When I look out across my front yard I see an old windmill standing there like an old friend.  Yesterday I watched the sun go down behind it as I viewed the most incredible sunset that I??™ve ever seen??¦well, except for that pinkish-purple one last week with the storm clouds above it and maybe that bright orange one the other day.  All right, I admit it would be rather impossible to choose the most beautiful sunset because each one is unique but some are more impressive than others. The sunsets of the Midwest are incredible and as a backdrop the windmill across from our house makes a beautiful sight.  When it comes to nature??™s beauty, it is true that some of the best things in life are free and colorful sunsets present themselves almost every evening for us to enjoy.  

Even as a child, I used to climb up on an old board fence beside our barn for a better view of the sunset and I was never disappointed.  I still enjoy sunsets and many evenings I have the privilege of watching the sun go down behind the old windmill that stands next to where I now live. 

Across this great country we live in, we still see these old windmills that were put there by our predecessors.  In this area, many have been abandoned because water is now accessible in other ways but when this land was first settled, one of the main concerns was water.  The early pioneers who settled the land needed a source of water and if they didn??™t live close to a spring or a stream, water was a problem and so they began to dig wells.  However, it was difficult to bring up enough water with just a rope and a bucket, especially when it came to watering livestock.

These pragmatic pioneers often had to use what was available to them.  History shows that many of the early pioneers built sod houses when the very earth they walked upon was the only material they had to build themselves a shelter for safety from the elements. In the same way, our ancestors had to come up with a way to obtain water more readily 

The wind often caused the pioneers a lot of trouble because it brought with it storms and tornadoes.  It was sometimes a lot of work just to keep things tied down securely.  The wind was often their adversary and what usually happens to people is that either they run from or they face their adversary. The early pioneers not only faced their adversary but they harnessed the wind by building windmills to bring up the water from their wells to the surface.

The early settlers did find the answer to their water problem and as the song says, they literally found the answer ???blowing in the wind???.It is interesting that what often seems to be an overwhelming obstacle can become the means to survival.  Our ancestors persevered in the face of great obstacles.

The first windmills were made of wood because that was the material available to the early settlers.  However, these windmills were too big and were not able to withstand the high winds on the plains so they needed constant repair.  Some of the early windmills had no tails to stabilize them either so that their vanes would stay pointed into the wind. 

In 1854, a man named Daniel Halladay invented the first all-metal windmill.  He made windmills that had controls that would turn the vanes away from the wind if the wind became too strong, and it also had brakes so that the windmill could be brought to a complete stop.

Most of the windmills that we see today have the metal blades at the top even if the rest of the windmill is made of wood.  You can still see working windmills around the country, but mostly only where there is no electricity readily available or other water supply.  In many areas today, the windmill has been abandoned.  We see them standing rusty with broken blades but they still stand like stubborn sentinels reminding us of another time.  There is something about windmills that have always intrigued me and I sometimes wonder why I like them so much.  It may be that it is a reminder of the past but yet I think it is more than that. 

The windmill that stands near our house has been there a very long time.  Sometimes I feel like that windmill, a little battered and rusty with a few broken places. There is something about the way the windmill stands strong and tall both in peace and in adversity.  The windmill accompanies the song of the wind when it blows without complaint and yet, it knows how to be still when the wind stops blowing.  As I watch the sunset behind the windmill, I know there are many lessons to be learned both in the stillness and in the storm.

Pamela R. Blaine

pamyblaine@blaines.us