Pumping water... if the wind will blow

The windmill is a 1959 10' fan Aermotor and the best we can tell, the boys great grandfather put it up. Brenda and Dicky thought that it might have been their great-great grandfather's but the windmill was made in '59. But after our windmill guy looked at it (yes we have a windmill guy) he said that the tower was a Samson brand. Samson went out of business in the early 40's, so the tower was probably put up by the boys great-great grandfather. And it was originally a 12' fan because we had to raise the working platform 1'.

I'm sure some of the bullet holes are from Pepaw as a kid and I'm sure our boys will add some "character" to it also.
It is up and pumping water now... if the wind will blow. We turned it by hand and everything is working. In a 15 mph wind it will pump about 3.5 gallons per minute. A normal water hose puts out 5-10 gpm. Not a bunch of water but it will keep the tank full and I think it is much neater to have a functioning windmill.
I'm going to build a tower and put a galvanized water tank on it beside the windmill like they used to have. So if anyone knows where a old galvanized tank is, we're looking...

Fish and the Windmill

Last week Brian got some fish from Tractor Supply to put in our tank. He bought some minnows and some catfish. Hudson was helping carry the bags. :)

Reed was disappointed that he was at school when we put them in the tank, so Brian promised him that he would go get some more when Reed could see him release them. Here is the bag of minnows.
The catfish were pretty cool... they were only about 4 inches long and it looks like we got an albino one! I would love it if that one would live to get a lot bigger and we caught it one day - the boys would LOVE it!
Hudson wasn't so sure about touching them, but he sure was interested in watching.
Then today, the people came out to drill for the windmill.
Brian has been wanting a windmill out here for a while and my parents had one on their property that my dad said we could have. I have to admit, I wasn't to excited about it at first, but I think it will be so pretty - I'm going to plant a climbing vine around the base of it and I think it will end up being one of my favorite things!

We're still going...

Brian was on a blogging roll last year and well... not so much anymore. We went out today and finished up a project, so I decided to take some pics and do a small update. First and foremost, here is Brian in the machine that (besides his truck) could be his second home. :) He loves his skid steer.

On Brian's last post, he talked about digging the tank. There are three main low spots where the water drains into the tank. Brian dug them out and we had them rocked. The pic below is after Brian smoothed out the sides after we picked up all the rock debris. I think it turned out so pretty! We will eventually have a working windmill out here so there is a pipe that runs out on one of the drain things ( I don't know what they are actually called, so there ya go) that will help keep the tank full. It's a low now, but there's rain in the forecast, so we can hope! :)
Brian has started his shop. It's quite large (not a shocker, we do things big around here), but needs to be for all the equipment that Brian has. Tractors, tractor implements, skid steer, backhoe, trailers, etc. The top floor will be Brian's office.
I took this picture on the spot were we will eventually build our house. This will be the view from the front porch. The shop is left and back a little bit. The tank is straight ahead between the two trees.
This is the view that we will have from the back porch. So pretty!
We absolutely love it out here. It is such a beautiful place and I love that the boys have a great place to grow up - what a wonderful blessing!

Brian has been working on the pasture fence like a mad man and last week he went and picked up our new donkey and goat. I'll try to get out and take some pictures... they are both so cute! :)