{"product_id":"beside-that-windmill-9781682831441","title":"Beside That Windmill","description":"What does a boy do when he has to spend his summers on a dry, windy farm, living in a house with no water or electricity? No TV, no radio, no telephone, no bathroom, no refrigerator. This was ranch life long ago. \u003cp\u003eDon Parks grew up on a family ranch in the rural Great Plains. The sky was big and blue. Cattle roamed the fields. Cowboys came and went. Most important of all, the ranch's water was supplied by a faithful windmill. Every night it lulled the boy to sleep, and every day it worked alongside the family in the sun. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWindmills still dot the landscape of the wide spaces of America's Great Plains. They serve as reminders of what it took homesteaders to settle this hardscrabble region and how they coaxed enough water from the earth to live by. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Don Parks grew up, he began painting the childhood he remembered. His paintings are set alongside a story by his wife, longtime educator Minda Parks. Together, the narrative and the paintings tell the history of windmills on the Great Plains.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eParks, Don L.:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cb\u003eDon L. Parks\u003c\/b\u003e is a professional artist and a veteran who has also had careers as an agricultural economist and a trust banker. Parks, largely self-taught, studied art and painted in the evenings after work. His subject matter portrays his time spent outdoors as a boy growing up on a ranch and reflects his love of nature. Parks has degrees from Texas Tech University. He lives with his wife, Minda, in Midland, Texas.\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eParks, Minda:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cb\u003eMinda Parks\u003c\/b\u003e, an enthusiastic reader of adult and children's books, encourages others to read. Now retired, she taught in Texas public schools in Wichita Falls and Midland. Her teaching career was spent in the classroom and as a reading specialist. She has degrees from Texas Tech University and the University of Texas-Permian Basin.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Texas Tech University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50387033096466,"sku":"9781682831441","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_b11a1264-f3b2-4332-934e-4c0b23aa72ee.jpg?v=1728867521","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/beside-that-windmill-9781682831441","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}