I brought some beautiful pieces of furniture that had belonged for my Great grandfather, and some that had been made by my Grandfather while he was in high school around 1910. I will probably add pictures of those pieces when I get a chance.

I did bring a few things back that ended up out in the shop to go with the other things from the farm.

The first couple of things are corn huskers/shuckers, These were worn on the hand and used to strip the corn husks off the ears of corn as they were hand picked and thrown in the wagon (my dad used to tell of picking corn by hand under a full moon when he was a kid in the 1930's-40's).



Corn Huskers by M Patterson, on Flickr



To go along with those is the corn dryer. Basically a shaft of metal with prongs on it. When they hand picked the corn, they would hold back the biggest ears of corn and hang them on these dryers. These would be the ears that would be shelled and used as seed the following year. The racks would be hung from the barn rafters on a wire (there used to be rows and rows of these in the old barn on the farm). The racks would not only let the corn dry but would put it in a place the mice couldn't get to it.

Corn Dryer by M Patterson, on Flickr



Then there are the Sleigh Bells. These date to my great Grandfathers time (around 1900). There used to be 2 long strings of these hanging in the old machine shed back on the farm. My dad got one set and my Aunt the other. The leather on the set was falling apart 30 years ago and Dad partially took his set apart about that time. He had me take 15-20 of the bells and re-string them for him (so he could hang them across a couple of boards in the back of the pickup truck and let them ring when he drove thru town). He also let mom make a small string to hang in the house during the Holidays.



Sleigh Bells by M Patterson, on Flickr



My brother got the set I had strung for dad, and I brought back the string mom had made to re-string for my sister. What was left over on the original leather was mine and I made them into 2 strings.


Sleigh Bells by M Patterson, on Flickr



My 2 strings are hanging in the corner of the shop with the rest of the old tools and stuff ....... although I suspect I'll get talked into bringing them in the house come Christmas time.


old tools by M Patterson, on Flickr


I also brought back a winter project. My dad bought this radio/record player just before he and Mom got married in 1949. On the bright side the turntable runs and the bad side is that it doesn't make any noise on the radio or record player (I suspect I'll find a bad tube or 2). I've also got to figure out what to do with the finish on the lid which has seen better days.


Radio 2 by M Patterson, on Flickr



Radio 2 by M Patterson, on Flickr






This will end up living in the house once I get it done. Of course where I plan on putting it will result in having to install a new outlet, so I guess it will turn into more than one project



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