Tractor Show Bliss 2011: Man and Machine*

Bells Bend Tractor Show 2011

Could possibly be the coolest thing ever in the History of the Land.
Completely Bad Azz.

Our day started off right away with some education, courtesy of the Professor of Tractor Studies himself, Mister George West. What a hero of mine. A man of true grit and substance but so much more! He's an activist and leader in the community on top of being just a real dyed in the wool country man. He plays the fiddle and also counts "songwriter" as one of his hobbies. Love this man and everything he stands for. Not only did he show us his corn processing tractor (I am sure there's another and more cool name for this but I didn't catch it) which he revved up for us, but he sang me part of a song he wrote, which touched me immensely both for the writing as well as the fact that he shared it with me on the spot.

So rad.

The corn comes out of this shoot when its done being separated from the stalks. So cool!

Never met a mason jar I didn't like.

More of the corn tractors guts. There was a really cool story about this but since I didn't take notes and can't remember the technical highlights I will just say its really cool, made in America and clearly a gem before Planned Obsolescence came into fruition.

A country man in training.

Happy on a Tractor. Just like his mom.

More pics of the tractor in a jar on a tractor. Be still my beating heart!

That is sand in there too.
Adds literal "Grit" and acts as simple metaphor of history.
Love it so much it can't be 'splained.

My "little man" looks cooler drinking out of his sippy cup
than your man looks drinking out of his coffee cup.

Can crushing contraption made from old farm machinery and completely mesmerizing.

Gorgeous Gears

Orion getting to "drive" a Farmall for the first time.

King on his first tractor ride, with dad, courtesy of the coolest pre-teen this side of the Mason Dixon line. I thought I was cool cause I learned to drive a car by myself at 12. This kid has studied tractors since he was 4 and drives them amazingly at the ripe old age of 10.

Sick.

Not so much "street style" as it is "dirt road style" and I can't get enough!!!
A lovely couple and so authentic.

Fierce.

I am a truck lover too, and adore anything vintage
as far as vehicles are concerned

so I had to capture a pic of this lovely creature.

My cup runneth over!

Happy Hambone.

*The subtitle of this blog post was taken from the brand Man and Machine (http://www.man-machine.com/). To give you a quick rundown, Man and Machine is a great little company that makes medical grade, hygienic and liquid resistant keyboards and mice. I had the good fortune to meet and schmooze with the CEO of this company back when I worked in the technology sector in a previous life. This guy is a really cool cat and their products meet the needs of an important niche and are of the highest quality. Also...their branding kills!! Check out the names of their keyboards here and see why this company is "really cool". Why do I jump from tractors to medical grade keyboards, you might ask? I just wanted to give credit where credit is due, since I didn't come up with the phrase "Man and Machine" but did want to use the term in this post since its about (country) men and their (farm tending) machines.

xoxo, rr

Bells Bend Tractor Show (2010)

Just some pictures of the amazing and completely sexy (to me) tractors that we got to see at this years tractor show held at Bells Bend Park. I was like a zombie on Christmas morning. So super excited about this little neighborhood gathering even with a thousand other and much larger events going on this weekend in Nashville and surrounding counties. Oh yeah, and I just loved the sign for the show, seemingly pointing away from the park, but actually just at an entrance down the road. (there was head scratching involved for a moment here).

I was squinting to read the fine print font saying "now get the hell out of here!"
or something in that vein.
(We southerners can be some hospitable but blunt bastards.)

Farmall of me. Just farmall of me.
Don't leave even a little teeny tiny bit.

I am already a bit of a fetishist (for lack of a better term, obviously, because clearly I would have used it if I had a better one) for tractors. No, not an enthusiast. That implies some understanding of the machinery or mechanics in a tractor, which I have none past the simple instructions my better half has to shout at me (because I'm already rocking to the local top 40 stations in my noise cancelling but with AM/FM headphones) before I grunt a semi truthful positive affirmation of understanding and I chug along in 2nd speed down the yard into a good 2 hours of sweet and solitary mowing of our property. I love tractors.

I know, I am sooo non-photogenic*, hence the affection for something so
blatant as zombie facepaint in most of my blog pics, but just look at the tractors willya?
They are the eye candy here.
Get focused!

The front of Mr. Wests 1940-sumthin' beaut.

Sorry, you can see I'm not such of a scholar here but that don't matter none.
Mommy knows what mommy likes.

Shoot....the thing's got a huge saw at the front.

Gracious me!.. back that thang up indeed. This is too much. And it was yellow!
Love. No, scratch that.
Pure lust.

This is how we do tailgate parties in Scottsboro, TN.
We find it more....how do you say??...oh yeah,..
Bad Ass.

I will save some for the next installment, cause this is definitely not the last you will see of tractors from moi.

Til then you can find me at the usual gathering of vintage goodies...
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ReanimatedRags

ttyl,
~RR

*This is not to imply that I think of myself as unattractive. I know I'm fine. I just don't do well on film. Its like the 3 extra chins and one closed eye come out the split second before a frame is taken. Augh. The humanity.