Rough and Tumble

Rough And Tumble Engineers Historical Association (now there's a mouthful) is a living museum of farm equipment and engines.   My husband and father-in-law are both members of the organization and each year will head out for tractor pulls and special events.


The annual Thresherman's Reunion is a big deal in these parts.  For 4 days special events and a fair-like atmosphere take place at Rough and Tumble.  My husband and father-in-law take one or more of their antique tractors to show at the event.


While my husband spends several days there, we usually try to take the whole family for one of the days.  Last week we all headed over on Friday.  Here are some of the pictures from our day....

 Buggy & Horse parking.  This pic was taken in the morning.  When we left in the afternoon the area was packed with buggies.

 That's John & my boys on the green tractor with our little red wagon trailing behind.  John picked us up at the vehicle parking area (about 1/2 mile down the road) & brought us in.  I was trying to get a pic of the folks he was talking to.  He always attracts attention on this tractor because it is a one cylinder and has a very distinctive 'boink boink boink' sound.

 My men

 How we brought in our wagon. :)

 I can't even begin to tell you how many antique tractors are on display.  There are seriously 100's of them.  Almost every possible make is represented - John Deere, Massey Harris, Farmall, Oliver, International, Deutz (our family's preference).  These are Silver Kings.

 Old stuff everywhere

 Steam engines.  Remember all this stuff is operational, so folks are driving their old toys around all day.  There's probably a collection of 30-40 of these babies that show up every year.

 I tried to zoom, but couldn't get in any closer.  Anyway, Amish & 'English' (that's the rest of us) intermingle.

 In the engine house

 Many, many different old engines

 Some of them are massive.  To give you perspective, this one is longer than a school bus.

 Me (10 pounds lighter than 4 weeks ago!) and the boys standing in front of 'The Otto'

 The Otto is owned by John's family's company.  I can't tell you how old this thing is.  It's old.  It's left on display at Rough and Tumble year round.  And, once a year John comes out to baby it a bit and start it up.

 He enjoys this stuff!

 Givin' the wheel a little turn

 Gettin' ready to start it up.

 Steam diggers in action.

 I'm always reminded of Mike Mulligan.

And now for MY favorite part of the event....

THE FLEA MARKET!

 This makes the whole thing worth while for me.

 I can almost hear the angels singing.

 I could spend hours searching.

 Oh wait!  I DO spend hours searching!

This year's finds.  My picture doesn't do all this justice or show the size of these items.  But a circa 1930's stand alone gentleman's mirror, a hand crafted nail organizer (I've got some plans for this!  I love all the drawers!), & 2 old wooden wine boxes.  I got all my treasures for a total of $22!   Stay tuned.  I'll show you what I'm going to do with my organizer!