Texas Mom Demonstrates Turning on a Windmill

I was today years old when I learned you can jump-start those old-school metal windmills you can still find scattered about the countryside here in Texas. We had one of those bad boys at the end of the street I grew up on in Robinson, Texas.

The wind had to be blowing fairly hard for that old rusted thing to start spinning, but according to the video at the end of this article, there might have been a little lever at the bottom that we were unaware of.

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Texas Mom Demonstrates Turning on a Windmill

As the video opens, we see a perfectly stationary windmill. Judging by the trees in the background, there does not seem to be much of a breeze blowing in what looks to be the early morning. How in the world is she going to get that rascal spinning?

Well, it turns out there is what looks to be a metal lever that controls a wire, which is attached to the tail of the windmill. The tail of a windmill is called a fantail or tail vane, and its purpose is to automatically turn the windmill's cap to face the wind.

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So, it appears as if she can control the direction of the fantail, which then gets the windmill in the correct position to start turning in the wind. Neato bandito!