Saturday, December 08, 2007

The winds

There I was on a shiny morning trying to fix the wiring on top of the old windmill. Kinda difficult job to do without the right tools and one leg hanging out the ladder. I wasn´t doing much of a success and I decided to call the molinero.

- "Yeah 99, you got to bring the man in. That´s a work for a specialist", said Negrita
- "Hi there", I greeted the cow
- "Come down while he brings the parts. There´s still some water in the trough. We can wait together. I don´t have much to do anyway"

She´s always right so I stepped down trying to catch the signal on my cellphone. The molinero, is always ready to solve emergencies.

- "That was a hell of a Northern wind last night", she continued, "no wonder the windmill broke. It must have been spinning like a maniac. Did you check the pump pole and the vanes?"
- "Yeah, they´re ok"
-"Did you hear the neighbors are planting soy? They got rid of some of my friends to use the land for crops"
- "I saw it. What a pity"
- "They evicted some of my fellas like many other ranchers are doing...", she said and I sensed some sadness in her moos.
- "It´s not good soil for crops. It´s grassland, cattle heaven.", I said trying to show her my sympathy for her loss.
- "Actually with all the craziness for biodiesel and the prices of corn skyrocketing who could blame them? I remember tales that my mother told me about the times in which there weren´t even fences in these lands"
- "No fences?"
- "Yeah. Cows were free to look for the clovers anywhere they wanted. It was after the conquistadores brought them from Spain and let them reproduce wildly. Would you believe that my great great grandmother had horns? Not exactly a beauty", and she blinked at me in her Angus pride.
- "I didn´t know"
- "Well, the breeding came afterwards and we adapted to the Pampas environment. What are we facing now? Stock markets define ruminant territories and soy is King. Green deserts with no job for gauchos and no place for diversity. Do you realize that exporting grain is also a hidden way of exporting water?"

She left me speechless. But I felt I had to comfort her so I mumbled, "there´s always going to be grass for you here..."
- "Thanks, I know. Sorry, but when the Northern wind enters so powerful and careless my brain spins like the windmill and I can´t avoid seeing the big picture. I smell it. I can´t close my nostrils...", she said and belched. "Hey, there´s the molinero coming!"
- "I´ll take care Negrita, let´s see what he can do to fix the problem... see you later, chau"
- "Chau 99, namasté"

I met the molinero at the gate and he was smiling. Happy to know that the cows needed his services. There are not many of those calls lately and he´s thinking in moving to another town. Far West, where there is still some cattle.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really came to thank you for visiting my blog and to give you a besos because it is the time of year for special things and events. I am happy to say I have missed seeing you and Mike. Glad you are all OK.

Looks like the windmill has seen better days.

99 said...

Hi Abe! You´re right it´s been a long time without visiting anybody although each time I have a moment I check on your birds blog. I love it.

Way too many things have been happening to us down here. Most of them good. Very stressing decisions and works to undertake. The future looks a little more relaxing and I´ll get back to my blogging routines.

That particular windmill feeds clear unpolluted water not just for the cows but for us as well. No pesticides, no hormones, no trash, just naturally filtered and mineralized. We drink it from the tap and it tastes sweet and thick.
My grandfather put it there like 80 years ago and it still works.

Thanks for the besos and some more back for you and your family.
Chau for now.

GMG said...

Beautiful post!
Also loved to read that things are getting better!
I'll be out from Wednesday through Sunday, but meanwhile leave you in Amsterdam, should you like to take a break!
Enjoy and have a great week!
Blogtrotter

99 said...

Gracias Té la mà Maria - Reus! Can I shorten your nick to "Té"?
I saw your graphics and they are quite interesting... some a little disturbing... but all very attractive!
Barcelona is one of my favorite cities.
I´ll try to catch up with your updates. Thanks for passing by.

99 said...

GMG, how much I would love to take a break in Amsterdam... especially after seeing your photos! I liked very much the skies shots behind the Herengracht canal and the bridges.

Glad you like to hear things from so very down-under. Spring time here is a very busy season for any business, particularly the ones related to the campo.

Sooo, nenhum lazer para mim pelo momemto :-(
Aprecía-o por mim.

Isabella Azul said...

¡Oh, this story upset mi mucho! I very scared now :(

99 said...

Oh NO! Beautiful Isabella Azul... don´t be upset. Life is wonderful.
It´s just that old people also have things to learn and it´s only a matter of más tiempo for us to understand. We don´t learn as quickly as you do.

One day you´re going to see where your next foods are going to be coming from and you´re going to meet all sort of animalitos. Don´t be scared. Todo va a estar bien

Hold on to Mami and Papi for now and remember, Life is Wonderful.

Muchos besitos

Isabella Azul said...

Sí, life is beautiful, just like my title of my blog, but it is actually a play on mi name. I look forward to seeing los animalitos un día, I´ve never been to the campo before!

99 said...

Ok! Here´s the deal: keep growing and behaving. No more crying at night and when you feel you can walk on your own your papis and us are going to take you there so you can meet Negrita and Milagro, ok?

Isabella Azul said...

ok :)