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The Aermotor windmill is probably the oldest iconic windmill In the United States today. We bought one that was very old at a seller's booth at the Round Top antique market. This was back in the late 1900s. So that makes it 20 years ago or so. We first erected this windmill In Fulshear in the backyard. We had to get Architectural Control Committee approval to do this. Because some of our neighbors may have some bad experiences with a neighboring windmill, we had to assure them that we would not let the brake slide and provide that nasty shrieking noise.  Other than that, there was no objection to looking at a windmill.  W e erected the windmill in Fulshear.  It was quite a chore for us as we had no idea where all the parts fit together and how they were arranged.  For example, we learned that the sail wheel with its struts is built with the same concept as a bicycle wheel with its spokes.  After much head scratching and consulting the internet we had it to the point where we c

In the early days when transportation horsepower was limited to the number of horses pulling a wagon, we find that the route from some Point A to another Point B did not always follow the route of the  shortest distance.  This observation is true for  hilly country.  Wagon routes found the route of least effort, but maybe more distance, while modern highways found the shortest distance, using more effort.  Better wheels and bigger engines on transport vehicles made all this change occur. So, this begs the question of how wagon routes were chosen to get from a Point A to a Point B in hilly country before the car, the train. First off, wagon drivers did not want to pull up a hill only to give it back again by going down the other side of a hill.  In fact, going downhill was often a chore because wagons did not have adequate brakes and so the wagon would tend to run up on the horses.  As an aside, one old trick was to chain a log to the wagon at the top of a hill; dragging it downhill h

Every year we buy large quantities of black oil sunflower seeds for the birds.  We do the same for the deer with sweet feed and corn. Then, there is the matter of water for all of them.   We are in the middle of a 5 month drought and with two bird baths and a large stock water trough,  up to 20 gallons of water each day are hosed into these vessels. The bird baths need an extra step of attention, as the raccoons visit the water, and as coons normally do, they must get into the water and mess it up badly.  The bird baths require cleaning often. So, because of the drought, primarily, this has turned into a daily work and resource ritual. In years past, we have had serious droughts in the summer and have done the same thing.  Then, there is the time in the winter where it seems as if the food for wildlife is scarce, so we feed then as well. But, we are always reminding ourselves that these are wild creatures and they have existed for a long time and without our help.  In fact, they got

We stopped for coffee this afternoon at the Exxon convenience store in Wimberley.  This is a busy store because their gasoline prices match the non branded stations in town, they are open 24 hours a day, and they have a very complete convenience store including hot lunches served to your liking.  Plus, they have tables for sitting and relaxing.   In the past it is in this sort of environment that we have encountered the most interesting people.  Sometimes we initiate the conversation, sometimes they do; not predictable at all. As I was paying for our two coffees at one of two registers, there was a man of about 60 years of age buying his lunch at the other register.  Holy cow, what a thick accent; unmistakably Australian.  He was such a stir with his "mate" this and "mate" that it caused the lady who was taking my payment to have one ear cocked towards him at the other register and still paying attention to our transaction.  I said to her "I am betting that yo

I came across some correspondence with my dad in about 1978. He was describing a contraption that he had built in order to satisfy my mother that they were secure at night when sleeping with the front door open , only the screen door shut to prevent mosquitoes from entering the house.   The screen door only had a small latch on it so it was quite insecure.   Anyone who wanted to cut the screen, open the latch and get in the house could do so quite easily.   This is why my mother was concerned for sleeping with this insecure situation. So, my dad decided to rig up a security system based on parts that he had in the basement. The following paragraph is his writeup of the system that he had rigged up. We left the front door open nights since your mother was afraid someone would cut the screen and reach in and unlock the door. So I fixed that. I mounted a mouse trap in the basement and put a piece of mica in as an insulator and fastened it to about 20 feet of monofilament line run out e