Death of a Windmill

 

For many years the windmill has captured the breezes.  Throughout the years I have taken pictures of it.  It is an old wood frame wind tower, They are few and far between, so it became a windy model for me.  Went down the road other day and saw its propeller had fallen off.

No longer was it spinning in the breezes.  The pasture and sheds appear to of been abandoned many years ago and it just sat there spinning freely.  The fierceness of the wind with lube finally took its toll.

Down in the weeds n grasses is its final resting place.  The winds shall flow on by, ruffling the grasses, no longer spinning the propeller. 

Over the years I have taken videos of windmills and this one usually made the final cut.  Alas I could not remember where I spotted it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8r-w8PY6Zc

When I first spotted it, it was a nice summer day and the blades were slowly turning.  There was water in the stock tank and a couple of horses were eyeing the stranger taking pictures.

No longer will the pastoral scene be there.

Scars We Make

 

Out across the land roll the miles of wire, carrying electricity. Keeping the internet fired, cooking the meals, lighting out way into the future.  Like invaders from Mars the poles grasp the high tension wires.  Turbines whirl on far hill making little electrons to travel in the wires.

It is a grid of poles and wires that stretches around the world, ever shrinking the planet earth.  Clear eye stretching vistas are few and far between.  Lights on far hillside twinkle in the darkness, lights glow marking the prison. 

By our demands of conveniences, the landscape changes.  No longer is it trees marking the way.  Now it is logs standing on end, arms stretched out grasping the wire.  It brings a standard of living unthinkable centuries ago.

Side by side they march, big brother to the station, little boy to the home.  Each leaving their marks, a pock mark on the ground. 

Go back to living with candles, oils and wood.  What would happen if there was no longer electricity?   Smart phone would be nothing, computer would be silent the lantern would flicker.

Would it be the end of life or just a change?

On far hill are the white towers of the wind turbines, surrounding the high power lines, feeding more electrons into the wires.  Behind sets the gas fired power plant to make up for when the wind does not turn the turbines. 

It is a funny life.  The changes of tomorrow are yesterdays machines.  The windmill was one of earliest powered machines man made.    Returning to the dark ages, have candles, lanterns or oils.  When the toe is stubbed it hurts.  The land is scarred by man, nothing unusual.  Man is always fouling his nest. 

Wandering Notes

 

Occasionally I will pause and collect the scraps up and put the puzzle out in a semblance of disorder.  Today a cool crisp 60 some degrees and a dusting of snow on the high peaks.  Then I;’ve seen the high peaks get dusted in July.  So the season changes.  Not that I want it, I would really like to see it stay here.  I have become selfish, want to keep my favorite weather. 

The golden haze of fall is tapping at the door.  Chasing away the over bearing heat of summer.  The days of the dog have faded into recesses of vagueness.   

Most of summer was spent getting ready for the icy fingers  from the next chapter.  Paint the house, fix some plumbing and other odd n ends out side.  Tend to the garden, gather in some produce, have fresh veggies, do some freezing and get ready for the fall.  Get the drive ready for the snows, spread some more gravel. 

Life has a rhythm that is different from the city.  One has to look to self for help.  Understand what it means to be independent but reliant on God.

 

The brow wiping time is but a past moment.  Sweltering heat rotates to the south to spread its wings down yonder.  Spring flows from my autumn.  Winter loses it grip to gain a new foothold.  Traveling across the divide.  

No longer can I carp about the heat, now I shall focus my attention on the snow flakes.

Years accumulate, the roof becomes whiter, the brown is subdued yet on goes life.

Now where did I place my notes.  I had some story notes someplace.  Darn it…. if I wasn’t so absent minded, I wouldn’t be so forgetful.  Oh well here comes the weekend…. Ya’ll have a good one.

Short Prairie Clip

 

I have developed a fascination for things that move on the high plains.  This recent video is a contrast between two different types of energy sources.  Note that not all things are not moving or spinning.  Things malfunction/break, hence they stop.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eQPFdYgDVw

The area has become a mini energy center.  There are wind turbines that stretch for about 35 miles and 8-15 miles wide.  The oil filed is even a larger swath across the grassland but it is spotted.  The oil wells are not as large as the wind turbines nor do they look as obnoxious.  Then that’s my opinion.  But both are a blight on what was once a pristine pastoral farm and ranch land. 

Floating Wind

 

The fascination of windmills, around and around they got.  No beginning, no end, Alpha and Omega stand by. 

Classic icon of the land, a ubiquitous machine.

 

Probably man’s first real successful machine of capturing energy and transferring it to another use.  Till that time, it was man power or animal to draw water up or grind goods.

A static photo is nice but I also feel there should be some motion.  So I decided to try my hand at videos.  Not the best but it was a kick.  Traveling the back roads looking for turning windmills was an adventure in itself.

A farewell turn

Shortly after I had made this video, I had to go on this road again.  Not paying much attention, I drove right past it.  On my way back I looked closer, still I drove past it.  I stopped turned around and went back, it was gone.  Well no wonder I drove past, I could not see it.  It had become invisible. 

The propellers and motor/gears had been removed.  Only the tower was left standing.  I wanted some more footage of it, now I had to settle for this.  Such was life, here today, gone next week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5UTlZICcHA

This was a composite of videos I made and pasted em together.  Kind of like it but have to try and make another and hopefully better.  I got permission from the singer to use her music.  Now to get some ghost riders of the wind music.

I had a kick makin these, I hope you enjoy as much as I did.

Now for some more practice.

Is There Oil Down There?

 

 

With the expanded use of fracing, there is a mini oil boom in the area.  Keep in mind, a drilling rig is a boom around here and there are usually 2-4 rigs drilling. 

The oil companies have been approaching people about going on their land for seismology testing,   Lots of the people have been turning them down, well been wanting money for them to drive on their land.

It is so dry that any travel on grassland destroys it.  The ranchers/landowners are wanting compensation fro damage to their land.

These big ole thumpers can cause lots of damage as they drive over the land shaking it.  Where they drove on some CRP land, one can still see the tracks where they drove, two years ago.  At existing wells thee is a big scar, for the plot and the access road.  If the hole is dry and they leave, the land heals real slow and is worthless for some years unless in a government program.

It is interesting, greed does overrule common business sense.  Some of the oil prospectors are kind of dumbfounded in being turned down.

For the rancher, it is his land for income.  Without the land, the rancher earns no money.  With the drought, the land is at about 20% usability.  Any damage adds to the loss for the rancher. 

Oh….. expect the big mac to jump in price, except they are usually milk cows not prime beeves.

Have a good weekend.

Snow Day

 

Today is the day, the blizzard is here.  The day many farmers and ranchers have been hoping for.  Snow makes for hazards but for the land it is nourishment.   It has been so dry that the water is dusty. 

So take a few and punch out a few keys on the keyboard and write something about something.

I have been writing some stories for the local tourism people to post on their website about the ghost towns in the area.  In the process I have found a variety of old and interesting things.   Mostly old machinery and buildings.  Other day I was visiting with a rancher whose grandfather had operated a post office out of his ranch house in the early 1900’s. 

Hanging on their wall was a relic from Mabel’s time of the barb wire network.  Two short rings was Esther's, a long ring n a short was Mildred’s, two shorts and one long ring was Evelyn’s and any one else that wanted to listen in.  Party line central it was.  News of the neighborhood was broadcast far and wide over the barb wire.

Wonder if the kids today could operate something so primitive.  They would probably ask how to boot it up.

During my journeys into the out back I have some interesting companions, watchers.  Hunting season is still on so they are a bit skittish. 

Have been lucky to find a few ghosts here and there.  The knock at the door, opening and closing, footsteps over the floor.  Check on the door and it locked, no one is in the house.  Then there is frank, he hangs in the side room.  It is amazing some of the stories that people have about their unseen room mates.

Look closely, there is a shadow in the front window and there have been reports of lights in there at night.

Always did enjoy the stories of Caspar. 

Well the ground has turned white where the snow can collect.  The wind is blowing the rest down Texas way.

Attractions of the Roadside

Roadside Attraction

            Overlooking the valley is an oxymoron of a roadside attraction Built in the era of late 1910.  The horseless carriage was taking to center stage and the American traveler was being born.  Highways were being built to accommodate this new machine.  Boundaries were being broken and the country was prosperous.  There were numerous noveau rich living the American dream.  World War one was on the horizon, Marx and communism were popular and the world was an oyster for many.

            Jump in the car, travel cross country, see the wonders.  No longer was tourism limited to the rich.  The automobile had opened up new vistas for the peasants of the land.  Onto the new highways in their new fangled contraptions the populace jumped.

Many a business sprung up along side highways.  Giving the wearied traveler a brief respite, place to refresh. gas up, eat and spend money.  It was wide open country free of many modern restrictions.

            Conversation in coffee shops on the college campuses was about Marx and his ideal dream.  People were discussing on campus how to impose this dream on their countries.  Meanwhile WWI breaks out and the dream is put on the back burner except in Russia where Lenin and the Bolsheviks bring the communism revolution.  Even in the USA there was a small attempt to bring communism to the country.  WWI slowed it down as did the prosperity after the war.

            People had money to spare, there was land so there was no need to overthrow the evil empire of capitalism.  Jump in the car, go visiting.  After WWI there was a new affluence for the average person surplus income to spend lavishly, in particular on the new automobile.

            The roaring 20’s floated in, flappers, speak easies, gangsters and the car.  It was a buoyant age 

 Federal Government policy built the Interstate highway system bypassing many a roadside business and pushing cars onto to super slab cross country speedways.

            On the highways a new enterprise was cropping up, the roadside attraction, and a place to separate the new tourist from their money.

            Communism went to the back burner in the US but the tyranny in Russia was just beginning.  The people’s party, Bolsheviks were ruling with an iron fist.  Churches were destroyed and people disappeared that opposed the new Russian regime.  A new ruling class was formed in Russia.

            More and more automobiles were being built in the US.  More and more people were acquiring money.  The 20’s were a golden age to be in.  Then 1929 showed up because of a government boondoggle and greed on the part of a few.

            What had been a golden period became a depression leading into the dirty 30’s and communism reared its head again.  There were also numerous government programs leading to the claim of socialism, kind of a polite name for communism.

            All the time people were still traveling cross country seeing the sights it had to offer.

Political Suppository

 

Went looking for s place for the politicos to deposit their wasted matter known as promises.  Was not very successful.  Did find a nice prickly cushion for their seat.  Maybe it will get em to get up off their duffs.

Found a great place to locate the white house to.

Plenty of space for the cronies' to pontificate in.  Hot air can roam, natural seating for speeches and road goes that away.

Hate the process but it impacts our lives and it is aggravating.

Have a suggestion for change…… fire em all, true hope n change.

Already voted. N u?

Some Steam

 

Summer is rolling to a close but it is no  longer the signal to start school.  Lots of things around Labor Day have been lost because of the early school starts.  Oh well, hope you had a great summer and Labor Day was kind of anti-climaniatic.

Union Pacific has a pair of big steam engines they run for various public relations.  Recently it was in Iowa for the state fair.  On its return trip to Cheyenne,Wy it came through here.  I drove out to Kansas and followed most of the way back to Denver.  It was a kick.  I am posting a few pics on here from my adventure.

The sun sets into the smoky haze near the Smoky Hill River.

The next morning it returned amid the haze of the smoke.

Sa the sun rose so did the steam off the engine.  early morning preparations have begun to get the big brute ready for the trip.

Up out of the Smoky Valley she climbs, spewing black smoke.  The sun has a glorious shimmer on the black beauty.

Side rods churn, pistons pop, steam propels, there is a magic.

When the engine stops for servicing, the spectators get up close and personal with the engine.

These old giants of railroading past are amazing to watch.  I also understand why they were replaced.  They take lots of feeding and work to keep em going.

 

Have a great one getting ready for Fall and the changes of the season…… Giddy up Ironhorse.

Calvary outpost….. Ft Wallace

 

Took a short trip to check out an old steam engine and chase it.  Along the way there were other things to look at and take pictures.

One of the places I wanted to go to was Wallace, Kansas.  Here are the remains of an old military building.  It had been a museum at one time but Kansas changed their tax policies for places such as this.  Losing their money the locals closed it up and today it sits vacant.

 

It is given some care but for the most part it appears to sit neglected.  There are stress cracks here and there that probably will become worse over time.  Being made of rock it will wear pretty good.  I just hope Kansas will give some funding to it to keep it from falling apart.  Then it is not alone, I have run into other places that have closed up when the state pulled the funding.

I hate to see the funding pulled yet the local county is not all that poor and something more could be done with it.

Yet it is so typical, rely o n big brother, in this case the state, and all of a sudden big brother closes the pocket book.  People throw their hands up and …………

Ft Wallace came into being in the 1860’s to protect the Smoky Hill Trail and the railroad.  In 1868 the railroad stopped building and Ft Wallace became the railhead for a couple of years.  It was a wild and rowdy town.  Railroad workers hanging around, not much to do, gold seekers passing through and the outlaws plundering anything and everything.  Late 1869 the railroad started building west again and Wallace shrunk.  A few years later, most of the Indian problems were over and the Calvary had not much to do. 

On off went the Army to other jobs and the building was left behind.  The town of Wallace prospered until the depression and then dust bowl.  Today it has a few residents and lots of ghosts.  The building was fed and well cared for but today it is abandoned.

In back the horses await the return of the cavalry to go riding on the prairie looking for Indians and bad men.

Things like this I have no problem supporting with tax money but at what level.  So much tax money is spent on special interests and things like this get lost.  There also needs to be some local help and not reliance on big brother because look what happens when big brother changes his mind.  Maybe there is a lesson in there someplace but do we learn?

                     _________________________________

Other Notes

My pelvis is pretty well healed up and the tailbone is doing pretty good.  I am still battling the hematoma, but at least I can sit for a spell now.  I am looking at blogging some more and getting around to others also.  Got a bunch more stories from this short trip.  Some neat train pictures and buildings in the small towns.

Have a good week.

Jobs….. Where they Gone to?

 

Headed down the road the other day and passed some blade trucks and there were some pulling off the road.  So rather then waiting for them, I paused and took some pictures of them.  The trucks they haul these big blades on are amazing.

Look at the rear wheels on the trailer, they are steerable.  The driver in the cab has a joy stick to turn the rear trailer wheels.  Used to be someone in the pilot car would jump out and steer the wheels.  Long load….. over 90 feet long.

While that set of blades was turning off the Interstate this set was parked on another highway.  They are from a different factory going to another hot air farm.

On down the road the first group goes.  On to the farm road and up the hill to the ridge where they will be planted.

There are times this components are shipped by rail.  There are specialized cars for hauling them by rail because of their length and other pieces because of their weight.

 

Besides the hot air fans there are other bits and pieces necessary to get things moved around.  These huge transformers are super heavy.  One guy said there were 92 tires on the truck that hauled it.  A whole bunch of weight.

Then there all the new high power transmission lines necessary to haul it to the big city.

The

The fans, they stretch out for miles across the prairie.  First group was about 120, next group about 90 and the new group over 200. 

The prairie is becoming cluttered.  It was bad enough with houses, out buildings, fences then utility lines.  Now it is monster size stuff popping up.

 

Watching all this involves lots of people, from the manufacture of electrical parts and the mounting structures to the land siteing. 

So why is there such a problem with high unemployment.  This government money was supposed to take care of the problem.  What am I missing?

One thing, most of these things are foreign made or owned by companies based out side of the US.

Mitsubishi, Siemens, Vestas and GE are the big names for manufacturing these things.  They are made overseas or owned by off shore companies.  Side note…. The Obama people are complaining about Romney’s money being off shore.  Guess where our tax money is going.

Electricity generated by these windmills cost about .04cents compared to about .01cents for coal generated electricity.  When the tax credits for the windmills is dropped they will sit on the prairie collecting dust because of the expense.  The government mandate requires that utilities use 10% green energy, IE wind power being alleged green energy.  When the utilities meet their 10% they discontinue wind power.

So I look at the windmills and wonder why the jobs aren’t there?

They government can mess things up but have a hell of a time fixing things because of the politics of reelection and other stuff.

Just wish we would stop going to the government to fix little things.  We pull ourselves out of recessions when left alone and the government stays out of the way and uses sensible regulations that favor no one.

I hope the windmills become an icon of how boneheaded we become when it comes to electing out political leaders.

Thoughts ----- Random……. From Somewhere or Nowhere

 

 

It feels kind of nice to be able to sit and type for a bit without lots of pain.  Oh I could load up on pain killers and type wack-a-do……. hehe.  I can kind of walk, boy do I wobble though.  With a four wheel drive walker I can go pretty good.  I will probably never walk all that great again ever.

My arthritis has caused me problems for years and it is now my big problem.  The injury and way I sleep aggravates the arthritis in the back.  Boy does that make me hobble.

Any way I am doing better and the battle is mine.

Ranch Rodeo this weekend.  See if I can get some good shots of the wild cow milkers.

Passing of time

Time has passed and I missed it.  Being laid up in the  hospital and convalesce for about two months I lost track of time.   All of sudden it is Memorial Day and here is summer. 

People are flying down the road in their campers.  Summer vacations are under way and the heat is rising.  Looking for cool spots is the game of the day.

All I wanted was the pain to go away, be able to stand with no pain, sleep without drugs.  My focus was on myself and healing.  Time was but the change from light to darkness.  The nurses would ask what the day was, where I was.  That was my only reckoning with a time space movement.

With time though I am slowly healing.  There are less pains and less pills.  Small steps are easing across the floor without the walker. 

During this period most everything was blocked out.  Politics became irrelevant, daily news was ignored.  It was a battle with pain. 

Today the reality creeps back into life.  It is summer.

Everyone enjoy the moments of the time.

Gone Looking for a cold melon……. Like a slice?

On the Backroads

 

In my travels from here to there, I prefer to take the back roads, time permitting.  Lots of small gems pop up and then there is the clutter of civilization.  Over the years things have changed, like it or not.  When my grandparents homesteaded, there was no such thing as electricity or indoor plumbing.  Today it is expected for any and all homes.

What had been open country, dotted by a few trees, scrub brush and rolling hills.  Is now dotted with utility lines and homes.

The barn and corral make a nice pastoral scene but right there in front is the utility pole.  Place for a yard light and lights in the barn.  Until the REA came around it was kerosene/oil lamps to light the way. 

Electricity has had a major impact on the way one lives their life.  It powers our homes, heats it, fuels jobs, a level of security and lights the darkness.  Without electricity I would not be posting this blub.  What started out as small generating plants for communities to large power complexes.

From what had been a pastoral scene to now a cluttered horizon.  They stand there whooshing in the breeze.  Electricity flows off the wind in someone’s pocket book.  I turn on the computer and hear a slight swoosh. 

What’s interesting is the jealousy these things have created.  Just a few people get money from these giant erector sets.  The neighbors that have none, want some and they gripe about the neighbors that have some.

Oh the price of electricity has went up but it appears to of created another type of class warfare.  A struggle among the classes that has been going on for centuries.  The ones that perceive themselves as having nothing and envying those that appear to be rich.

Sop when I look out across the plains, no longer to I see the follies of man spinning but I see their struggles to live within themselves.  Envy is a bitter pill to live with yet so many harbor it.

A bitterness that cascades across the rolls of life.

Now where did my barn get off to.

Windy Times

 

Would make a good headline for the political debates and campaign trail.  So much hot air spews forth from Campaign trail it becomes a load to beat. 

What this is about is the wind is a blowin, not bad, 30 to 60 mph.  Enough of a breeze to move things around, like trash etc.  As fronts pass through the wind kicks up and the neighbors lose stuff sets sail.  One thing about living in the country is learning how to deal with the elements.  Make sure lose things are secure or anchored someway. 

60mph is not bad, I have been heavier winds, over 120mph.  Those get serous and cause major damage.  Major hurricane and tornado winds, batten the hatches down and ride it out. 

Nature has a furry that has no equal.  Yet man tries to duplicate with its bombs and machinery of destruction. 

When I lived in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, winds of 100 mph were not unusual and gusts over 120 occurred at times.  Had a friend who built a house by the Air Academy.  He built it using concrete and stucco, to withstand winds of over 150mph.  The Air Academy has clocked winds over 120mph so he wanted to be relatively safe.

Out here on the prairie the wind does not howl quite as fast.  It do blow a lots though and the tumble weeds get re arranged a lots.  Usually they get bound up in the fences and if it snows, makes for a big snowdrift. and repairs later. 

Like so many things in the country, the wind gets griped at yet what good does it do.  The wind will blow where it pleases and when it pleases.  Not much man can do about it but complain.

The wind also makes a good metaphor, the hawk. the wayward one…. or your choice.

Things that had been on the north forty are now on the south 100. 

Horrors….. gone shopping

Watched a horror program the other night.  It wasn’t so much a scary story as it was a scary mind trip.  The mind has so much capacity to create it is beyond comprehension.  And that’s what this show was about, the travels of the mind.

Where does the inner thoughts lead a person, what is real, is there a distortion, what am one seeing?  In the magic of video and acting the mind trips can be recreated to flirt with reality.

 

Deep within the dark recesses of the mind lies unfathomable stories of horror, real or imagined.   It is on these thoughts that the craftsman plies the word craft. 

Edgar Allen Poe is one of the more famous ones, then there was Mary Shelly’s tale and the king of horror, Alfred Hitchcock.  Their stories play out on our fears/phobias.  Monsters lurk around corners, fly with the full moon, walk darkened streets or are crafted in a laboratory.

Dreamscapes paint pictures brought to life with the pen of writers.  Generation to generation tales were passed on.  Evil spirits roamed the country side looking to wreck havoc on the unsuspecting passer by.  The mind’s eye creates fear that rises to the bait of the craftsman.  A ringing bell at midnight, clouds passing over the moon, loud footsteps on the walk, distant howling and so forth, evoke a level of fear in many.

The spinning of a story to scare……… begins in the eye of darkness.  Which direction will the screw turn, when will it turn, what is on the other side?  Are there ghosts, spirits of the dark side, what travels in the mind’s eye? 

The Life of the Wild

 

Deer are plentiful in the evening and fun to look at  as they browse on the grasses.  They also a desired by predators and they make an evening meal for numerous critters.  They also become road kill when they get close to the highways and try to cross.

They are a curious animal, standing there staring at the two legged creature snapping pictures.  They are also mesmerized by headlights at night and blinded.   A combination that is very deadly.  There is a stretch of highway west of here that I see a dead one along side the road almost weekly.  The herd lives on though, it is but part of the process.

 

Quietly they munch away on their evening meal. glancing back at the stranger.  Life and death wages on in the wild.  Where it comes from, when will it happen….. is but s moment of fear that flies into adversity.

Being atop of the food chain it is a fear I know not.  My cognitive reasoning carries me through dangerous moments.  A separation that carries very little understanding.

 

May God be your companion this week.

Old Threshers Day …. III

 

The Old Threshers had their own little plot of land and in one corner they laid out a little town.  One room school houses and other buildings were hauled in from the country.  Each represented a different business that had been found in the town.  Boardwalks lined the buildings and inside were a variety of displays people had donated to and put together.

Each of the buildings had their own caretakers and in between were a few vendors.  It was like walking down main street small town.

The streets had a few trees and it was a pleasant walk.

 

There were also old time accommodations.

 

 

Do some praying before visiting the old time dentist, return home to some home baked goodies.  Notice the butter churn on the counter.

Ever had homemade butter n fresh buttermilk.

It has taken some work and time to build all the different displays and I am thankful for their effort.  Preserving a piece of the past many will forget.