Memories of a Minnesota farm boy: Cats, Bats, and Thrashing Machines is a loving and humorous chronicle of a boy’s life on a small farm in Northern Minnesota in the 1950’s. Hines revisits the games he and his sisters played and describes the chores he tried to avoid. He celebrates the simple joys found in a shady meadow or a mound of newly mowed hay and warns readers about the dangers found during any expedition to the deep woods or to the nearby barn. His world is filled with wild and not-so-wild animals and all are potential playmates. He lives during a time when neighbors gather as a community to thresh a crop of wheat and celebrate the harvest with feasts of fried chicken, biscuits, roast beef, cake and coffee – lots of cake and coffee. Although the boy’s stories embrace the specific traditions, hardships, and joys once common in his Minnesota farming community, one cannot ignore the universal appeal of celebrating a time and a way of life now gone.