The Windmills of My Mind

When I think of windmills I naturally think of the one behind Ron & Ruthie in this picture from 1970. The windmill south of our house on the farm where I grew up. One like all the other windmills on all the other farms of that era.

Or even a wooden one like this one somewhere out in the plains of Nebraska. I'd always wanted to see a wooden windmill. Naturally I wanted to get up close and personal once I did.


It was sometime in the 80's when windmill took on a whole new meaning. I was reading in the newspaper about all the wind generators being built up around Alta in Northwest Iowa. Oh how I would love to see those up close.

I finally had the opportunity when coming home from a trip to SE South Dakota and SW Minnesota.

It was fascinating to see all those huge windmills in the farm fields.
It never occurred to me they would someday be built so close to where I lived in SW Iowa.

Seeing this round barn just down the road from the windmills was an added bonus that day.

Adams County's wind farm is now up and running. I believe there are something like 65 turbines in the area South of Hwy 34, North of the Adams-Taylor County line, East of 148 and West of N64 (the road to Lenox).

Picture taken from the same location, Mercer Corner on Hwy 34, but I used the telephoto lens to show the old microwave tower on H54 east of Mom's.
These behemoths would definitely have been visible from her house. What would she have thought of them?

What totally surprised me when looking out my window a few nights ago, was that I could see the blinking red night lights on those windmills almost twenty miles away.

I know there has been a lot of controversy about the wind generators. Would I want to live near one? I don't know. But if they help our country's energy situation, until I have more information to change my mind, I think they are a good thing. They're definitely fascinating!