that, but all in all I think she was pretty pleased with herself for getting to ride with us.  And even though she was a little booger to catch and carry, I think The Farmer was glad to have some company in the combine with him.