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The Wind Turbines of Calhan, CO – Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

By Sondra Meyer:

Real Estate Agent with EXP Realty, LLC

January 05, 2016 09:16 AM

How many times have you heard that “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder?” Or how many times have you been asked, “Is the glass is half empty or half full? It is all a matter of perspective, or so I tell myself, when it comes to the wind turbines in Calhan.

Wind Turbines with Pike Peak in the background

The wind turbines in Calhan are not going away, so I can choose to view them positively or negatively. So….this year I decided that I am going to do my best to find the beauty in the wind turbines in Calhan.

My goal this year is to take a picture every day that will highlight the beauty of the wind turbines. In doing so, I hope to convince myself that they are beautiful. I'm so committed to this project that I've even created a wordpress blog 2016WindTurbines.com for the pictures. I'll also be sharing some of the pictures here on Active Rain.

As a disclaimer, I must state:

I do not have any wind turbines on my property.
I do not want any wind turbines on my property.
No, I’m not jealous because I’m not receiving any lease payments. (Frankly, it ticks me off whenever someone that likes the turbines accuses me of not liking the wind turbines because I’m not getting paid for having them on my property. So…don’t go there.)
I’m happy for the people that are receiving lease payments. They are probably making more money off the turbines each year than if they were just running cattle on the property.
I purchased my property in Calhan after the wind turbines were up and running. I fell in love with Calhan before I knew about the wind turbines. I was incredibly disappointed when I found out about them. I opted to wait until they were operational before I made the decision to purchase in the area.
Yes – the wind turbines make noise. However, the noise it is not as disruptive as the sounds of sirens and other traffic noise that I was accustomed to hearing when I lived downtown. I suppose that I would describe the noise as a dull hum.
In high winds, the wind turbines shut off, so I’ve never seen them spin extremely fast.
Yes – people are concerned about the effect of the wind turbines on property values in the area. I also strongly suspect that I’m not the only one that secretly hopes that they will hurt land values in the near future so we can buy more land in the area more cheaply. After all, if we buy land in the area, we are taking a risk about how the property values will be affected by the turbines. (Expect to see many market reports for Calhan in the near future.)

A Wind Turbine of Calhan, CO at Sunrise

p.s. The photographs in this blog are iphone snapshots.

Sincerely,

Sondra Meyer, CPA

Horse Property Specialist

Star View Real Estate

979-575-2700

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Gary Woltal

Keller Williams Realty - Flower Mound, TX

Assoc. Broker Realtor SFR Dallas Ft. Worth

Interesting project with the photos Sondra. Beauty can be found anywhere. In a Texas county some owners are ok with them others not. Their big weakness is bird strikes. I look forward to the photos.

Jan 05, 2016 09:33 AM

Sondra Meyer:

Corpus Christi, TX

Kathy Streib

Cypress, TX

Home Stager/Redesign

Sondra- when we are on our trips in the midwest I see them, and honestly they're scary to me. It's like they're these big monsters. Silly I know but I'm glad you're working on your project.

Jan 05, 2016 10:18 AM

Roy Kelley

Gaithersburg, MD
Sondra Meyer:

Corpus Christi, TX

Sharon Lee

Sharon Lee's Virtual Assistance - Jonesborough, TN

Retired and loving life

Sondra-Ii don't see them as pretty but the sky in the background sure is, Nice job

Jan 05, 2016 10:51 AM

Bob Crane

Woodland Management Service / Woodland Real Estate, KW Diversified - Stevens Point, WI

Forestland Experts! 715-204-9671

I have a little feeling of delight every time that I see one of these beauties, not so much due to how they look but rather it due to the reason why they are there and the gift that they are producing, free energy that does not pollute, does not exhaust any fuels, and does not leave any nuclear residue.

Just standing out there dancing in the breeze while giving a gift to mankind.

Jan 05, 2016 11:41 AM

Roy Kelley

Gaithersburg, MD
Sondra Meyer:

Corpus Christi, TX

Sandy Padula & Norm Padula, JD, GRI

HomeSmart Realty West & Florida Realty Investments - , CA

Presence, Persistence & Perseverance

Sondra Meyer: I see the turbines whenever I drive across Texas on one of my many cross country drives. They are huge and in California, there have been concerns about their effect on bird life.

Jan 05, 2016 07:31 PM

Roy Kelley

Gaithersburg, MD
Sondra Meyer:

Corpus Christi, TX

Paul S. Henderson, REALTOR®, CRS

Fathom Realty Washington LLC - Tacoma, WA

South Puget Sound Washington Agent/Broker!

I try to see the beauty in everything. They are looked upon as a national treasure in Holland.

Thanks for the different point of view Sondra Meyer:!

Jan 06, 2016 01:26 AM

Sondra Meyer:

EXP Realty, LLC - Corpus Christi, TX

See It. Experience It. Live It.

Hi,

Thank you all for your comments. Instead of responding here, due to limited time, I try to take the time to visit each of your blogs first.

I will say- Bob - how poetic! Paul - As I embark on this project of finding the beauty, I'll keep your comment about them being Holland's national treasure in mind especially when I get frustrated with them.

Jan 06, 2016 04:18 AM

Dick Greenberg

New Paradigm Partners LLC - Fort Collins, CO

Northern Colorado Residential Real Estate

Hi Sondra - Every time I see them, and we have a bunch up here, I think about the alternatives - coal or nuclear, and feel glad we have this choice.

Jan 06, 2016 05:39 AM

Roy Kelley

Retired - Gaithersburg, MD

Thanks for sharing your photographs. You have a blog topic for a long series.

Jan 06, 2016 06:00 AM

Dale Poll

Dale Poll Photography - Colorado Springs, CO

Beautiful photography!

Jan 09, 2016 11:02 AM

Anonymous

Ed Anders

You might also convince yourself that rotgut whiskey tastes good, or that cancer is merely a state of mind. I suggest the realistic approach of admitting that Man is constantly destroying nature, under a green banner or whatever it takes. People and new machines are crowding the landscape to death more than ever. Look up a 2009 Stanford report that suggests 3.8 MILLION large wind turbines would be a noble goal. Imagine the world with that number vs. the 250,000 already wrecking scenery. I can only shake my head in sorrow.

Recommended reading on the new cult of sustainability: "Confessions of a Recovering Environmentalist" (Kingsnorth/Orion)

Feb 23, 2016 08:45 AM

#11

Anonymous

Ed Anders

Bob Crane wrote: "I have a little feeling of delight every time that I see one of these beauties, not so much due to how they look but rather it due to the reason why they are there and the gift that they are producing, free energy that does not pollute, does not exhaust any fuels, and does not leave any nuclear residue. Just standing out there dancing in the breeze while giving a gift to mankind."

Get me a barf bag! I smell a subsidy-chaser. Do you understand or care about the sheer scale of these machines on rural landscapes? Wind blight is only a "gift" if you completely ignore the ruined vistas and permanent loss of peace & quiet. Maybe robotic engineers appreciate it, but not the ones who still have souls. These towers are being built far and wide in areas that would never have been developed for energy, and they produce intermittent power well below their rated claims (typically 25-40%). Protests around the globe are gaining in intensity as critical mass encroaches on limited space to put them. Blighting ocean horizons is no solution; they only get bigger and more expensive out there. But some people are so terminally anthropocentric that they'd like to see nature obliterated and exiled to movie screens like the old man scene in Soylent Green. All for the sake of money and coddling population growth.

Rooftop solar and serious conservation are the true path to clean energy. We also need modern, safer nuclear plants with much higher energy density. But fossil fuels will always be critical for industry, transport, agriculture and thousands of other uses. Renewable infrastructure is made from them, anyhow. There can be no all-electric economy and we shouldn't destroy the landscape pretending so.

Feb 23, 2016 09:00 AM

#12

Joan Cox

House to Home, Inc. - Denver Real Estate - 720-231-6373 - Denver, CO

Denver Real Estate - Selling One Home at a Time

Sondra, have not been to Calhan to see these wind turbines, and have seen them up north. I think they are nice.

Mar 07, 2016 10:34 PM