Recently, my blog was hijacked by Jack LaFountain. He has much latitude in this action considering he is the publisher and editor for my upcoming book New Perspectives that will be released in the near future. Jack is doubly forgiven since he shared his memories about aircraft. I enjoyed hearing from him, and I hope you, the reader did as well.

Jack has several books published. A good number are also available to be listened to, for those that don’t have time to turn the pages.

I personally have taken full advantage of my Audible account, recently Here are three titles I highly recommend for reading or listening pleasure.

I’m a fan of westerns. I was introduced to Jack’s western style by listening to Redemption. This is the tale of Kit Mann, a frontier preacher with a dark past. Kit has a congregation in a lonely little town in Wyoming. His world gets turned upside down when an outlaw gang rides in. Unfortunate for Mann, this is the gang he used to ride with.

Kit is forced to face his shady past. In the process his secrets are revealed. Mann helps to take the outlaw gang, without resorting the need of a gun.

Judgement is Jack’s follow up to Kit Mann’s story. Kit goes back to Nebraska to face a long time murder charge against him. His faith is tested, but he puts his life in God’s hands.

Kit faces the gallows and his opponent is a no nonsense judge and a prosecutor that hasn’t lost a case yet. A letter pleading his pardon follows behind in the hands of a Cavalry officer. The soldier faces major hardships to reach the trial in time.

Throughout the series Jack shares a message of Christian faith. There is a strong message of morality. Jack presents these works so well the moral message doesn’t come off as preachy.

Death Rides the Red River is a western theme with an interesting twist. This story takes place just after the civil war. Confederate officer Nate Carson drifts his way to reconstruction Texas. He manages to acquire a ranch where he tries to live in peace within isolation.

Unfortunately, a civil war secret weapon follows him, and he has to face the horrors of a Werewolf again. That isn’t the only monster that Nate has to deal with. He also has to fight a corrupt congressman.

The government official may be the true beast in this story. The hero’s of the saga have several unusual allies that are not always viewed as good, as they battle to a conclusion.

I personally like Jack’s interpretation in this book. The storyline reminds of similar issues James West and Artimus Gordon faced in the old TV series Wild West.

Jack’s books can easily be found on Amazon and Audible. Simply do a an author search for Jack LaFountain and make your selection. I’ll try and share links during my next recommended reads review in the future. Jack is also on Facebook.

Sunday was a fun day to have an inaugural tractor show. September 12th fall like weather was perfect! There was an occasional breeze to keep the temperature pleasant. The show location was situated in front of Williamsville’s old railroad depot and train museum.

The tractor show was held in companion with the town’s fall festival. Nick Menke organized the event, doing an outstanding job. 26 units were on display. There were some lawn and garden equipment and a vintage truck in the mix.

There was a nice assortment of Oliver, John Deere, Farmall, and Cub Cadet. A few notable pieces included a Farmall C demonstrator, a David Bradley tri trac, and a Shaw Du-all.

Nine of the participating tractors went on a short drive to get a little exercise.

All in all it was a great time to reconnect with old friends, make new friends, and most of all relax. Of course Carl Davis was able to relax more than others, the sure sign of a successful show.

Cody Vedder was the lucky winner of the raffle tractor. A Allis Chalmers WC. Congratulations to a first time tractor owner!

Saturday, June 19th several Oliver enthusiasts gathered in West Alton, Mo. The Olivers Pulling between the River event, hosted by River Point Tractor Pulling Association & Edwards Tractor Restoration took place. Mother Nature gave the event a comfortable day to start, and didn’t turn up the heat to bad until later in the day. Those involved had a pretty good time.

The tractor pull was held as a charity fund raiser for the Floyd County Museum in Charles City, Ia. The profits, from the event, are being donated to the museum’s building repairs fund. Floyd County Museum houses the Oliver archives and a impressive Oliver collection.

Kevin Westerhold was helpful to achieve sponsorship. His simple request was to have a picture. I obliged under the condition he bring the sled to pose. He did! Thanks Kevin and thanks to the sponsors on the sign

Special thanks goes to Aumann Vintage Power & Classic Tractor Fever for their help in promoting the event. Their expert skills made many people aware of the event taking place.

Not everyone was “local” Dave Hanson made the drive from Corning Ar. That’s a good distance to compete. I actually met up with Dave early in the morning for his interview. I discovered traveling was a pretty usual occurrence. Thank you Dave for coming.

Marlene Cummins isn’t afraid to show the boys “How its done!” She competed with Ms Oliver

How cool would it be to win a pulling tractor by means of a raffle ticket? Roger Emig, from Mascoutah, knows what that’s like. St Jude builds a puller every year to create funds for their hospital. 2021 was a Oliver 77 named Lucky 77.

The Lucky 77 stays with it’s theme. Notice the card suit detail in the back wheels. 750 lbs of custom weight were included.

Roger shared that the tractor interrupted hunting season. A friend asked if he was ready and he joked “Nah, I got to go get my tractor in Mississippi” The joke was on him, he really did!

The turn out for the event could have been bigger. There was plenty more room and time for competitors. The weather, north of West Alton, was stormy. That may have been a major factor

Thanks to everyone that took part. 78 hooked the sled for the charity of our Oliver heritage.

I like to surround myself with talented and artistic people. Back in 1993 a diesel mechanic worked on my semi tractor. I was very impressed and I was fortunate to become friends with him. Since that time, he, and his family have made so many achievements. If I had to describe the man with one sentence. He has a great talent to re invent himself. Over the years he’s been a mechanic, truck driver, vinyl  graphics specialist welder, and welder/ fabricator.

Kevin and Katrina Periman are true entrepreneurs, The couple have created, or have involvement with, several small businesses.  Their son Travis has followed in his dad’s foot steps and is very talented in the mechanical field. Daughter Kylie is good with animals. I feature the young lady in the article Horsing Around found here on the blog.

Kevin was born with a equally talented twin. Kerry was also a welder / fabricator. Everything Kevin can do, Kerry was good at too. I remember, years ago, when the three of us were together. The twins father Basil remarked “you three can be dangerous when you’re together” I could probably write a non fiction novel accounting many adventures shared. Sadly we lost Kerry when he passed away in Feb, 2020.

Kevin and Katrina grew up in a country setting. They have worked side by side developing a dynamic working team even before their marriage in 1989. They seem to have more children than the two born to them. I can’t think of a time, here of late, that they aren’t surrounded  by passels of young people.

The Periman family all have the passion for antique tractors. The family owns a collection of tractors. I would deem theirs as sandbox and not shelf models. They work / play with the equipment. Kevin and Travis both compete with individual pulling tractors,

I’m pretty sure Kevin had been making plans for the newest challenge he has taken on before he shared with me. I had been sworn to secrecy for several months on the exciting new concept. Well the secret is about to be revealed!

Originally there had been plans to build, from scratch, an antique tractor pulling sled. There are many antique tractor pulling enthusiasts in our local region and Kevin wanted more chances to “hook” The plan accelerated when an opportunity arose to purchase a sled already built. Kevin now has all the equipment with a sled, scales and any other items needed. The Perimans have been preparing and modifying in preparation of the 2021 pulling season.

Ed and Dan Nagel, local neighbors, donated some property for use as a permanent pulling site. The location is conveniently west of New Berlin, IL. There are still plans to be able to take the “show on the road” though.

The sled equipment and staff will work as a company named Heaven Sent Motorsports. This name was chosen in tribute to Kerry, their late sister Kim, and Katrina’s dad. Kevin & Katrina have also chartered a group Grass Roots Tractor Club as the support membership. There will be membership dues created and officers elected. Social media promotion can be found on Facebook.

There’s more roots growing with the new club, other than tractor pulling. The true goal is promoting agriculture and getting young people involved. Scholarships will be funded dedicated to agricultural education. There will also be hardship funds to help those in tough agricultural times

Tractor pulling isn’t the only activity the club plans to use for visibility. There will be toy drives, tractor rides, shows, and involvement in parades. Public awareness, and the attraction of interest, to their goals, is a major asset of the club’s growth

This is a more organized effort to everything the Antique Iron Mafia has tried to do for the past several years. I greatly encourage our group following to get involved with the Grass Roots Club. There are no plans to change the Mafia structure, the group will continue on with it’s fun unorganized chaos. Antique  Iron Media is looking forward to working in cooperation with this new club and company. The media will be working to help promote and report the ongoing happenings

The Edwards family open house has been an ongoing event in Franklin, IL for quite some time. Originally the event occurred on July 4th, in companion with the village’s festivities. Last year the family changed the date to Labor day weekend because of conflict with other “tractor” events happening during Independence Day.

The event is held at Jim’s house, located west of Franklin on IL Route 104. The tractor collection is quite extensive, including John Deere, Oliver, International Harvester, and rare prewar Chrysler powered tractors. The exact number in the family collection is still not assured. Tractors seem to come and go continually.

Fellow writer / blogger Cindy Ladage was in attendance this year. Jessica Basford, which is an amazing photographer in her own right, was also attending. The ladies have graciously agreed to help with this article by allowing me to feature their photographs. Thank you ladies for your talented skills in sharing the sights of the day

This 1934 Hart Parr and Oliver Superior drill was a popular photograph opportunity. I like the different perspective each of the ladies discovered

Some of the tractors didn’t make it out into the sunshine this year. They were either being troublesome or intentionally left so people would discover them hidden away. Ive been to other open house displays set like that and it left a impression of mischief and discovery. It was a sense of going “behind the scenes” Personally, I’m more use to the museum building being full.

Sunday, September 6, was overall a relaxing day. It was a great time to visit with friends of common interests. There wasn’t much interest in using the braker fan this year. A guest brought a AC WD-45 that Doug tested on the Dyno though

Pictures say many words, I want to thank my fellow artists for helping me share this story. Cindy, Jessica, and Corey helped make this article that much better.

I have always been a small size show supporter even before the COVID-19 crisis. Larger shows are great, but can be overwhelming to take in and see everything. Smaller shows have a more intimate appeal.

The venue is also a consideration when choosing to participate. There are two shows in Menard County, IL. I like to participate in simply based on location. Indian Creek Farmstead has definitely become a a go to choice.

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http://www.indiancreekfarmstead.com

If family fun is a factor. This venue should become a high priority. John, the owner, has created a site for everything country. There is a playground,

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hayrides, flowers, food, live entertainment, I don’t do it justice in description. Simply it’s a pleasant experience!

John caters to a diverse clientele and still feels he can expand. I briefly spoke with the busy man and he informed me he would like to build a tractor pulling track and host that type of event.

I became familiar with this venue a couple of years ago, when the farmstead hosted their first Wheels of Time show. The show is three in one, motorcycles, cars, and of course tractors.

I’ve observed that car shows and tractor shows are two separate controlled events. Every car show I’ve been to seems that it’s about getting a trophy. Once they’re handed out BOOM! all the cars are gone. I walked past a information area and the lady working asked me if I’d voted on best of show. I looked at her and shrugged. She remarked “Oh you must be one of those tractor people” I had to smile when she further stated ” I don’t get why you’re not competing!” I tried to explain that tractor people aren’t like that, but I don’t think she understood.

Every combination show the tractor people are just laid back hanging out like it’s a reunion, well mainly because it is. We just brought the tractors along.

This year there were new faces among old friends. We are just a big happy family, for the most part.

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We don’t compete on who has the best looking machine. Sure theres hassle on what brand is better, but that’s good natured normal. I like looking at the cars, but like all my tractor friends, we don’t necessarily feel one is better than an other. If we did it would probably be good natured brand bashing like we do with our tractors.

I will be featuring a car owned by Antique Iron Member Larry Richie on my new YouTube channel soon.

This year there was around 18 tractors. Carl Davis brought some nice vintage lawn and garden for viewing. That was a nice addition. Carl is another interview I will be featuring soon on YouTube.

All in all, we had a great relaxing day. Carl Davis, as usual, was the most relaxed of the crew.

I’m honored to present a guest writer on the blog. Cindy has given me opportunity to guest write on her blog “Traveling Adventures of a Farm Girl”. Now she has graced my blog with another take on July 4th, in Franklin ~ Rick

By Cindy Ladage

There is something very American about celebrating the 4th of July from a tractor seat, and that is how a group of antique tractor collectors celebrated this past Independence day during the Franklin Tractor Drive. Doug Edwards and Josh Adkins families had planned the event with assistance from Rick Shaw and others.

Leaving from Josh Adkins place and heading to the Franklin square, a group of tractor drivers headed out to celebrate the day. Franklin is famous for it’s burgoo. In fact, the Lions club building , on the square proclaims that fact boldly on the front of the building that Franklin is “Burgoo Capital of the World”!

Every year, except this one because of COVID-19, burgoo is served during the 4th of July. From what I could find, burgoo has American origins and is thought to have been developed in Kentucky

Celebrating the 4th on a tractor is a very American idea because tractors are a very US invention as well! In fact, the first tractor was developed in the village of Froelich, Iowa by John Froelich who invented the first gasoline powered traction engine. The Froelich tractor company later became part of the Waterloo Engine Company that went on to become John Deere.

The word tractor was first used in the US as well! Although there may be some argument, most agree that the word was first coined by W H Williams around the turn of the century while working for the Hart Parr Co in Charles City when writing copy to describe a gasoline traction engine. He shortened the word to tractor and a new word was coined

So on the 4th of July, a truly American Holiday, around 70 tractors of all makes and models completed a 30 mile trek through Morgan County, Illinois countryside on a tractor drive. Many tractors had American flags flying adding to the patriotic spirit. Perhaps the most patriotic tractor of the day was the Case Spirit of 76. Also known as the model 1570. An article in Heritage Iron states that approximately 200 of these were built although no exact number has been determined.

The hot July sun, tractor collectors, and the love of old iron on the 4th said it all. An Independence Day celebration for the record books

Thank you Cindy! Your historical accounting for the day was VERY educational. Cindy has written many articles for various specialty magazines and papers. I’m very grateful that she patiently answers questions from me, and discusses ideas to make my writing better. I’d like to consider her a mentor for all she’s done to help me. I enjoyed our time working together doing “press coverage” this past holiday. ~ Rick