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Day 122/365: Windpower, Past and Present

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OnOne Effects: Graduated Blue and Magic Hour
Wind power today and yesterday
Photo REDO with Lightroom 4 (more realistic to what I really saw)
Windmills and Wind Farm SOOC
Windmills and Wind Farm SOOC

The world has come full circle in it’s use of energy. Harnessing wind power was used for hundreds of years as evidenced by this windmill in the foreground used to pump water into a livestock tank.  In the back are modern wind turbines in Western Iowa.

Iowa leads the United States in wind energy, more than 15% of the electrical power is generated by 47 wind farms across the state. This particular farm is part of the Adair Wind Farm. Don’t let the distance fool you, these modern wind turbines are huge. The base at the bottom is fifty feet in diameter and they stand 263 feet tall with each turbine being 126 feet in length.

Massive and impressive. Many people think they are eyesores to the landscape. Personally I find them graceful, serene, and peaceful from a distance, the rotating blades create a hypnotizing effect with their consistent rhythm. But then I don’t live right next to them either.

UPDATE:

7/2012: Second image was processed using Lightroom 4. As I’m going through my old photos I now have the tools to improve them and thought I would repost a few blog articles. 

Thanks for the suggestion Victoria, I had forgotten about the graduated blue action on the OnOne software.

Day 213/365: American Legion Baseball

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My son waited all summer for me to get an action shot of him sliding into base during an American Legion Baseball game. I think he’s happy with this. He played four years of Legion ball and it’s been the best sports experience hands down in the Elmwood-Murdock community. That includes school sports and town ball association participation.

American Legion Baseball
Safe at Third!

The seniors on this team remember their freshman year when many were recruited by classmates to play baseball so they could have a team. Many had not played since T-ball or coach pitch. That first year they didn’t win a game, and got “run ruled” too many times to count. But the coaches were fantastic, thanks Duane and Hank, kept their spirits up and taught them to play and support each other as a team.

Coach Quotes for Baseball: A Compilation of Quotes and Quotations for Use by Baseball Coaches at Every Level of PlayOne Shot at Forever: A Small Town, an Unlikely Coach, and a Magical Baseball Season

Every year they have improved, scores started going up on the board and they even began to win a few games. Those players from four years ago have grown, matured and love to play together. My son even put off his Marine boot camp ship date so he could play baseball one last year.

Congratulations David for sticking with the sport, it’s been a privilege to watch you play, I have thoroughly enjoyed my summers at the ball field. I will miss them.

Running for home during summer legion baseball
Coming Home!

American Legion Baseball

American Legion Baseball …. A Nations Patriotic Support …

Speaking of American Legion Baseball History it was right compelling for me to take the liberty of putting some of the interesting background of the Legions baseball history here on baseballfarming. The first American Legion Baseball World …

Key dates in American Legion baseball history | PennLive.com

Historic moments in the lengthy history of American League baseball.

Baseball Lessons=Life Lessons || Baseball Dudes LLC

If you play this game long enough, you will most definitely experience failure over and over and over. I was blessed to play this game for a long time, briefly make it as far as you can, and experience some amazing highs and …

March’s MLB Mondays: 3 Baseball Lessons That Apply to …

3 baseball lessons that apply to business blog Baseball teaches us so much about life. That is why America thirsts for Opening Day. Americans love baseball so much, that nearly 80,000 people have signed a White House …

8 Parenting Lessons Found In Baseball | BigTent – Blog

… a lot about baseball now that her 5 year-old loves to play. And it turns out, baseball can teach us a lot about parenting—from making a strategy to learning how to fail. If you ask us, her funny list of baseball lessons is a real…

Day 212/365: Nebraska Big Sky Country

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Took me three times as long to get to my sons baseball game the other night because I kept pulling over and taking sunset pictures. The clouds had that “silver lining” effect and the beams of sunlight were just to magnificent to pass up. The barn is one I pass every day between Elmwood and Murdock Nebraska. Just about every time it looks different. How can people say it’s boring scenery in Nebraska?

Nebraksa Big Sky Country
Nebraksa Big Sky Country

I grew up in Connecticut, and the trees line every roadside and curve into the clouds. Only sections of sky peak through. Although I miss the trees and hills the openness of the sky and heavens take my breath away. It’s awe inspiring to watch storms roll in, uninterrupted rainbows and a horizon that stretches thirty miles or more into the distance.

Enjoy our little bit of  “Big Sky” country in Nebraska.

Day 211/365: Nebraska Sunsets, Country Skyscrapers

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Montana might be called “Big Sky” country but Nebraska has a little bit of sky too. We also have skyscrapers. They are grain elevators and water towers. See, they touch the sky. From this vantage point they almost touch the clouds.

Sunset Over the Country High Rises
Sunset Over the Country High Rises

I am very blessed to have scenery like this every day when I commute to work. The town of Murdock (part of the Elmwood-Murdock metropolitan) has a population of approximately 280 people and yet it has home town pride. A lot of people around here are farmers, as you can tell by the grain elevator on the left. However, it is located only thirty minutes from Omaha and more and more people drive to the city to work.

The number of hogs and cattle raised in the area has drastically declined in the past twenty years. The second “skyscraper” you see it the feed mill, which is no longer in operation. I used to work there in the early 1990’s. It was then called Greenwood Farmers Co-op and due to the competitiveness of the agriculture industry more cooperatives in the state merged together to form Midwest Farmers Co-op. I believe the feed mill is further south now in Syracuse.

So do you still think skyscrapers are only in the big city?