Today's picture s from the 1910's, and it shows a nice farmhouse scene, with a windmill. Looks like the house has a wrap around porch, and a screened in porch. I am not sure what the structure to the right of the windmill is.

Do you know what I see when I look at this picture? I see a Painting Nightmare. The windmill is all wood, including the wind vanes, which means it will need to be painted every few years. In addition the two story houses have lots of hard to get to places. Yes, these folks probably spent most of their time painting.

My goal when we built our house was to build it where there would be no outside maintenance work, with no exposed wood. It is a rock house, with a metal roof. Well, the one tough spot was the columns for the front porch. The balcony above has a poured concrete floor, so the support columns on the first floor front porch had to be structural support and could not be the decorative fiberglass columns. The columns were made of steel, and then covered in wood to look nice. Well, the columns have to be painted every two years. So, if anyone can offer me a solution I would appreciate it. Are there any decorative type porch columns that could be built around steel support columns that do not need to be repainted every few years?

Anyway, I guess my outdoor painting problems are minor compared to the people that lived in this house.

Wind Charger

Today's picture was taken in 1939 near Corpus Christi, Texas. The man is setting up a wind charger. The info on the picture said that he was a squatter, so I wonder if he is living in his car, and perhaps scavenged the generator from the car (note that the hood of the car is open). 

Windmill and Tank House

Today's picture is unusual as it shows a wind mill mounted on top of a structure. The building is actually a tank house, and the upper portion has a large water tank and the lower portion is used for storage. I am surprised the wind vanes are so close to the roof line. I would thing that for good airflow you would want the wind vanes further away from the roof. Anyway, and interesting picture from California.

Aeromotor Windmill

Today's picture was taken in Indiana and it shows an Aeromotor Windmill. The Aeromotor Windmill company is still around, and its manufacturing plant is right here in San Angelo. When Electricity came to the countryside, many people turned the windmills off, and "advanced" to electric water pumps. Over time people realized that the cost of electricity in pumping water can be significant, and now many people are once again using windmills as a more efficient source of water in remote areas.

Wind Charger

We normally think of early wind power as a means of pumping water, but in the 1920's and 1930's people often built home made "Wind Chargers". These were early devices to bring a little electricity to a home before electricity was available from the utility companies. They systems typically worked like this. A home made wind mill was connected to a car generator. As the wind blew, the generator turned, and charged a battery. The system typically had two batteries . . . one inside being used, and one outside being charged. The batteries would be swapped about once a day. The car battery would be enough to run a radio, and provide a little night time light. A pretty crude system, but much better than no electricity at all.

Cowboys by Windmill

I love this picture of Cowboys by a Windmill. The picture was taken near Sheffield in Pecos County, Texas. This is one of the really Old School wooden windmills that you do not see any more. Sheffield is in far West Texas, and is near Interstate 10. It was the location of one of the big oil fields in West Texas.

DOMESTIC UPDATE:

Wanted to let you all know that I am getting ready to go to Africa. I spent last Christmas there, and fell in love with the place and the people, so am now ready to go back. One of the things I am interested in exploring while I am over there is economic development . . . is there a way to help get more business and entrepreneurial activity going, even if on a very small scale.  I will depart for Africa next Saturday, and not sure on the return date. I plan to provide trip updates on OPOD.

Windmills

Welcome to Windmill Week here at OPOD. We will travel back to the days that we used the wind for useful work. Windmills were a critical element in settling the west as they brought water to the areas of the frontier not near rivers. Windmills had already been used in Europe for hundreds of years to power flour and other milling operations. Somewhere along the way we decided it was better to strip mine and use coal to make electricity.

Luckily, we do appear to be getting back to wind power. AeroMotor, one of the original manufacturers of windmills for water wells, has a manufacturing plant in San Angelo, Texas. They make windmills just like the original ones in the old West. They ship them all over the country and all over the world. 

Tomatoes

Today's picture was taken in about 1910. It shows a woman in Fairbanks, Alaska with Tomatoes from her garden. 

There were some interesting comments yesterday on vegetables today, and how they do not taste so great. Today, vegetables are bred to be robust in shipping and have a long shelf life, not for flavor or healthiness. It is amazing the difference between home grown vegetables and store bought. I grow my lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers in a greenhouse year round. It is funny when I sit and eat lunch with people . . . my salad is BRIGHTLY colored, and everyone else's is pretty much bland white. The difference in both color and flavor is striking.

I wish we would get back to where our food was locally produced by producers in the area who hired people in the area and paid them a fair wage. Unfortunately, those days are long gone.