Tag: Rural

There are many creative farmers who can put together various pieces to make useful equipment like this ‘sort of tractor’ vehicle which has the front end of what appears to be a 1922 REO automobile with the rear end having tractor rear tires. The REO Motor Car Company was a Lansing, Michigan based company that produced automobiles and trucks from 1905 to 1975. (And as a side note to western movie fans, in the John Wayne movie Big Jake, the Texas Rangers were traveling in replica REOs, which were later destroyed by the bandits.)

Unique Vehicle

Picture of the Day for October 12, 2014

October 12, 2014

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The area called Bears Grass near Augusta, WI, required a lot of brush clearing and tilling to become productive farm land when the first pioneers settled the area in 1855. As more settlers arrived, the St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church was built in 1893.

Slightly over a hundred years later, the church was de-sanctified in 1996 because of declining church attendance and the need for extensive maintenance and repairs. It is now a private residence.

Church Faded into History

Picture of the Day for October 8, 2014

October 8, 2014

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Autumn brings an array of colors from the fall foliage on the trees with the fields of crops changing as harvest time approaches under the blue skies but with a bit of summer green hanging on.

Autumn Colors

Picture of the Day for October 3, 2014

October 3, 2014

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Not too many kids will be getting out of school on a Friday from a one room schoolhouse. Just down the road from the Dells Mill is the Dells Schoolhouse built in 1866, two years after the mill. While one room schools are not seen as often as they used to dot the landscape, but you probably knew someone who went to an one room school, whether yourself, parent, grandparent or great grandparent.

Dells School

Picture of the Day for October 2, 2014

October 2, 2014

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The Dells Mill near Augusta, WI is celebrating its 150th anniversary as it started milling wheat for farmers in 1864. When the wheat production moved westward, the owners refitted the building to mill flour and grind mill.

Built along the dells of Bridge Creek, the base of the mill was carved into the sandstone bedrock with water turbines powering the milling process. The original log dam was replaced with a concrete dam in 1919.

The fourth generation mill owner just passed away in August of this year so the future of this beautiful old mill is in question.

Dells Mill

Picture of the Day for September 28, 2014

September 28, 2014

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While no longer serving the spiritual comforts of its former parishioners, it appears that at least the old St. Mary’s Catholic church in Port Wing, WI, which was closed in 1999, is providing some kind of comfort yet and not totally abandoned to fade into ruins. I wonder if the bell tower is high enough to see over the other buildings to watch the Lake Superior waves rolling into the bay. It could be an interesting spot to watch the sunrise and sunsets from.

Still Providing Comfort

Picture of the Day for September 25, 2014

September 25, 2014

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The cloudy and drizzly day didn’t provide the sunlight to reflect off the changing leaves but the sheep (plus a llama and goat) were more interested in green grass than orange leaves, at least until I interrupted their grazing. And they have their winter coats on already as they also probably figure winter is coming early (although the goat might need a knitted wool sweater).

Sheep Ignoring the Colors

Picture of the Day for September 19, 2014

September 19, 2014

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There are more signs summer is coming to an end with the chill in the air and fall colors being to show more. Autumn is a pretty time of the year but it fades to quickly and the long winter is around the corner.

I wonder what the P stands for on the barn. Was it the first letter of the farmer’s last name or farm name? I wonder if it stood for Peterson like my great, great grandfather’s name.

The Red P Barn