A trip to the Midwest Old Threshers Reunion in Mount Pleasant is always in order following the Iowa State Fair.
         I love steam engines and taking a walk back in time and the Old Threshers is always a good experience. Plus, I get to meet and visit with a lot of new people.
        This year we (my family and I) spent time going flea marketing, antiquing and touring the museums. I started working on a Old Threshers photo trivia contest that I plan to post on Facebook in the near future. The idea is to see if folks know where the photos were taken. Some will be giveaways and others will be more challenging.
         While visiting the Old Threshers Foundation Office, Debbie and I visited with Melinda Huisinga of Mount Pleasant.
        Melinda currently serves on the Old Threshers Board. She and her late husband, Alan, who passed earlier this year, worked hard to make the Old Threshers one of the best events in the State of Iowa. Melinda and her family are featured in our 2008 book, “Family Reunion, Midwest Old Threshers.”
         Debbie and I knew that Melinda’s Methodist Meat Loaf was an Iowa State Fair Blue Ribbon winner. What we didn’t know is that the tasty meat loaf earned the honor at the 2017 ISF in a contest that we sponsored for several years. The contest asked entrants to create a food that would be served at a threshing event back in the day.
        The meat loaf, along with some of the best fried chicken I’ve ever eaten, is served daily at the Methodist Church tent on the Old Threshers grounds.
       While touring one of the museums on the Old Threshers grounds, I met a fellow from Missouri who struck up a conversation with me. I learned that for about 20 years, he sponsored a farmer’s challenge at the Missouri State Fair. The event was also held for three years at the Iowa State Fair. When asked, he couldn’t remember what years.
        I found a video from 2011 showing young people participating in a farmer’s challenge at the ISF. It was similar in nature to Ag Olympics where folks flip tractor tires, drive through an obstacle course using a wheelbarrow and roll a large bale of hay.
          I’m not sure it is one in the same, but it’s fun to find out.
        I also visited with Kyle Waldeck of Illinois in the stationary steam area on the Old Threshers grounds. Kyle is a yearly volunteer at the reunion and we first met in 2007. A photo I took of Kyle and his mother are featured in our Old Threshers book at the button collector’s forum. The button collector’s forum is held on Sunday morning of the reunion and gives a chance for OT button collectors to talk all things, “buttons” while buying, selling and trading with each other.
       The reunion, which was first held in 1950, has produced a collector’s button every year. Some of the older buttons, mainly the 50s, bring $200 - $400 each. I have several from the time period, but not the more expensive ones.
     On Monday, I took the electric trolley to the 1856 Log Village on the south edge of the Old Threshers grounds, where I milled around, took a few photos and met some new people.
      The log village features volunteers dressed in period clothing, cooking meals over an open fire, spinning yarn, playing musical instruments from the time period and doing things the old -fashioned way. There’s a school, barn, woodworking shop, blacksmith shop and lots of demonstrations and more.
       While there, I met a former co-worker at Marengo Publishing who was talking with guests about her and her husband’s team of mules. I shared with them the story of my grandfather using a team of horses to build roads in Oklahoma during the WPA days.
      I also visited with a mother and her two daughters who were churning butter the old fashioned way. I remember my mom had a churn and she’d make butter and cream by hand. That brings back a lot of memories.
       I met another young lady who grew up in Mount Pleasant but now calls Texas home these days. She was using wedges of various sizes and a sledge hammer to split logs. She was one tough gal who knew how to swing a sledge hammer.
     If you’ve never visited the Old Threshers Reunion, I recommend it. It opens on the Wednesday before Labor Day with a horse pull and wraps up five days later. There’s lots to see and do.
      It is the small things in life and connections made along the way that make every day a new venture and opportunity.
       Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

     While in journalism school at the University of Missouri-Columbia, I was required to spend time working the Columbia Missourian news desk.
    Part of my duties including answering the telephone and helping customers. I was also required to call families of loved ones who passed away.
      The idea was to learn more about that person and possibly turn an obit into a feature story.
Anyway, I called this family and a man answered the telephone.
      I explained that I was a student at MU and I was calling to learn a little bit more about the gentleman who had passed.
       “You caught me a little off guard,” the fellow said, explaining that he was the brother of the deceased.
       I said a few more words and he went on to tell me that he didn’t have much to say.
       “No story there,” I’m thinking. 
       It bit later that day, I received a call from the son of the deceased man that I had earlier called his brother. Apparently, the brother called the son.
      The son, who was calling from Kansas City, said he appreciated my call and was honored to share about his father.
       When it comes to death and religion, people can sometimes get a little awry. 
      I don’t remember much about the story today, but I ended up writing a nice feature about the man. It seems that he was a long-time milk man in Columbia.
       I think newspapers should do more of that. Calling families and writing about the person who passed. I think it is a great way to honor someone, especially a city leader, business owner or military personnel, who has passed.
       Someone once told me that way back in the day, local newspaper editors wrote obits, not the undertaker. If they didn’t like the person, they didn’t say anything nice about him or her. I’m glad they don’t do that today.
      Those who know me, know that I love to visit. I have no problem talking to total strangers. I always say, “you don’t get to know people if you don’t talk to them.”
       I visited with a lot of people at this year’s Iowa State Fair. On the afternoon of the last Friday of the fair, Debbie and I found ourselves in the Agriculture Building as heavy rains and lightning rolled through Des Moines.
       Debbie had earlier found a bench and I joined her. 
       It wasn’t long until a family took a seat next to us on the bench. I struck up a conversation and found out they were from Marion and that they had a son who was a police officer in the area. They said they were enjoying the fair and afterwards they were headed to Kansas City to see family.
       After they moved on, another couple found solace on our bench. It just happened they were from Kansas City and made the trek to Des Moines to attend the fair.
       There were three of them, two men and woman. I mentioned I was from Tulsa and one of the men said he knew a lot about Tulsa. He said he knew author Jim Stovall, who resides in Tulsa and has written a number of Christian-based books including, “The Ultimate Gift,” “The Ultimate Legacy,” “You Don’t Have to be Blind to See,” “The Executive Entrepreneur,” and much more. He also has several movies out.
        This fellow said he was a cousin of Jim. He was talking about all he had done and the money he had given to the Oral Roberts University in Tulsa.
      Stovall, who is blind, donated more than a million dollars to the ORU to create the Stovall Center for Entrepreneurship. According to the website, the vision of the Stovall Center for Entrepreneurship is three fold: to equip entrepreneurs through a blend of both theory and active engagement, to positively impact our city through social innovation projects and to empower change agents to transform communities all over the world.
       It was nice to meet these folks and visit. We told them about our books and the lady gave us her email and asked us to send her some information about Debbie’s novels.
       I leave you with this. You may not be able to donate a million dollars, but you can buy a neighbor or family in need a sack of groceries, volunteer at a community event or the local food or clothing pantry, mow someone’s yard or offer to give someone a ride to the doctor or to the store.
       I encourage you to take time to say hello or share a good word with someone you meet. The world is full of people from all walks of life and some have a story to tell and some just need to hear a good word.
       Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.