Another cousin, Nannie Deal, came over to TLR and we spent the afternoon catching up on family. It seems we like we only see each other every couple of years so it's also nice to see her. She usually gets the Deal family reunion put together every year but it seems our family members are dwindling more each year. Nannie lives in Clinton, IA and volunteers a lot at the hospital and historical society in Clinton.
The photo above is of a working Windmill that is located in Fulton, IL along the Mississippi River. Grains ae ground by the wind power that generate the grinding stones to make wheat flour and other grain flour. It's pretty fascinating to actually go inside the windmill and see the mechanics of how one of these operate. We also went through the Museum in Fulton and several made to scale working windmills were on display. Each windmill has a function, about 160 different operations such as grinding spices, sawing wood, etc. We also learned that the top section of each windmill can be rotated so that it faces directly into the wind and the blades can be covered with various types of cloth to pick up the wind better. Of course the only way to cover the blades is by actually climbing up each of the blades and then tie the fabric attached to the blades in place. We were tole that the blades are so sturdy that 3 or 4 men can be on each blade at one time. No one can say those Dutchmen didn't know about harnessing wind power centuries ago. We can probably take a lesson in wind energy from them.
