The Midwest Old Threshers is a royal treat

       Debbie and I welcomed home a new puppy during the Labor Day weekend.
     His name is Boomer and he is a Great Pyrenees Border Collie mix that we purchased from a breeder in Fayette, Mo., Mark and Rosemarie Adams.
      I first met Rosemarie 20-years ago at the Missouri Photo Workshop held in Louisiana, Mo., a town of 3,000 plus along the Mississippi River.
     We’ve been Facebook friends for a number year and I have sent her a message or two, but it wasn’t until late June this year that I saw post on her Facebook page offering Boomer and four other puppies from the same liter.
     We reached out to Rosemarie and got the ball rolling on welcoming Boomer into our home. We came up with the name and shared it with Rosemarie and she started using it when calling the little fellow. We happen to have a cat named Sooner, so we know own Boomer Sooner. 
    Rosemarie and her husband, Mark, who recently retired after a 35-year career as a crane operator, had wanted to attend the Midwest Old Threshers Reunion in Mount Pleasant. So the couple made the three plus hour journey from Fayette to Mount Pleasant to bring Boomer to us. We met them at the Mount Pleasant Wal-Mart.
     Boomer is such a loveable fur ball and we are glad to have him in our lives.
    Debbie and I along with our family have been attending the Old Threshers Reunion since 2007, the year that we started working on our second Iowa photobook, “Family Reunion: Midwest Old Threshers,” which was released in August 2008.
     We worked with the now late Lennis Moore, the CEO of the Old Threshers and Terry McWilliams, who is the current CEO, along with the Old Threshers Board to make the book project possible.
     They paid for one-half of the printing on the book and in exchange, we gave the Old Threshers 1,000 books to sell. It was a win-win situation for all parties involved.
    There’s always plenty to see and enjoy at the Old Threshers. It’s a nice way to end the summer and head into the fall.
     I enjoy antiquing and bought several items this year including a framed print of a farmer hand-picking corn that was being tossed into a horse-drawn wagon. It is unique piece of artwork that reminds me of the time my dad and his brother, Uncle Charley, hand-picked 40-acres of corn after the Verdigris River east of Tulsa got out of its banks, not once, but twice in 1948. The Verdigris is a tributary to the Arkansas River that runs on the west side of Tulsa.
    “The river knocked the stalks down, but not the ears of corn,” my dad told me.
    The brothers earned enough money from the sale of that corn for their dad to purchase a used tractor and harrow. Somewhere in my parents things I have the receipt from when that tractor was bought at a dealer in Broken Arrow, Okla.
     We also checked out the many vendors at Old Threshers. I would like to purchase a new flag pole, but the good ones have hefty price tags.
     We also rode the electric trolley and steam train, attended the family-friendly dancing girls show at the Old Threshers Saloon and watched a shootout at the train depot, all in the North Village.
     And a trip to the Midwest Old Threshers Reunion would not be complete without a visit to the First United Methodist Church food tent on the grounds. They have some of the best fried chicken and the state fair award-winning meatloaf, which is the creation of Melinda Huisinga of Mount Pleasant and formerly of Des Moines. Melinda won a blue ribbon with her meatloaf at the state fair in 2017 in a food contest that Debbie and I sponsor through our company, Our Front Porch Books.
     Life can keep us busy as there are always things to do. If your life seems out of sorts, take time to reflect on the positives, spend time around positive people, maybe get back to a church and change things that are pulling you down and wasting time and not lifting you up.
​      Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.