Threshing Bee pictures...

The boys headed over to Braddock right after lunch, as Andrew had to be there a little early to find out what tractor he'd be driving through the parade.

Dad and I arrived just as the parade was starting and sat on the porch of the old house to enjoy the sight of tractors of yester-year driving by...

This tractor was restored and driven by one of our neighbors, Gary (and that's his wife, Kristi up there with him...)

Now and then, there were some old cars that were driven through too...

How do you like this tractor? My dad said it was mainly used for cultivating.

Those tires aren't going to go flat anytime soon!

The grounds of the Braddock Threshing Bee are set up as a small old town. The building right across from the house (where we were sitting) is the school house and further down is the church....

Finally, Andrew drove by, and waved. :)

He's driving one of our neighbor, Alan's restored tractors...

Later in the afternoon, the boys helped run this outfit:

It's hard to see from this angle, but the machine is a corn husker and is run by the big belt you can see there, which hooks onto the big pulley sort-of-thing that's on that tractor.... I took some videos of it in operation, so hopefully Andrew will have time sometime to edit them and post them on his blog!

Our guys...

In the pole barn, there was a HUGE (what's it called again, guys? "Miss and go?") engine! It wasn't running, but I imagine it's popping would be quite loud, judging by how much noise the much smaller engines make!

We walked around and watched the different demonstrations for quite some time. Sadly, my camera batteries went dead then, but I was able to take pictures with Andrew's camcorder. (I do not at this time have access to those pictures though...) There was a rock-crushing machine banging away; a tiny square baler machine where you have to hand feed it; a huge lumber saw making boards; another machine that made wood into sawdust; a stationary silage chopper; and a couple of threshing machines that were in operation. We also walked through the printing shop and watched our newspaper editor set type and another elderly gentleman was printing pages with the very printing press he used to operate as a teenager (a machine from the 1800s).

Each year, they update and add on to the little town there. This year, they had an addition of a Blacksmith Shop. A couple of guys were bending pieces of very hot metal into different sorts of tools. That was pretty neat to watch!

Here's an old windmill (that works), not far from the large, 2 story house:

Isn't this a lovely picture? Want to guess what building I found it in?...

...in the old train depot! I love the tall ceilings in there...

...and Jacob liked the wood stove. :)

Still inside the depot...

And now on the outside...

My brothers could be waiting there for quite some time until the train comes through!

I love old fashioned things, so this little "Town" was fun to explore! The boys went back over the following day (Sunday) and helped out again. They didn't have to pay admission fees consequently. :)

This day was spent in the fields for all of my family, except me. While everyone else worked on combining and haying, I was at home, making pickle relish to put away for Winter and doing some more laundry.... I also drove up to our hunter-neighbors' place (they live down South, but bought a little homestead to stay at when they come hunting in the Fall), as they said we could/should pick the apples from their tree, as they hate to have them be wasted. Their tree is LOADED with apples, which aren't quite ripe yet. I picked up the apples that had been blown off though and then made another batch of our new favorite dessert, Baked Apples With Walnuts. Yummy!

Well, Dad just got home, so I'll go make sure he finds his supper..... ~Good night~