JOHN HARVEY
Spanish Music.com
WATER FROM A WINDMILL
My Grandfather and I were at the lumber and hardware store in Cotulla and he said, "Look at these burlap bags, I ‘m going to buy a couple of them." He hung them on each side of the rear view mirrors on the outside of the truck. They had a little cap that you would open them up. Then you would put it down and then it would clamp down. You would see that the whole thing would get wet and when you would drive, the wind would cool it down. He would fill those with water from the house and hang them there so by the time we would get there, we would have cool water. Then he’d hang them under a tree and we could drink that water also. I don’t know if they make them anymore. That was unusual. They probably handled a gallon of water. They were like backup.
My Grandfather would take those big milk containers, metal milk containers and put ice in them at Reyes Cafe. Big blocks of ice and then he’d fill them up with water and the guys would drink those throughout the day until they were gone. He’d have to be real careful driving thru the mesquite brush and cactus to find water. Sometimes there were no roads where we were. He’d go around the cactus here and there, didn’t get very many flat tires at all. He’d say, you have to watch for dry wood that might have a piece of wood sticking straight up. You don’t want to puncture a hole in the tires and don’t go over the cactus. He drove the truck all the time.
We had to check on the water so we wouldn’t run out of water. We always had to make sure we had enough water because the guys worked hard and would be very thirsty and we were way out in on the ranch. He would tell them, we’re running low on water. The only water left is the one in the burlap bags. I’m going to go and see if I can find a water tank to fill up the milk cans.
We’d get the cans and use a bucket to fill them up. But don’t stir it up too hard to bring dirt up from the bottom. You’d have to go real gently with the bucket to fill it. And then pour it into the milk can. And then take the milk can to the truck and drive to where the workers were. He'd say, "Well we got some water boys, from a tank." No ice but they had more water. I used to drink that water, didn’t think nothing of it.
And if we found a windmill nearby, we’d get clear water from the windmill. Oh, that’s nice. He’d tell them, “We got some clean windmill water.” “Oh okay”, they’d like that. They’d all stop and come over together to get water. Everyone used the same dipper. “Oh that’s clean fresh cool water coming right from the ground.” He’d say, “It’s from a windmill about half a mile up there so we’ll get water from there while we're working in this area now that we know there’s water there.” So we wouldn’t get it from the ponds, we’d get it from the windmill.
They had windmills throughout the ranches but sometimes there wouldn’t be any nearby so he’d have to get water from the ponds. The water from the windmill was even better then getting it from a faucet, it was pumping it right up from the ground. Very clean water.
Back to GRANDFATHER
