How Kansas Winds got started

Doing business in Kingman, KS

2009-08-02T05:43:00.000-07:00

Had a great weekend at the Kingman Christian Church parking lot. First time there with Kansas Winds, but plan to go back. It has been very cool for this time of year. Going to hook up the solar panels to heat the pool as 84 is too cold for me. Spoiled? Nah Nah!

Life and business is good

2009-07-24T03:48:00.000-07:00

KansasWinds Working in El Dorado this weekend with our www.kansaswinds.com business. Work weekends, play golf rest of the time. 54 holes Wed.

Work and fun for the fourth of July.

2009-07-02T17:03:00.000-07:00

Working tomorrow at 17th and Plum. Will put out the red, white, and blue whirligigs, flags and windsocks. Taking Saturday off and will have daughter Tammy here from Louisianna, Trini's brother John and wife Silvia here from Colorado. Having a cookout for all the family. The pool and the Wii will get plenty of action. This stuff is really fun.

Mother's 97th Birthday

2009-06-14T10:59:00.000-07:00

Working the Mall store today until it's time for Mom's 97th BD party. Our weekend at 17th and Plam was great and thanks to all our loyal customers. Don't forget Father's day next Sunday, June 21st. We have a great selection of NFL, NASCAR, and college related items for the sports minded guy on your list

Kansas Winds at the mall and moving around

2009-06-12T20:57:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for Mom's 97th BD Sunday. What a life she has had. Dirty 30's, Learning computer at 87, Last one of her generation left. Wow!
Business id good at 17th and Plum in Hutchinson, KS. Can't see us there? Go to www.kansaswinds.com for the stuff real life customers can get

God bless those who have made this day special.

2009-05-25T05:05:00.000-07:00

Looks like a good day for a game of golf and a cookout with the family. Not all play though as I will get some shipments ready for UPS. Have "Old Glory" flying. Had a good weekend at the Mall and 17th and Plum. Business is getting better all the time. I believe things are getting better for the country at least around here. Plan to get the pool ready for opening.

Kansas Winds Schedule

2009-05-21T05:52:00.000-07:00

Kansas Winds is not only at the Mall in Hutchinson, Kansas, but also travels to communities all over Kansas as well as Colorado bring our customers a unique lineup of hard to find items. These include whirligigs, garden spinners, flags, flag poles, NASCAR, NFL, and college licensed products. Our cozy blankets are a hit year round. This weekend we are at the Hutchinson Mall, and at at the Auto Glass Center at 17th and Plum, Hutchinson, Ks May 22-25. Check our calendar often as we are adding events all the time. Click this link to find out where you can see us in person. http://www.kansaswinds.com/Calendar.html

Graduation Weekend

2009-05-15T06:26:00.000-07:00

Graduation weekend for grandsons, Andrew Thompson, Jordan Vargas and grandnephew, Matthew Van Sickler. Way to go guys. Kansas Winds event this weekend besides the Hutchinson Mall business is the "Thunder on the Smoky" (Sat) Motorcycle rally at Marquette, Ks. Our daughter Tammy will be here this weekend from Louisiana. Haven't seen her since the funeral for husband Rick in April

Growing the Kansas Winds Web site

2009-04-28T06:44:00.000-07:00

Reorganizing the Mall store. Should get in the new fountains this week. Plan to put them on our Web site as soon as I can get some pictures of them up on youtube. I almost completed the advertising pages on our site featuring Lighted Glo Signs and "open" and "sale" banners. Enjoy Web building but not as much as golf. Still have got to do the Meta Tags so Google can find us. Links at www.kansaswinds.com

How Kansas Winds got into Cozy Blankets

2009-04-09T07:12:00.000-07:00

One of the most important parts of our business is our "Korean Mink" blankets. They're not really mink of course, but made of polyester, but feel really soft and cozy. We have designs such as tigers, wolves, dolphins, as well as NFL, and college twins, throws, kings and Queens. My former son-in-law, Mark Thompson had been telling me of the blankets his Mother and step-father were selling in California. This occured in October, 2003. I didn't see how that would work here in Kansas but when I saw and felt the quality of the blankets, I decided to give them a try. To make a long story short, Kansas Winds Cozy Blankets have be an important part of our business ever since. We don't have them on our Web site yet but plan to add them to the site this year along with our expansion into NFL and college licensed items. NFL items can be found on the site now at
http://www.kansaswinds.com/LicensedItems.html. We have our store at the Hutchinson Mall and also plan to travel the State of Kansas as well as Colorado to bring our neat stuff to customers everywhere.

Added Site Map to Web site

2009-04-02T12:51:00.000-07:00

We added a Site Map page to our site (www.kansaswinds.com) to aid in navigation for our customers. Am working on adding a section for USA, miliary and historical flags. Snowing today. Look for our store in the Hutchinson Mall.

Added Fred's Mug Shot

2009-03-31T11:32:00.000-07:00

Added my mug shot to my Google blog. Visited my Mother today. She will be 97 in June. My sister Carol was there at the time. Showed them pictures of the Family Farm in Western Kansas on Google Earth, Street View on my laptop using my cell phone as a fairly high speed modem. Took videos of them with the Flip Camera and plan to upload to Youtube so rest of family can see the Easter flowers Carol made. Tomorrow would have been the folk's 75th wedding anniversary. They always said "We got married on April Fool's Day and have been fools every since."

Hot Air Balloon Wind Spinner

2009-03-29T14:17:00.000-07:00

That worked so good video taping our "It's 5 O'clock Somewhere" wind spinner, I decided to shoot and load to Youtube a video of a Hot Air Balloon Wind Spinner blowing in the wind. That link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2d9PxNIOgs

or from our Web site at http://www.kansaswinds.com/Balloons.html

Thanks to Collette Marshall at cmarshall@WorldWideBrands.com for the information at the ASD/AMD trade show in Las Vegas on the Flip Mino, how to use it to load videos to Youtube, to blog and to twitter. I also used her advice to redesign and simplify our Website

New stuff

2009-03-29T13:27:00.000-07:00

Great day! Mall store is open after blizzard. Used new Flip Mino to record It's 5 O'clock Somewhere Garden Spinner, loaded it on youtube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmfAvmICbx8 then linked it to my Web site http://www.kansaswinds.com/GardenSpinners.html
Now customers can see how the critter moves in the wind.

Whirligigs in custom colors

2009-03-21T18:06:00.000-07:00

Friends of ours, Robert and Phyllis Ward had just attended an NFL game that featured our favorite team. I was showing them our "critters" that blow in the wind, when Bob said, "If these were in our teams colors, I would buy one of everything." So why not, I thought. We contacted Tony Loera, President of G & A Flying Colors, Inc., and presented this concept to him. He was as excited about the plan as we were. Where a guy wouldn't buy a whirligig on the last day of his life, make it his team colors and he has to have one. This concept has really been a success. It was some four years before other companies started making team colors and I still don't know of any other company that make whirligigs in custom colors.

9/11 was not a good time to start a business

2009-03-21T17:28:00.000-07:00

We found our wind socks and got into the Kansas State Fair. The Fair ran from September 7th through the 16th, 2001. Whirligigs were a hot item then as there were not many available. We purchase a good supply for the Fair and were ready to make a quick killing. Business the first weekend were pretty good and we were thinking this will be a great Fair. Then came 9/11 on Tuesday. I was at home getting ready to go to the Fair when the second tower was hit. I went on to work but might as well of stayed home. The Fair was dead for the year. Everyone was watching the news. Much more important things going on now than starting a business.

How Kansas Winds got started

2009-03-21T14:05:00.000-07:00

My wife (Trini) and I are campers. We and all our camping friends love wind socks and try to out do each other with new design and ideas. While vacationing near South Fork Colorado, my wife says "Look, there's our wind socks. Pull in here. Pull in here." To make a long story short, a hundred and thirty two dollars later we have one of everything and a month later we are in business at the Kansas State Fair.