The Windmills

Ace Crouch is a land owner that Bob Dollar scopes out as a possible seller. Ace is old, and has no use for the land, much of which lies barren. However, in telling the story of Bob persuing Ace's land, the story of Ace himself is told as well.

As told in previous posts, a young Ace Crouch came to be the partner of the odd windmill man- the forign Habakuk van Melkebeek. Together, they tend to the gentle giants that stand sentry over the quiet plains. They forge a natural bond with each other, the towering stands of metal, and the land.

When the subject of windmills first came up, I was interested from the get go. All of my life, I have heard of them. My Oma, or 'grandmother' in English, hails from Frankfurt, Germany. She came to America when she was in her twenties and retains strong ties to the place and people that she left.

She loves America, but at the same time, I have always heard her comentary of how the United States could be altered to be more like Europe. One of the things that she dislikes about America is the lack of intrest in saving energy and preserving natural resources. Not long ago, an incident arose where the people that lived in a town near her voted against installing windmills along the highways as a way of obtaining wind energy because they found them aesthetically displeasing. For weeks, I heard of how ignorant people were being. "A turning windmill on the country side is a beautiful thing!" she exclaimed, "They are all over Europe, and no one over there calls them displeasing!" I had to agree with her- since when did preserving the earth depend on such a material matter as aesthetics?

(taken from http://www.freefoto.com/preview/2003-03-30?ffid=2003-03-30&k=Kinderdyke+Windmills%2C+Holland )

And so, always, in my mind, windmills have been associated with something a little foreign and out of reach- beautiful, aged models that are somehow at the same time the result of forward thinking and new ideas. With this modern imprint of them in my brain, it was hard for me to picture them dusty and old squatting, a little delapidated, in the Texas heat, tall, abrupt changes to the otherwise flat landscape.

(taken from: http://www.texasescapes.com/CentralTexasTownsNorth/MontagueTexas/MontagueTx.htm )

But after thinking about it, the juxtopositon of the two ideas started making sense. The windmill is two symbols resting in one sleepy iron body. On the one hand, it is a symbol of progression and 'green' thinking- it shows conservation efforts at its finest and is associated with an intelligent way to create new energy. Also, though, it symbolizes an old way of life in the west, and despite the fact that they are worn and a little decrepit, they are still loved and cared for. They symbolize an old way of life that seems to be alien in modern times- a life of complete connection with the land, the windmill and self. Through tending to the windmills, people forge a closer relationship with the land and learn to become dependent solely on themselves and the wild, an idea that has faded in the time of Bob Dollar.