Nice day for a little Knoxville plowing

It was a beautiful October day here in Knoxville. The sky was blue with big white fluffy clouds. There was a slight cool breeze cold enough to warrant a flannel shirt or light jacket. The fall colors are showing themselves this year but it's not quite peak time yet.

My mother called to let me know that there was some old fashioned plowing going on over by the railroad tracks on Murphy Rd. My wife and I quickly jumped in the Xterra and headed on over there with my Rebel in hand. Sure enough, as we approached Murphy Rd., just across from Weigel's and Washington Pike, I could see a faint cloud of dust rising up from behind a row of cedar trees. We turned right onto Murphy and slowly made our way toward the action. In a large field beside the railroad tracks was 3-different teams of draft horses, plowing, disking, and smoothing the ground.

It brought back memories of my papaw Chesney plowing our gardens every Fall and Spring with his mules and draft horse Clyde. I had Mary drop me off at the side of the road, and I got out and walked over to the field where they were plowing. I wanted to speak to one of the men who was talking to two other folks that had stopped by, but, before I got the chance, he climbed back onto his plow and took off. I was satisfied with just standing on the sidelines shooting pictures.

All of this was a display by the East Tennessee Draft Horse and Mule Association. They have done this for the past few years. They are trying to preserve the heritage of how our community and lives used to be back before we all became a bunch of lazy couch potatoes (those are my words, not theirs.) Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool. Here is an article that was posted in the Knoxville News Sentinel from last year's plowing. Below are a few of the pictures that I took today: