Arkansas tractor show, part 2

Click HERE for part 1.

After learning that it was better to take my time and pay attention to things going on around me, I slowed down and stopped thinking about how small the show was.  Having seen the big engine started up and running, I wandered over to see the Parade of Power with Cliff.  We talked to a couple of grandparents there with their son and two-year-old grandson.  The grandmother confided that they only had the one son, and his wife was due to have a little girl any day, so they were excited.  

The Parade of Power at a tractor show consists of the tractors filing by the audience slowly, one by one, while an announcer tells folks the year, make, and model of the tractor, as well as any interesting stories about it:  for instance, someone might be driving a tractor that was owned by his dad or grandfather, or there might be a story about how the person discovered a tractor they had been seeking for many years.    

As I said in the previous entries, there weren't a lot of tractors on display.  Well, there weren't many in the parade, either.

 The Farmall M and H were big favorites back in the 40's and 50's, so you always see some of those at the shows.

You don't often see a tractor this rusty that runs.

This lady's husband was the announcer for the parade.  He was telling the date of an upcoming auction to bring in some funds for the club and said it was in June; in this shot, she is turning her head back toward him saying, "July!  July!"  It's really hard for us ladies to keep our men straightened out.

There was going to be a tractor pull for kiddies at some point.

Over in the shaded area where we went to see about getting a burger or hot dog, we happened on this guy, caning the seat of a chair.  I truly wish I had picked up one of his cards so I could give you his name.  He and his wife were friendly, and we conversed with them awhile about times past.

He said he spends a lot of time at this craft.  While we were there, a little bird perched right above us and sang the most beautiful song.  I didn't even stop to try and identify the breed until the man at the booth in the background wandered over and asked if I knew what sort of bird it was.  When I paid attention, I recognized it as a red house finch.  Turns out the bird and his girl friend had a nest right over their display.  While we were eating our burgers, I saw the strangest-looking bird ever.  I called Cliff's attention to it, and it was new to him also.  I just now did some googling and found out it was a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.      

In another area of the grounds there were blacksmiths showing off their skills.   The wife of one of them came over and talked to us for quite a while.  I didn't get a picture of her.  I need to wake up, I'm missing a lot of good shots!

These guys were bragging about their four-leaf clovers.  The young guy on the right had a whole handful of them, and gave me one for luck.  I burst into "I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover", and the blacksmith's wife joined me for a few lines.

The older fellow had several four-leafs and a five-leaf clover to show off.  I asked the two of them if they were good at finding mushrooms.  I figured anybody who can find a four-leaf clover in a sea of green can surely do well finding morel mushrooms.  

There was a tractor pull scheduled at 1 P.M., and as much as I dislike tractor pulls, I almost wanted to stay.  There were a lot of pulling tractors being hauled onto the the grounds as we were leaving.  It was obvious that in that area, tractor-pulling is a lot more popular than tractor-showing.  

We have shows to attend the next two weekends:  one at Lathrop and one at Adrian.  I hope I can remember to take my time and see them with different eyes, paying attention to the individuals and their passion for rusty iron.  These shows really aren't about the tractors, they're about people.  I'll be taking my mobility scooter, so I will have a comfortable seat from which to watch the action.