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Servicing the last of our windmills yesterday morning

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Soapweed

Well-known member
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Location
northern Nebraska Sandhills
Changingoil.jpg

Changing oil. Some windmills have good platforms on which to stand.
Somehavegoodplatformsandsomedont.jpg

And some don't
Arespectednameinwindmills.jpg

Aermotor--a long-time respected name in windmills
Workingonawindmill.jpg

From the point of view of the wind
Lookingdownonamessypickup.jpg

Looking down on the pickup with all of our necessary "stuff"
Equalopportunityemployer.jpg

My accomplice
Isheactuallyacowboy.jpg

Is he actually a cowboy?
Funnylookingcowboyboots.jpg

Funny looking cowboy boots
Birdseyeviewofyearlingheifers.jpg

Bird's eye view of yearling heifers
DarlingandVigortone.jpg

Around this outfit we believe in equal opportunity. We feed both Darling and Vigortone mineral.
Greasemonkey.jpg

We hire greasy grimy guys
Danglingdoo-dad.jpg

With dangly doo-dads hanging from their differential,
W.jpg

As well as the more traditional W.A.S.P. types :wink:
Freshtracksafterarain.jpg

Fresh tracks after a rain, always a good sight
Birdonasoapweedstem.jpg

Bird on a soapweed stem
Coolclearwater.jpg

Cool clear water
Sunflower.jpg

Sunflower
Sunflowersandsoapweeds.jpg

Sunflowers and soapweeds
Evenprettywhenitisintheuglystage.jpg

Even pretty when it is in its ugly stage
Happylittlebird.jpg

Happy little bird
 
What a fun photo tour!!

Love the pics from atop the tower. I LOVE LOVE LOVE windmills -- to look at, photograph, paintings of, etc.... I gave up that tower climbing a long time ago :)
 
How deep are those wells, Soapweed? Sure is a nice stream of water. Do you have working barrels or do you have to pull pipe to leather them? Julie, I don't love windmills to service them. They are nice to look at, but all mine are pretty high maintaince.
 
WE keep talking about maybe putting some windmills in but it would probably be as cheap and easy to just put in normal wells or run pipe out to some of the fields here.. Maybe not but than we would have to find someone who pus the darn things up.. They used to use them around here and just ran them off the sand aquifer that is all of 10 feet bellow the surface of the ground (used to be more like 3 feet) .. Can get a lot of water out of that subsurface water...Proably be a better system than the wells we use..
 
IL Rancher said:
WE keep talking about maybe putting some windmills in but it would probably be as cheap and easy to just put in normal wells or run pipe out to some of the fields here.. Maybe not but than we would have to find someone who pus the darn things up.. They used to use them around here and just ran them off the sand aquifer that is all of 10 feet bellow the surface of the ground (used to be more like 3 feet) .. Can get a lot of water out of that subsurface water...Proably be a better system than the wells we use..
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I would think solar pump if you get enough sunshine. There are several here that folks seem happy with. Low maintaince. Our water is deeper than I suspect your is. My windmills are 200-300 feet.
 
Dpedning on where we have drilled and how much water we are going for the pump head is somewhere around 100-150 feet.. Generally with 50 more foot of casing below it if I remember right. We have put in three wells since we moved here.. But we also have sandpoints here and there.. The main problem with them is getting ENOUGH water out of them to keep up with cows. When it was 140 cows it could barely keep up and now they are worthless (And replaced for the most part)... Solar pumps might do the trick, mainly, I don't want to have to run electricity or piping 1/4-1/2 mile through sand as the trensching units don't work worth spit. This would be better for allocation of pastures and keep some of the alleys that we use to get to water a bit.. Cleaner.
 
Canadian_Cowgirl said:
Good Pictures!! Heifers look good!! You cold never get me on one of those things!! Nice lookin wrench you got there! :wink:


Katy
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Katy!!!!!!!!!! :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :!: :!:

Thanks for posting the pictures Soapweed.
 
Shortgrass said:
How deep are those wells, Soapweed? Sure is a nice stream of water. Do you have working barrels or do you have to pull pipe to leather them? Julie, I don't love windmills to service them. They are nice to look at, but all mine are pretty high maintaince.
Click to expand...

Our wells range in depth from about 30 feet to 120 feet. All have the "working barrels" so we don't have to pull the pipe to change leathers. Most of our wells require two 3" leathers. The new wells that we put in have three-inch pipe all the way down, with a two-and-three-fourths-inch cylinder at the bottom. This works good because when changing leathers, after getting the pumpsticks and "plunger" above the cylinder, it "usually" :roll: :? pulls fairly easily.
 
Interesting pictures Soapweed. How high off the ground are you? About 30 ft in the air? Make sure you are careful up there and don't go dropping that camera. We'd miss your great pictures!

:wink:
 
That is what I experienced in the sandhill 30+ years ago. The working barrels are so much faster and eaiser to leather. In this country we have to use 1 1//4 pipe because the water is deep enough that a 3" pipe would be too hard a pull. We have to pull pipe & all to leather.
 
Great pictures! I've often thought of pictures from up on a windmill...but I'm to chicken to get up that high..Tried talking hubby once into taking pictures for me, as he was trying to reattach the spring to the head...alls I got was a dirty look, and the question how in the hell was he suppose to take pictures while trying to work and hang on at the same time..lol MEN...they make things so complicated..lol
 
IL Rancher said:
WE keep talking about maybe putting some windmills in but it would probably be as cheap and easy to just put in normal wells or run pipe out to some of the fields here.. Maybe not but than we would have to find someone who pus the darn things up.. They used to use them around here and just ran them off the sand aquifer that is all of 10 feet bellow the surface of the ground (used to be more like 3 feet) .. Can get a lot of water out of that subsurface water...Proably be a better system than the wells we use..
Click to expand...

Kind of funny, most of the mills on this place came from Dad's cousins, just south of you, back in the early 60's. They tore them apart, starting from the top and Dad hauled them home and used one tower from there for two towers here. And they are still too tall! :shock

:lol: :lol:

I've went to putting in large tank resevoirs by my windmills to hold enough water for when a big bunch comes to water. I've got 3 windmiills I still use, but am going more to electricity and piping.
 
If they came from the area you visited when you came back those many moons ago than it would be just to the north of us but that it wouldn't take much distance south of that town to be just to the south of us.... We have TONS of old windmill towers around here.. Some folks still have the blades and stuch atatched and in operating condition but they are strictly decrotive now as everyone that I know of has swtiched firt to sand points and than to submerged deep wells... I am not even sure how legal it would be to put in a windmill off the surface aquifer, I know plumbers aren't allowed to mess with them too much anymore (Health deparetment)... I think our towers around here ar eno more than 30 feet but I have seen some taller ones... Sometimes they are the only thing left at an old home site,kind of like a countryside gave marker.
 
Great pictures!

And impressive:

1. That you could hang on and take pictures at the same time.

2. That you both fit on the platform, and you trusted its strength enough to do it. I saw many old wooden platforms that looked pretty iffy. I usually got lucky and got to stay on the ground and empty the oil buckets coming down on a rope. But my unfortunate brothers had to climb the rickety ones.

I don't blame the boy for his choice of footwear for climbing mills either. :) Might have a good grip to 'em.
 

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