With a muffled groan the shaft jerked. Creaking and popping like an old man’s knees, the mill slowly sprang to life. Corn disappeared into the device’s dark maul, and emerged moments later as freshly ground corn mill. Transfixed, young Dane watched the huge wooden gears turn, and listened intently as his Dad explained how water from the stream turns the water wheel, which then turns the wooden gears. More than a half-century earlier, I was that young boy, raptly listening…..