Middle of no where nowhere
I have a parochial view of the Midwest. Biased. For sure. I have been thru but never been there. Passing thru is all I wish to partake. Yarn Barn – a destination. ?! Colleen knows it as in tourist destination – for spinners and weavers. Yawn! With newfound knowledge and interest I am looking at spinning wheels in a different light. Schact and Ashford – hallowed names in spinning wheels. Ho hum. They are sold but not made in the store. But to touch and feel…. Ha ha. We did not buy a wheel. And, I did not get a haircut. It is like antique stores. You never know what you may find that you did not need until now. Me? I’m gettin’ back in the car and takin’ Colleen. Need her? You bet!!
Fog
Rain had just fallen. We missed the thunderstorm. It was ahead of us. We caught the remnant as we traveled through. There was fog on the mountains. You drive a lot. You don’t see fog very frequently from the road. At least, it is a rarity for me. Layers. I remember watching layers of mountains while in the car as a kid. I recall the Blue Ridge mountains? Clouds? Layers of mountains? I’ve seen it since. They are always fun.
Wind Farm
I guess it’s pretty windy through this corridor. It looks like this might be the original test area. We saw windmills of different technologies and ages. They lined up geometrically and randomly. They were definitely unlike the plains states of Kansas and Colorado. There was more sense of purpose and urgency in the distribution and crowding.
Ah! We snapped a pic just as a hitchhiker passed. It was nice timing. We could not have done it if we’d planned. Serendipity. Spooky?
I have to think that California is ahead of the curve and has been forward thinking enough to have what appears to be early and late model windmills working side by side. It’s renewable and after the initial investment, it’s sustaining and clean. They are also not known to be a health hazard. Clean coal? – an oxymoron.
Poles
The plains states are flat. Yes, there are some rolling bumps you might call low hills. So, poles make a statement in the skyline. It’s harder to get an image. Any majestic landscape will minimize the poles. Any close-up covers up the majesty of the plains. Ah, the choices one makes…
Fading
As the windmills capture renewable energy, it’s free right? You don’t own the wind? The old plains windmills are fading. I think they were used to pump water. You still see the quaint windmills and the farm houses one following the other. But now more and more they are dwarfed by progress. And with progress the family farm is fading into the industrial farming that requires big money and less risk. Nature prevails. And we leave behind the abandoned buildings that will gradually fall down.
Windmills of my mind
Windmill farms. It’s not traditional in the conventional sense of a farm. We are in tornado alley. How appropriate. The winds sweeping down the high plains… “Oklahoma…” (the Broadway song). There is a random planned layout I assume. It looks random to me but there is an engineer somewhere who decided on placement and spacing. The giant turbines sit in the fields of multiple use. Look closely. There is a tiny little water wheel mill dwarfed by the big ones. I assume it is worth the expense. At night the warning lights all blink simultaneously. That’s kind of spooky soothing. This is the future. Renewable energy. More?
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