DUTCH WINDMILLS

                            Romantic Windmills

   

 I’m as intrigued with windmills as I am lighthouses and during my first short stay in Amsterdam I learned a bit about the windmills that have been part of the Dutch landscape for five centuries. It was explained to us, “There were two kinds of windmills. There were those used as a source of power, also called industrial windmills since they provided power for sawmills or gristmills. Then there were watermills or drainage mills used to keep water behind levies. These mills produced polders or reclaimed land.

      “By 1274 there were many watermills driven by rivers and streams. In 1414 the earliest drainage mills were invented and by 1450 many could be found in South Holland. The invention of the camshaft and crankshaft in the 17^th century made it possible to use the wind to power the mills. Although the mills did not originate in Holland, the Dutch developed the mills and made maximum use of them.”

       First the steam engine, then the combustion engine, and finally the electric motor brought the usefulness of the mills to a quick end. By 1923 only 3000 of the 10,000 mills in Holland remained and today the 1000 surviving mills are protected living monuments.

A lot of the windmills had living quarters at ground level that a keeper lived in just like they did in lighthouses years ago before everything was automated.

Someone in our group said that he had read the parchment paper that the Declaration of Independence was written on in 1776 was believed to have come from De Schoolmeester windmill, built in 1692.

A WW buff told us that windmills have four blade positions, and that during WW II prearranged resting positions signaled messages of approaching raids to those in hiding. Fascinating!

Leaving Amsterdam we glimpsed a few operating windmills in the distant pasturelands.

No matter what their use, I think windmills are picturesque and romantic.

           

A COUPLE OF STRANGE CRITTERS

        Natures Oddities 

 In Africa wildebeest wander by the millions. We unknowingly happened to be there during the migration to the Serengeti and what a sight it was to experience. One evening while camping in the Masai Mara, a  local guide at the end of his evening lecture told us the following:

When it was time for God to create the wildebeest he was running out of parts so he gave the animal the face of a grasshopper, the chin and beard of a goat, the tail of a horse. When it came time for his brain there was only room for an insect brain and that is why the poor animal often runs sideways, stumbles and easily gets confused.

In Australia the platypus is another strange being.  This semi-aquatic   mammal has a beaver tail, a duck beak and feet of an otter. They lays eggs instead of having a live birth. The body and broad, flat tail are covered with dense, brown fur that traps a layer of insulating air to keep him warm. The fur is waterproof, and the texture is like that of a mole. A carnivore, the platypus  uses its tail for storage of fat reserves.

 The male platypus has a spur on its hind foot that delivers venom capable of causing severe pain to a human. It is one of the few venomous mammals.

 Hunted for its fur until the early 20th century it is now protected. Captive breeding programs have had limited success.