Robin of Rockridge's Blog

WHAT I LEARNED FROM A WINDMILL;
Face the wind; Bring up the deep water; Look around; Be reliable; Be an oasis; Do what you do best; Don’t lose your head;
Bring up the water from under your tower; Adapt;
Accept help when you need it;
There is no sense in hiding from a storm;
Without you someone might not make it;
It’s okay to be unique; Live for the long – term;
Stay in the wind; Reach higher anyway;
The wind blows harder the higher you go.
–Author Unknown
–Thanks go to Terry Jantzen, Kansas, for supplying me this copy.

Eli Windmill on display at the Shattuck Windmill Museum & Park in Oklahoma.

    Golden rays of afternoon sunshine illuminate the porch of the Homestead House,  another highlight of the Shattuck Windmill Museum & Park in Oklahoma.

    Originally the home of David Steinert’s family starting in 1901, this historic pioneer home was donated by his heirs to the windmill park. The home’s relocation expenses were donated by Rudolph &  Emma Treiber.    This gem of an house is a treasure in the Shattuck park. Park attendees may ask to see the inside of the story-and-a-half farmhouse.

     A wooden Dempster #9 antique windmill sits just behind the pioneer house and a WinCharger is poised on the roof. The farm house’s family may have used such a WinCharger to produce low wattage electricity which powered a radio or a just a few lights.
    The Dempster or similar windmill would have provided fresh water for the home when wind speeds reached a minimum of three to five m.p.h. The water would have been stored in a wooden tank, as the one currently displayed just south side of the house.
    Come on by the Shattuck Windmill Museum & Park. Admission is free. And bring your camera!

Who says romance is dead? Today we celebrated our thirty-third wedding anniversary in Shattuck, Oklahoma, at the windmill museum and park.

    Shattuck? Romantic? Maybe not, but it so happens that our anniversary nearly always falls during the annual volunteer work week at the park. We meet there each autumn to service and repair Shattuck’s salute to America’s original green energy–the water pumping windmills.
    Several designs of windmills have provided water for American families, farms and ranches for over 100 years. People from several states all gather in Shattuck for this volunteer work. By working together for several years we’ve become like an extended family. This camaraderie and a common goal of saving the antique windmills is what spurs Kevin and me to show up each fall–even when it means sharing our anniversary with other windmillers.

    Here I am with Johnny from Missouri and “Uncle” Paul from Texas. Many of us have dubbed him uncle for his expertise and advice.

    Kevin (we’re from Northern California) and Vernon from Oklahoma worked together on several windmills this week.

    Ruby, from Kansas, is our painting expert. She not only paints windmills but repainted the old mercantile building this year along with Sue from Shattuck. (I’ll have to add Sue’s photo another day.)

(L.-R.) Mike, Vernon, Steve and John all worked on the big Sampson windmill near the south end of the park. Steve is from Southern California,  but the other three are all from Oklahoma
    We have more volunteers from other states. I’ll feature their photos in later posts.

    Come on by the Shattuck Windmill Museum & Park. It may not be romantic to you unless you’re a history buff in love with the old west.

Shattuck Oklahoma is home to one of the few windmill museums & parks in the U.S.A. Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2014, the all volunteer work week crew gathers annually to service and restore the antique water pumping windmills.

Vernon from Oklahoma and Eddie from Texas were part of crew who built a new tail for the 18 Railroad Eclipse windmill.

Vernon and his son John are up lettering the

tail and servicing the Eclipse now.
Come on by!