Texas Co-op Power • March 2016 - South Plains Electric Cooperative

Transcription

Texas Co-op Power • March 2016 - South Plains Electric Cooperative
1603 local covers black 2/11/16 2:42 PM Page 1
SOUTH PLAINS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE EDITION
Border Radio
Pecos Wall of Water
TEXAS
INDEPENDENCE
Washington-on-theBrazos celebrates
birth of the Republic
MARCH 2016
Eggs: Plain and Fancy
Here today. Here tomorrow.
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for you, now and in the future. Call or visit our website today.
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877-2-MUELLER
(877-268-3553)
March 2016
Since 1944
FA V O R I T E S
Texas Independence
Day features Professor
Farquar’s medicine show.
5
Letters
6
Currents
20 Local Co-op News
Get the latest information plus energy
and safety tips from your cooperative.
33 Texas History
Pecos River Flood of 1954
By Lonn Taylor
35 Recipes
Eggs: Plain and Fancy
39 Focus on Texas
Photo Contest: Boats
40 Around Texas
List of Local Events
42 Hit the Road
Visit a Sky Island
By E. Dan Klepper
ONLINE
TexasCoopPower.com
Find these stories online if they don’t
appear in your edition of the magazine.
F E AT U R E S
8
12
Texas USA
Texas Independence Washington-on-the-Brazos:
Birthplace of a nation celebrates anniversary
The First Flying Saucer
By E.R. Bills
Story and photos by Julia Robinson
Observations
Border Radio Booming and bombastic, broadcasts
from Mexican soil turned American culture on its ear
Resident Spirits
By Martha Deeringer
By Gene Fowler
NEXT MONTH
Texas Hats & Hatmakers
Meet the craftsmen who help today’s
Texans carry on a storied tradition.
39
33
35
42
TE XA S INDEPENDENC E: JU L I A R O B I NS O N. HAT: M I C HA EL F L IP P O | D OL L A R P H OTO C LU B
ON THE COVER
Jim Richardson, a living-history re-enactor, sits in a replica encampment at Washington-on-the-Brazos. Photo by Julia Robinson
TEXAS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVES BOARD OF DIRECTORS: David Marricle, Chair, Muleshoe; Mark Tamplin, Vice Chair, Kirbyville; Bryan Lightfoot, Secretary-Treasurer, Bartlett; Mike R. Hagy,
Tipton, Oklahoma; William F. Hetherington, Bandera; Mark Rollans, Hondo; Anne Vaden, Corinth • PRESIDENT/CEO: Mike Williams, Austin • COMMUNICATIONS & MEMBER SERVICES
COMMITTEE: Jerry Boze, Kaufman; Rick Haile, McGregor; Greg Henley, Tahoka; Billy Marricle, Bellville; Mark McClain, Roby; Blaine Warzecha, Victoria; Kathy Wood, Marshall • MAGAZINE STAFF:
Martin Bevins, Vice President, Communications & Member Services; Charles J. Lohrmann, Editor; Tom Widlowski, Associate Editor; Karen Nejtek, Production Manager; Andy Doughty, Creative Manager;
Grace Arsiaga, Print Production Specialist; Chris Burrows, Communications Specialist; Christine Carlson, Communications & Member Services Assistant; Paula Disbrowe, Food Editor; Suzanne Halko,
Communications Specialist; Jane Sharpe, Senior Designer; Ellen Stader, Communications Specialist; Karen Taylor, Communications & Member Services Assistant; Shannon Oelrich, Proofreader
TexasCoopPower.com
March 2016 Texas Co-op Power
3
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TEXAS
OOK—
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TexasCoopPower.com
LETTERS
Preserving Wildlife
How many of you anti-hunters
have a hunting license, which
helps preserve the wildlife
[Letters, November 2015]?
What have you birdwatchers
and wildlife observers contributed to their management?
Linemen Rock!
A shoutout to the linemen who worked tirelessly to restore our power after
the recent tornadoes went through our neighborhood. When we first looked at
the snapped poles and tangled wires,
we thought it would take weeks to
CARL BROCKMANN | SAN ANGELO
CONCHO VALLEY EC
get things back to normal. However,
the linemen from HILCO had our
I Like Ike
Just read Another Texan in
the White House? [Currents,
December 2015], which lists
Texans who ran for president
of the USA (that country that
borders Texas on three sides).
How could you omit the most
illustrious such person, Dwight
Eisenhower?
KONRAD EBISCH | BUDA
PEDERNALES EC
EDITOR’S NOTE: Eisenhower was born
in Denison, but his family moved
to Kansas shortly after his birth.
He never ran for office in Texas
and is more closely identified
with his boyhood home of
Abilene, Kansas, where he is
buried and where you’ll find
his presidential library.
power back on in less than two days!
DIANE MORREN | WAXAHACHIE | HILCO EC
Clayton Thompson
of HILCO EC
me about the usual disciplines
of sight alignment, sight picture
and trigger control, but he did
stress concentration. He mostly
led by example in his unassuming manner. I vividly recall Ad
throwing electrical box knockouts into the air in rapid succession and plugging every one
with a .22 caliber Colt Woodsman pistol.
BILL MULDOON | KERRVILLE
CENTRAL TEXAS EC
At the Marine Science Library
in Port Aransas, we held a staff
art show, and one of our contributors brought in a bullet “drawing” [shown at right] by the
Topperweins [The Wonderful
Topperweins, December 2015].
My wife and I absolutely hate
daylight saving time [Daylight
Saving Time Law Intercepted,
Currents, November 2015].
When the time is advanced one
hour in the spring, it plays
havoc with the human sleep
cycle. I will contact Rep. Dan
Flynn of Van and ask him to
never give up his quest to
eliminate daylight saving time.
GARY WILLIAMS | WAXAHACHIE
HILCO EC
GET MORE TCP AT
Helping in Haiti
Culture in Texas
I was glad to see that electrical
cooperative employees have
gone to Haiti to help with the
infrastructure [The Power
of Your Cooperative, October
2015]. Since September 2013,
I have been going to Haiti on
a regular basis and am involved
in teaching the residents to
build earthquake- and hurricaneresistant homes.
I read the January 2016 letters
and the response about culture
HERB NORDMEYER | CASTROVILLE
MEDINA EC
MARG LARSEN | PORT ARANSAS
NUECES EC
L I N E M A N : H I LCO EC . B U L L E T A RT: M I Y U K I E . D E H A RT
Springing Forward
HENDRIK BERGEN | ROUND TOP
FAYETTE EC
The Wonderful Topperweins
Through my father’s close
friendship with Ad Topperwein,
the great shooter mentored [me]
as a 10-year-old kid. The elderly
trick-shot artist rarely talked to
in Texas by Lonn Taylor. We
recently visited Shea’s Performing Arts Center in Buffalo, New
York, and visited with the director of a restoration project there.
She proudly told us about the
project. In response, I started
to tell her about our beautiful
Round Top Festival Institute theater, only to get cut off by her
saying, “I did not know they had
culture in Texas.” She has never
visited Texas, but it illustrates
Taylor’s point.
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Texas Co-op Power Magazine
TEXAS CO-OP POWER VOLUME 72, NUMBER 9 (USPS 540-560). Texas Co-op Power is published monthly by Texas Electric Cooperatives (TEC). Periodical Postage Paid at Austin, TX, and at additional offices. TEC is the
statewide association representing 75 electric cooperatives. Texas Co-op Power’s website is TexasCoopPower.com. Call (512) 454-0311 or email [email protected]. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE is $4.08 per year for
individual members of subscribing cooperatives. If you are not a member of a subscribing cooperative, you can purchase an annual subscription at the nonmember rate of $7.50. Individual copies and back issues are
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in Texas Co-op Power are paid solicitations. The publisher neither endorses nor guarantees in any manner any product or company included in this publication. Product satisfaction and delivery responsibility lie solely with
the advertiser.
© Copyright 2016 Texas Electric Cooperatives, Inc. Reproduction of this issue or any portion of it is expressly prohibited without written permission.
Willie Wiredhand © Copyright 2016 National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.
TexasCoopPower.com
March 2016 Texas Co-op Power
5
CURRENTS
HAPPENINGS
Only Tears
of Joy in Weslaco
I SAY ... IS THAT A BLOOMING ONION?
SHOPPERS EAGERLY AWAIT the arrival of Texas 1015 onions in produce sections
every spring. Weslaco, where the 1015 was developed, celebrates the signature
vegetable with Texas Onion Fest.
WHY 1015? The famous onion gets its name from the recommended planting
[]
date—October 15. Texas A&M University scientists in Weslaco introduced the
being supersweet and tearless.
AS A TRIBUTE, Lali Dena honors her grand-
father Gregorio Vega, who worked at the Texas
Agricultural Experiment Station in Weslaco
for 33 years. “I remember he would take us
to the festival so we could taste the onions
he planted,” says Dena, an administrative
assistant at Magic Valley Electric
Cooperative, which sponsors the Onion
Fest Car Show & Shine. “I’ve been a volunteer for the past eight years, and I’ll continue to
be a volunteer in memory of my grandfather.”
BY THE NUMBERS
$100,000,000
Onions are Texas’ top vegetable
crop, leading to sales upward
of $100 million per annum.
The abundance of alliums and
agriculture is celebrated on
National Ag Day, March 15,
but the onion has been a staple
of diets spanning the ages,
including in ancient Egypt.
IN 1997, the Legislature declared the sweet onion the state vegetable.
A year later, Weslaco started Texas Onion Fest.
NEXT MONTH If you can peel yourself away
Did you know?
Find more
happenings all
across the state at
TexasCoopPower
.com
6
Texas Co-op Power March 2016
;
THE GREAT ONION RING
Because of a scandal in
1955, when two onion
traders cornered the
onion futures market on
the Chicago Mercantile
Exchange, Congress outlawed futures trading in
onions forever. Onions
are the only agricultural
product for which futures
trading is illegal.
from other springtime activities, check out
Texas Onion Fest on April 2.
INFO a (956) 968-2102, weslaco.com
TexasCoopPower.com
T E XA S O N I O N F E ST: J O H N W I L S O N . B LO O M I N G O N I O N : CO U RT E SY W E S L ACO C H A M B E R O F CO M M E R C E . P E N C I L : B I L L I O N P H OTOS .CO M | D O L L A R P H OTO CLU B. GARDEN: ALETHA ST. ROMAIN. BASKETBALL: STILLFX | DOLLAR PHOTO CLUB
Texas 1015 in the 1980s after decades of research. This allium is heralded for
NURSERY RHYME
REVISITED
M A R K YO U R C A L E N DA R S
Red Pens Pencils Rule
MARCH 4 IS NATIONAL GRAMMAR DAY, and the wordsmiths at Texas Co-op
Power will beam proudly when they aren’t wincing at these offenses:
Chris Burrows: What affects me most is
the use of effect and affect. I want to effect
change on that topic, because the effect of
the confusion is bitter affect.
Ellen Stader: Its and it’s. Its is possessive.
It’s means it is. It seems like a small thing,
but it’s a big deal.
Suzanne Halko: The incorrect use of apostrophes in plurals such as dates (1950’s) or
names (Halko’s). The Halkos are passionate about good grammar.
Tom Widlowski: That and which. Some
sentences have phrases that are essential
to their meaning. Some phrases, which
are usually set off by commas, are not
essential.
Charles Lohrmann: Your and you’re. Your
indicates possession. You’re means you
are. You’re welcome.
All these grammar rules get celebrated
again March 8—National Proofreading
Day.
HOW DOES YOUR
GARDEN GROW?
Texas garden, beg your pardon
How does your raised bed grow?
It’s 3-feet high, shaped like a pie
And, water-wise, fit for a show.
Had enough with the grammar rules?
The next day is for you—March 9, National
Get Over It Day.
o CUTAWAY VIEW | OVERHEAD VIEW d
For four years, you’ve made
Keyhole Gardening [February
2012] the No. 1 most-read story
on TexasCoopPower.com. That
must mean your keyhole gardens
are in full production! Don’t be
contrary; show us what you’ve
grown! Email [email protected]
or post on our Facebook page.
SPORTS SECTION
Houston
or Bust!
TexasCoopPower.com
MARCH MADNESS makes
its way April 2–4 to Texas
when Houston hosts college
basketball’s Final Four.
Three notable events stand
out from the Final Four’s
eight previous Texas visits:
2008: All four top seeds
advanced to the Final Four
in San Antonio, where
Kansas won out over
Memphis.
1971: John Wooden’s UCLA
team continued its storied
run with a fifth straight title
in Texas’ first Final Four—
in Houston.
1986: “Never Nervous”
Pervis Ellison led a young
Louisville team to its second
title of the decade in Dallas.
March 2016 Texas Co-op Power
7
WASHINGTON-ON-THE-BRAZOS: BIRTHPLACE OF A NATION
Story and photos by JULIA ROBINSON
like to think I’m a good Texan, born and raised. I’ve visited most every
shrine in our great state. I’ve hiked our highest mountain, photographed the
official bison and longhorn herds, and traveled the length of the GoodnightLoving Trail. I’ve spent countless hours at our hallowed battlegrounds: Goliad,
Gonzales, San Jacinto and the Alamo. But until last year, I had never been to
the birthplace of our revered republic.
Washington-on-the-Brazos is a state park honoring the site of the signing
of the Texas Declaration of Independence on March 2, 1836. Every March, the
park celebrates Texas Independence Day with living-history re-enactments,
educational programs, crafts, food and live music. This year, the celebration is
March 5–6, commemorating the 180th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence from Mexico and the 100th anniversary of the state park.
n a brisk but cloudy Texas Independence Day,
I’m driving through the rolling prairies 20 miles
northeast of Brenham. I turn onto a curving
drive that delivers me to the birthplace of Texas:
a 293-acre park on the original site of the town of Washington.
I’m here to learn a few things that were left out of my seventhgrade text on Texas history.
Despite the gloomy weather, visitors have filled the parking
lots then taken over the park paths and picnic tables. In the visitors
center, families inspect a replica of the Texas Declaration of Independence along with some of the artifacts unearthed on the park’s
grounds. The name of the site, Washington-on-the-Brazos, distinguishes it not only from the nearby town of Washington but
also from that other capital city, Washington on the Potomac.
“The events that happened here in Washington not only helped
shape the Republic of Texas but also the young
state of Texas,” explains Adam Arnold, a park
ranger and history interpreter.
Arnold, a seventh-generation Texan, was
living in Oklahoma during the time most schoolchildren learn
about the Texas revolutionary period. “I missed out on most of
the school studies, so I had a lot of catching up to do when I got
to the park. It’s more than just the Alamo and San Jacinto. There
are so many amazing stories about the people that were here.”
Indeed, “amazing” is an apt description of those events and
people who participated. In 1836, as Travis, Crockett and Bowie
were spilling blood for the Texian cause at the Alamo in San Antonio, 170 miles to the northeast, another group was spilling ink to
forge a new republic. The 59 signatories of the Texas Declaration
of Independence gathered in this town along the banks of the
From left, previous spread: replica of Independence Hall; Larry Wheat
plays guitar during Texas Independence Day weekend. This page: Larry
Heidbreder with his longhorns; interior of Independence Hall. Opposite page: a demonstration of rifles used during the Texas Revolution;
Park Ranger Jon Failor in period clothing.
10
Texas Co-op Power March 2016
Brazos River near La Bahia highway, upstream from Houston.
Their convention hammered out the language that defined the
republic even as Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna hammered
the walls of the Alamo.
They met in an unlikely Independence Hall. Today’s replica
of the building occupies the exact spot where those Texians signed
their names to the declaration on March 2, 1836. Today, I walk a
tree-lined path from the visitors center to Independence Hall
so I can see our Philadelphia, in frontier Texas style.
Back then, the Washington townspeople offered the meeting
space to the delegates free of charge in the hope of stimulating
the local economy. The town had been officially founded the
prior year, and the only place large enough to house the gathering
was an unfinished building owned by a local gunsmith. It lacked
windows, doors and part of its roof.
A cold front swept into the area and sent temperatures plum-
meting to near freezing the week of the convention. Most delegates couldn’t find lodging in the only inn, and food was running
low by the end of the 17th day. That was when everyone evacuated
ahead of the Mexican troops marching east, energized by their
victory at the Alamo. Some delegates fled with settlers, staying
ahead of the Mexican army that was known to take no prisoners.
Their flight was dubbed the Runaway Scrape. Other delegates
rallied to the fight, following newly minted Commander in Chief
Sam Houston to the decisive Battle of San Jacinto.
To my surprise, more than half of the signatories were recent
arrivals to Texas from the United States. They were illegal immigrants in violation of the immigration ban imposed by Mexico
in April 1830. They hailed from 11 states and five foreign countries.
Only two of the signatories were native Texans: José Antonio
Baldomero Navarro and José Francisco Ruiz.
The contemporary Independence Hall appears to be identical
to the original, according to accounts from the 1830s. No drawings
TexasCoopPower.com
or plans for the building are known, but the structure sits on the
same foundation stones left from the 1830s. Inside the shadowy
room, simple desks and chairs are arranged for a meeting, and white
curtains hang in windows that hold no glass. Independence Hall
sat near a bustling ferry town of 100 people on the edge of the frontier, and looking through the simple wood frames, I wonder if the
landscape now appears as undeveloped as it must have been then.
A 1912 fire burned the last of the original buildings, and the
remains of the town have been lost under layers of soil. “The
gopher holes are how we find lots of things,” says Barb King, park
ranger at Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site. “It
would cost millions of dollars to dig, but kids and visitors find
things the gophers have dug up.” These gifts from the gophers
include pottery shards, fragments of porcelain, tools and the
occasional dollar coin from 1837. “We always encourage visitors
to not pick anything up but tell us when and where they see some-
ing against the safety line to get closer to the explosions of noise
and gunpowder. Each kaboom generates cheers.
Living-history re-enactors have set up camp nearby. I find
Jim Richardson, a recent convert to living history, cleaning his
period rifle outside a tent. Richardson, from McKinney, has traced
his family history back to the de Zavala Colony in 1835.
For Richardson, Washington-on-the-Brazos and other historic
sites of the Texas Revolution provide an opportunity to connect
emotionally to the people of that era. “What could those people
have been thinking? What did it feel like to be so close to the
most formidable army on Earth?”
Richardson also says he believes that understanding the more
nuanced political history helps us preserve our democratic principles. “I think it’s important to visit these sites for a historical
perspective. To preserve our freedom, it’s important to know
what happened in history.”
thing,” King says. Artifacts lose much of their context and potential for historical accuracy if they are moved from the site of their
excavation. There’s hope for an archaeological field school to
establish professional digs at the park, but until then, the historical treasures remain buried.
The park paths are laid out as the streets once were, and a
glance at the historic city maps orients me to what once was. I
stare into the overgrowth summoning ghosts of the revolution:
here an inn, there a brickyard, then a stable.
The crowd today is a diverse group of families, foreigners, history re-enactors and locals. The celebration continues as the
Sweet Song String Band’s guitar and fiddle players strike up a
song and, in period costumes, lead the crowd to the monument
erected by Brenham schoolchildren in 1899. Today’s schoolchildren lay a wreath in honor of the occasion.
Down the hill, a demonstration of cannons and guns draws
onlookers every few hours. Visitors crowd the perimeter, strain-
I experience a mix of somber reflection and sheer enjoyment
at the park this Independence Day. At the Star of the Republic
Museum, Jack Edmondson is performing the life story of Sam
Houston for a packed theater. He elicits laughter and applause
in equal measure.
Washington thrived during a brief window as a pivotal ferry
town along La Bahia highway. It was the Texas capital, briefly, in
1842, and the last president of Texas, Anson Jones, lived in nearby
Barrington even as the people of Texas decided to let their nation
become the 28th state of the United States in 1845.
With statehood, the story of Washington, Texas, faded. This
tiny hamlet that birthed a nation returned to the land again.
Julia Robinson is an Austin photojournalist.
TexasCoopPower.com
WEB EXTRAS at TexasCoopPower.com View a slideshow online and see
details about the Washington-on-the-Brazos 180th anniversary celebration
of Texas Independence to be held March 5–6.
March 2016 Texas Co-op Power
11
Border
Radio
Booming and
bombastic,
broadcasts from
Mexican soil
turned American
culture on its ear
BY GENE FOWLER
J O H N KAC K I K
IN
legends of the Old West, desperados rode hard for the Rio
Grande and crossed the river into Mexico to hide from the
law. In the 1930s, a different kind of outlaw broke for the Mexican border. These desperados were on the run from U.S.
broadcasting regulations. Radio renegades built powerful
transmitters on the river’s southern banks. Blasting their signals northward, these
“super-watt” American stations on Mexican soil beamed their colorful programming
from coast to coast, border to border—and beyond.
For half a century, border radio stations had a tremendous impact on American
culture, influencing political campaigns, religious broadcasts, musical tastes, health
care and, particularly, advertising.
The father of border radio, Dr. John R. Brinkley became internationally famous in
the 1920s for the goat gland transplant, a “pioneering” surgical procedure that could
be described as an early agricultural version of Viagra. In 1930, after losing both his
radio station license and his Kansas medical license, Brinkley ran for governor of the
Sunflower State with the slogan, “Let’s Pasture the Goats on the Statehouse Lawn.”
Branded an outlaw for his financial misdeeds and his medical shenanigans, the
doctor lit out for the broadcasting badlands along the Rio Grande, opening station
XER, later called XERA, across the river from Del Rio in Villa Acuña in the fall of 1931.
Another Midwestern mogul, Norman Baker, followed in 1933 when authorities
closed his Iowa station due to the promotion of his controversial cancer treatments.
After building his own superstation, XENT, in Nuevo Laredo, Baker, who had no medical
training, moved his clinic to the border. His advertising urged patients: “Phone 666
upon arrival in Laredo, Texas.” Texas Gov. Miriam “Ma” Ferguson dispatched Texas
Rangers to the border to arrest Baker on an Iowa charge of practicing medicine without
a license, but the radio outlaw could not be lured across the Rio Grande.
Mexican authorities accommodated these high-powered media mavericks because
the U.S. and Canada had divided up all the long-range radio wavelengths between
themselves, allotting none to Mexico. Soon the stations dotted the borderlands, from
Tampico to Tijuana. XEPN blasted from Piedras Negras, across from Eagle Pass.
XELO started out in Piedras Negras, moved to Tijuana and finally settled in Juarez.
XEG thundered northward from Monterrey. In Reynosa, across from Hidalgo and
McAllen, Houston philanthropist Will Horwitz operated XED before he was sent to
prison in 1932 for rebroadcasting the state of Tamaulipas lottery into the U.S.
With colossal wattage, border station signals played havoc with American stations.
A listener in Philadelphia, for instance, might hear Amos ’n’ Andy muscled aside by
Brinkley’s frank discussions of human sexuality. According to legend, Brinkley’s
station could be received on bedsprings and dental work. June Carter Cash, who performed as a child with the Carter Family on XERA, said the family’s music could be
heard on any barbed wire fence in Texas.
March 2016 Texas Co-op Power
13
S
o-called hillbilly and cowboy music were the most popular
sounds on the prewar border stations, but Americans also
liked Mexican music from the border. “I enjoyed the cowboy songs,” one listener recalled, “but the real highlight of the
program for me was Rosa Dominguez singing Estrellita. To this
South Dakota farm boy, that sounded like the angels in heaven.”
Fortunetellers and psychics, banned on U.S. airwaves, also
broke for the border. Rose Dawn, the “Star Girl” of XERA, journeyed deep into Mexico to gather arcane knowledge for the
Mayan Order, the metaphysical radio and mail-order business
she founded in Del Rio in 1936. Her monthly magazine, Modern
Astrology, achieved national circulation.
In the 1930s, Dallas insurance magnate Carr Collins bought
XED in Reynosa, which he renamed XEAW, to advertise his Crazy
Crystals. Mixed with tap water, the reconstituted minerals from
Mineral Wells in Texas made Crazy Water, the natural tonic from
Mineral Wells, “for any condition caused or made worse by a
sluggish system.” Collins’ partner in the station was Texas
14
Texas Co-op Power March 2016
TexasCoopPower.com
R I N E H A RT: CO U RT E SY K E V I N CO F F E Y. M O D E R N A ST R O LO GY: CO U RT E SY G E N E FOW L E R . X E R : CO U RT E SY D I EG O D O M I N G O
Clockwise from top: Cowboy Slim Rinehart at a Pecos radio station; an
early 1930s illustration for XER, founded by the grandfather of border
radio, Dr. John R. Brinkley; Rose Dawn’s magazine published in Del Rio
Gov. W. Lee “Pappy” O’Daniel, a radio star from Fort Worth airwaves and Piedras Negras’ XEPN. When Texas stations insisted
that the unpredictable governor provide copies of his radio
speeches in advance, O’Daniel talked to Texans from his own
station in Mexico, accompanied by music from his band, the Hillbilly Boys, and commercials for his Hillbilly Flour.
During World War II, future Country Music Hall of Fame
member Hank Thompson, who grew up in Waco listening to Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family on border radio, tuned in the
powerful stations on a submarine in the Pacific to introduce his
fellow sailors to hillbilly music.
After the war, as hillbilly and cowboy music morphed into
country and western, stations like XERF in Ciudad Acuña (Brinkley’s old XERA under new owners) continued popularizing the
genre. Despite his stardom on the Louisiana Hayride and the
Grand Ole Opry, 1950s hitmaker Webb Pierce declared in 1986,
“If it hadn’t been for border radio, I don’t know if country music
would have survived.”
Pierce’s music got a big boost from border disc jockeys such as
Paul Kallinger, XERF’s “Good Neighbor Along the Way.” Although
Kallinger would not let a young Elvis Presley on his all-country
show when the lip-twitching King of Rock rolled through Del Rio,
the hip-shakin’, wig-flippin’ sound would soon scorch the ether
on the programs of wild border DJs including Howlin’ Rooster,
Dr. Jazzmo and Wolfman Jack. Country rocker Joe Ely says that
listening to the Wolfman’s show was like going to school when he
was growing up in Lubbock, introducing him to blues artists John
Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters and Lightnin’ Hopkins. Ely’s longtime
bassist, Jimmy Pettit, a Del Rio native, paid musical dues unique
to the borderlands. “Howlin’ Rooster booked my first band to open
for the bullfights in Acuña,” he recalls. “And it was broadcast live
on XERF, all the way around the world!”
Pettit’s father, Hawley Pettit, was the “diamond man” on
XERF, selling “genuine simulated diamonds.” As Kallinger
explained, “You practically had to sell ice to Eskimos to keep
your job on XERF!” The border stations pioneered a long-winded
commercial format, selling everything, including weight-loss
pills, weight-gain pills, fishing lures, laxatives, gravestones, burial
insurance, plastic ponies, razor blades, baby chicks and the Lord’s
Last Supper tablecloths in vinyl.
The radio preachers became a mainstay of the stations. Many
were remarkable spoken-word performers, ranting so furiously
that listeners truly believed they could raise the dead. Others
were sincere in their radio ministries. As Dallas Turner put it,
“Some of those preachers were sanctified, and some of them
were crank-tified.”
Border radio stations were enormously profitable, and there
were numerous shootouts—and some deaths in the 1960s—for
their control. The XEPN transmitter building in Piedras Negras
was blown to bits in 1938 by one of the two feuding owners.
The Mexican government finally pulled the plug in 1986, seizing the last border station, XERF. Former station owner and Del
Rio attorney Arturo Gonzalez said then that the station had been
nothing but a headache. Still, before his death in 2012 at the age
of 104, Gonzalez wistfully pledged a couple times a year, “I’m
gonna get the station back. I’m gonna boost up the power and
play rock ’n’ roll.”
Gene Fowler is the author, with Bill Crawford, of Border Radio: Quacks,
Yodelers, Pitchmen, Psychics, and Other Amazing Broadcasters of the
American Airwaves [University of Texas Press, 2002].
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©2016 Zoysia Farm Nurseries, 3617 Old Taneytown Rd, Taneytown, MD 21787
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Write price of order here
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$
$
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Not shipped outside the USA or into WA or OR
Texans Set To Get
Free Survival Food
Farmers vow to keep up with the demand to supply
all Texans who call toll free and beat the deadline to
claim up to four free 72-hour survival food kits.
y
food. But not just any food. What
everyone needs is good-for-25-years
surviival food that you can relyy on when
the tiime comes thatt food is scarce.
Well right now – in what is truly
an unprecedented move – 72-hour
surviival food kits from Food4Patriots
are being giiven away to Texans as
long as they call a special toll-free
hotline and beatt the program deadline.
“The world is rapidly changing,”
explained Frank Bates, a spokesman for
the companyy. “Every daay Americans
face very real threats. For sure,
terrorism is a huge worry. Butt so are
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tornados, and whatever else Mother
Nature might have up her sleeve.”
Military-grade Mylar pouches ensure these
meals stay fresh for 25 years or more.
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“Hey, we’ve seen what happens
when a crisis hits. Stores quickly shut
down or looted by hungry mobs.
People forced to dig through dumpsters
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standing in line to get a meal from
FEMA or some other relief agency.
“That’s not what I wantt for my
family or anyone else’s. Honesttllyy, I
p
y
to ensure our loved ones will
i haave the
food they need to surviive an emergency
— withoutt haaving
v to relyy on handouts.”
Experts saay thatt everyone should
have att least a 72-hour supplyy of nonperishable food on hand at all times.
ly, too manyy people make
Unfortunately
the mistake of choosing products that
were never intended to be surviival
food. They end up wit
i h expensiive
stockpiles thatt are too big and too
bulky to move, should an emergency
force them to leave their homes.
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And if they were unlucky enough to
stock up on MREs, they’ll be depending
on a product that can actually make
you sick if you eat itt for too long.
Food4Patriots surviival foods are
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and packaged right here in the USA. They
taste great. They provide the nutrition
you need. And they were developed
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– although a lot of folks sometimes
like them for a quick meal or snack.
Bates explained, “These are
home-stylle meals that we package in
and resealable military-grade
airtight
i
Myyllar pouches that keep them fresh
and delicious until they’re needed.
Your
o family
f
will
i enjoy meals much
r alreadyy eating every daay.”
like they’re
Every 72-hour kit that’s being
giiven away contains four servings
each of such familiar dishes as
Liberttyy Bell Potato Cheddar Soup,
my Chicken Rice,
Blue Ribbon Cream
y
Granny’s Homesttyylle Potato Soup.
The company’s usual price for the
72-hour kit is $27.00 plus shipping.
But Texans who act quicklyy can
claim as manyy as four free kits and
paay onlyy a $9.95 fee to help cover
shipping and handling for each.
“W
We’re trying to ensure no members
get left out, but they ha
have to hurry
because we haave a limited supplyy of the
72-hour kits we can giive away,” Bates
warned. “Once word got out thatt we
were actually giivving away free surviival
food, our phones haave been ringing off
the hook. We even had to add extra agents
to keep up with the incredible demand.”
There is still time to take advantage
of this free food offer
offer,, but be aware
the program will end no matter what
promptly at midnight, April 15, 2016.
HOW T
TO
O GET YOUR FREE
72-HOUR SUR
RVIV
V VA
AL FOOD KITS:
SURVIVAL
Food4Patriots is committed to giving
up to four free 72-hour kits to every
exan
e
T
Texan
who calls their toll-free hotline.
Just give the agent the approval code
shown below.
below. Provide your delivery
instructions and agree to pay the
$9.95 fee to help cover shipping and
handling for each. That’s
That’s all there is
to it.
Approval Code: 72FREE
Toll-Free
T
oll-Free Hotline: 1-800-958-1014
Offer Cut-Off Date: 04/15/2016
Please note: Food4Patriots says they
will continue to give away these 72hour kits for as long as their supplies
last.
Due to media exposure, their phone
lines may be busy.
busy. Just keep calling
and you will get through.
Scientists say Tanzanite is
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ightning struck the day they discovered Tanzanite. A bolt from
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this was no ordinary gemstone. Henry Platt, past president and
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Government Melts Over
270 Million Silver Dollars
But collectors get an unexpected second chance
It’s a crime.
Most Americans living today have never
held a hefty, gleaming U.S. silver dollar
in their hands.
F
REE
SH
IPPIN
ON 3 OR MORG
E
Where did they go? Well, in 1918, to
provide aid to the British during WWI,
the U.S. government melted down nearly
half of the entire mintage—over 270
million silver dollars. If all those missing
silver dollars could be stacked, they
would tower over 400 miles into the sky!
If laid in a chain, they would span 6,400
miles—enough to stretch from New York
to Los Angeles more than 2½ times!
These vanished coins were not just any
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circulated coin, the beloved Morgan
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struck from nearly an ounce of 90% fine
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the engine of the American dream for
decades. Created by famed American
coin designer, George T. Morgan,
they feature Lady Liberty’s radiant
profile and a majestic eagle, symbols of
American strength and prosperity. Since
their inception in 1878, they jingled in
the pockets of famous and infamous
Americans like John D. Rockefeller and
Teddy Roosevelt, and desperados Jesse
James and Al Capone. Today, Morgan
Silver Dollars are the most collected
coin in America.
Lady Liberty takes a Final Bow
Just three years after the massive
meltdown, the government gave the
Morgan Silver Dollar a final chance to
shine. In 1921, facing a serious shortage,
the mint struck Morgan Silver Dollars
for one more brief, historic year. Today,
the last-ever 1921 Morgan Silver Dollar
belongs in the hands of collectors, history
buffs, or anyone who values the artistry
and legacy of this American classic.
Actual size
is 38.1 mm
A Private Vault Gives Up its Secrets
Millions more silver dollars were melted
over the past ninety years and today,
private hoards account for virtually all
the surviving Morgan Silver Dollars.
We should know—we hunt for them
every week. In fact, on one buying trip
into America’s heartland, as we were
guided into a wealthy owner’s massive
private vault, we were thrilled to discover
a hoard of nearly two thousand 1921
Morgan Silver Dollars, all in lustrous
near uncirculated condition. We wasted
no time in securing the entire treasure
trove of silver dollars into our own vault.
Saved from Destruction,
but Bound for Extinction
It’s been estimated that less than 15% of
all the Morgan Dollars ever minted
have survived to the present day. And
the number grows smaller with each
passing year. The 1921 Morgan Silver
Dollar is the last of its kind. But you
can get one now before they’re only a
memory. Your chance to own this legend
won’t last long, so get yours today—and
at a fantastic value!
SAVE $35 or More!
This same coin in About Uncirculated
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But today, you can secure your own
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Call today toll-free for fastest service
1-888-870-8531
Offer Code MDS112-09
Please mention this code when you call.
GovMint.com • 14101 Southcross Dr. W. Dept. MDS112-09 • Burnsville, Minnesota 55337
Prices and availability subject to change without notice. Facts and figures deemed accurate as of December 2015.
NOTE: GovMint.com® is a private distributor of worldwide government coin and currency issues and privately
issued and licensed collectibles, and is not affiliated with the United States government. GovMint.com is not an
investment company and does not offer financial advice or sell items as an investment. The collectible coin market
is speculative, and coin values may rise or fall over time. All rights reserved. © 2016 GovMint.com.
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Co-op News
SOUTH PLAINS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE
Always Report Outages
MESSAGE FROM
DALE ANCELL, GENERAL MANAGER
A LE EP I SK IN | I STOCK.COM
TECHNOLOGY IS AMAZING. Because of it, we have more data
available to us than we’ve ever had before. However, access
to data does not automatically equate to meaningful information. Knowledge, analysis and judgment are necessary to transform data into useful information.
At South Plains Electric Cooperative, we work with tremendous amounts of data,
but we still need you to report outages, maintenance requests and power quality
issues. You are the key to providing us with useful information.
You are on-site at your home or business and have firsthand knowledge about
your specific issues. We monitor the entire system but are often unaware of individual, site-specific details.
You are probably thinking: You read my meter remotely and send my bill monthly.
Why do you, the co-op, not know when my power is off?
There are plenty of situations in which the co-op might not receive data from a
meter, or might receive a reading of zero without triggering a red flag.
We read meters daily—and, yes, we might sometimes receive a zero reading.
However, that zero reading does not necessarily mean the power is off. We provide
seasonal service to many locations
that turn power off at the breaker.
Please inform your co-op
immediately of electrical
Or maybe a member is doing some
issues at your home or
remodeling and temporarily cut
business.
power. For many meters, zero usage
on any given day can be accurate.
Also, our meters are read
through the power lines and
transmitted to us at the office via
various communication channels.
We rely on the same phone and
Internet service companies you do.
Sometimes service is bad. Sometimes lines are down. Sometimes we have noise on
the lines, and the data simply will not transmit. For these reasons, we do not always
receive 100 percent of our metering data daily.
Finally, the communication system in a meter can fail, or a meter can simply go
dead. Meters are always exposed to the elements. As with any other appliance or
device, a component may stop working.
We do monitor the data we receive. We send service workers out to check potential
issues, but it may take several weeks, given other priorities. If we went daily to every
site or tried to contact every member with a zero reading to determine its validity, we
would need a significantly bigger staff, and that would drive up all members’ costs.
At South Plains Electric Cooperative, we are constantly balancing cost considerations with service expectations. We need your help to keep our service reliable and
rates affordable, so make sure to inform us of outages and issues. By doing so, you fulfill your responsibility as a member and help us as we strive to improve service to you.
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Texas Co-op Power SOUTH PLAINS EC March 2016
J OH N A RCH E R | I STOCK.COM
Help us serve you better
Don’t forget to put the garage on your
spring-cleaning list.
Add Electrical Jobs
to Spring-Cleaning
Checklist
HERE ARE A FEW ITEMS to add to your
spring-cleaning checklist:
a While cleaning windows, check
for loose or cracked glass panes and for
peeling caulk around them. Either one
is a path for your air-conditioned air to
escape outdoors and for winter cold and
summer heat to waft into the house.
Replace broken windows and caulk that’s
past its prime.
a Compact fluorescent lightbulbs
and light-emitting diodes last a lot longer than the traditional, incandescent
bulbs everybody grew up with. Instead
of replacing them regularly, start dusting
them. Unplug the light, then use a soft
cloth to remove excess dust that could
leave the light looking dim.
a Before the start of air-conditioning
season, replace your system’s dirty air
filter. Then, replace it again every month
during the cooling season to help your
HVAC run as efficiently as possible.
a Pull your refrigerator away from the
wall once a year and vacuum behind it.
a Check the utility closet or garage
and move boxes and other items at least
5 feet away from your furnace and water
heater. Appliances need air to circulate
around them. While you’re there, remove
old cans of paint and other chemicals and
debris from the vicinity of your furnace to
prevent an explosion or fire.
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Outage mapping technology is helping
cooperatives and their members better
manage power outages.
Outage Maps Keep You Informed
COOPERATIVES ACROSS THE COUNTRY use a powerful tool to aid
power restoration and keep you informed during an outage.
Outage maps are just what they sound like: a graphical representation of a power outage displayed on a map of your electric
co-op’s service area.
The typical map shows where the outage is and, depending
upon the system’s capability, includes information such as the
number of members without power, locations of crews (or their
estimated time of arrival) and expected time of restoration.
Behind the map is a sophisticated system that provides the
data needed to populate the graphic. This technology is considered to be part of the smart grid because it improves control,
reduces outage length, increases reliability and provides information to employees, co-op members and the public.
Maintaining an accurate outage map starts with devices on
the co-op’s lines that can report their status to the cooperative,
meaning that they can report whether there is power at the
meter. This data flows back over the power lines to a computer
at the co-op. There it is analyzed, and the results are presented
to the engineering and operations team for action.
Here’s an example: Something causes a fault in the lines
that blows a fuse or trips a circuit breaker. The cause could be a
gust of wind dropping a branch on a line; a furry critter deciding the brush around the transformer looks like dinner; or a
car hitting a utility pole. Regardless of the cause, the power is
now out for a number of members.
The piece of equipment nearest the fault signals that it
cannot see anything down the line—or that it has “tripped.”
A program now runs to determine the extent of the outage. It
collects information from other devices to determine where
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March.indd 21
the flow of power stops. Once it has completed its detective
work, the system generates a map showing the extent of the
outage. (When the need arises, co-op employees can operate
the program rather than waiting for the computer.)
Because of the power of the information contained in these
maps, co-ops are making them available via the Internet.
Members can consult the map online rather than waiting in
a telephone queue to learn about their power outage from a
member service representative. They can check to see if the
co-op knows whether their power is out, and when the co-op
expects it to be restored—all with the click of a button!
Many people have asked how they can access the Internet
if their power is out. There are a couple of ways to do this. The
first is via a smartphone or cell-enabled tablet. South Plains
Electric Cooperative’s outage texting service also allows you
to report and check the status of an outage from your mobile
device. Visit www.SPEC.coop to learn how to sign up. There are
many ways you can access crucial information during an outage and keep yourself informed on the status of your service.
Knowledge is power, and when it comes to outages, knowledge is also a comfort because it can tell you when the lights
(and the heat, and the TV) are likely to come back on. With this
knowledge, you can take the steps necessary to protect your
family and your property. Outage maps are a great example of
how co-ops work to keep members informed about their service.
South Plains Electric Cooperative provides outage information as part of our ongoing efforts to provide the highest quality of service at the lowest possible cost. Visit www.SPEC.coop
for more information. This is just another benefit of being a
co-op member.
March 2016 SOUTH PLAINS EC Texas Co-op Power
21
2/4/2016 4:09:29 PM
SOUTH PLAINS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE
C
Operation Round Up
Scholarship applications are
now available online.
If you are a high school senior, you can request an application by
contacting Whitney Bryant at 806.775.7829, [email protected],
complete the application online or download and print a copy at
www.spec.coop. Scholarship applications due March 1.
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March.indd 22
Texas Co-op Power SOUTH PLAINS EC
March 2016
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CO-OP P WER
PrePay
Can
save you
MONEY!
“I’m on PrePay metering, and one
weekend I noticed my kilowatt
hours increased to double what I
normally use. I also noticed that
my heating unit didn’t seem to
shut off at all. I called a heating
repair company to take a look.
This photo shows what they
found. Thankfully, PrePay metering alerted me of my usage. If I
didn’t have PrePay it could have
been a month until I noticed the
increase in my usage. It saved me
a lot of money. I’m so happy I have
PrePay metering.”
-Debbie Ruedo
SPEC Member and Employee
What is
Co-op Power PrePay?
Co-op Power PrePay is a pay-as-you-go
plan that allows you to pay when you
want, in the amount you want. Instead
of receiving a paper or an electronic bill
each month, usage is calculated daily.
Co-op Power PrePay members never pay
a deposit, late charge, disconnect fee, or
reconnect fee.
How does PrePay work?
PrePay works similar to a prepaid cellular phone. You put money into your
PrePay account, and as you use electricity, the cost of the usage will be deducted
daily from your PrePay account balance.
Sign up by calling
Member Service:
806-775-7766
or online at
www.SPEC.coop
$941,055 Saved
on Prescriptions by Members using their Co-op Connections Card
In January, 179 prescriptions were filled and members saved $6,421, averaging 50 percent off the retail price.
This valuable
member benefit is
absolutely free!
Go online at www.SPEC.coop or call
806.775.7766 to request a free card.
Want to do some price checking on your
prescriptions? Visit www.rxpricequotes.com to
see the discounted price at local pharmacies.
www.spec.coop • Like us on Facebook
March.indd 23
Even if you have medical coverage, compare your
coverage to the discounts. The Co-op Connections
discount may be better than your medical insurance!
The pharmacy will need the group and member numbers on the back of the card to process the discount.
March 2016 SOUTH PLAINS EC Texas Co-op Power
23
2/8/2016 1:42:37 PM
SOUTH PLAINS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE
Dishwashers
Clean for Less
IT’S A QUESTION THAT HAS BEEN ASKED FOR YEARS: Which is “greener”—
Today’s efficient dish-
washers save energy
using a dishwasher or washing dishes by hand? Which method uses less
and money compared to
energy and less water?
washing dishes by hand.
Now, it seems, we have a definitive answer: Updated regulation combined with solid design have made appliances significantly better over the
years, to the point where there’s no longer a question.
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy notes: Studies are showing more and more that, when used to maximize energy-saving features, modern dishwashers can outperform all but the most frugal hand washers.
Since 2013, all dishwashers have been required to use fewer than 5 gallons of water during a full cycle. Energy Star-certified
dishwashers perform even better, using 4.25 gallons maximum and fewer than 295 kilowatt-hours per year in average usage, which
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers 215 cycles per year.
People often prerinse dishes, which uses a lot of water on top of what the dishwasher uses, skewing the numbers in favor of the
sink. However, you don’t really have to do that anymore—dishwashers are good enough that you can just scrape off the food and
let the machine do the rest. The machines even have soil detectors to ensure that they get it all.
There are other bells and whistles that make dishwashers even more efficient. They have preheaters that boost the water temperature to up to 140 degrees to sanitize them, which lets you turn down the temperature of your household water heater to 120
degrees. They also have timers that let you set the appliance to turn on at a later time when the power rates are lower, and they
often have no-heat, air-dry cycles, although some users complain that this causes spotting.
In the end, there appears to be a consensus that dishwashers today do a better job using a lot less water and energy than a person doing dishes by hand. It’s one labor-saving appliance that does a better job than you can.
Get A Free Set of Air Filters
Relax and Breathe easy.
Your filters will promptly arrive when you schedule them.
24
March.indd 24
Texas Co-op Power SOUTH PLAINS EC
March 2016
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Operation Round Up Offers
Mini-Grants to Teachers
The Operation Round Up Board of
Directors created a mini-grant program
to help teachers with classroom projects
or educational field trips. Operation
Round Up approved another three-year
cycle of teacher mini grants.
There are 10 mini-grants of $500
each available during the 2016-2017
school year. Entries must be submitted by May 15, 2016. This year’s grant is
available to any K-12 math or language
arts teacher if any of the following criteria are met:
• the teacher is a member of
(receives electric service from) South
Plains Electric Cooperative. The list
of qualifying schools includes: All
Lubbock ISD schools, Abernathy, Anton,
Aspermont, Childress, Chillicothe,
Cotton Center, Crosbyton, Crowell,
Floydada, Frenship, Guthrie, Hale
Center, Idalou, Jayton-Girard, Lorenzo,
Lubbock-Cooper, Motley Co., New Deal,
New Home, Olton, Paducah, Patton
Springs, Petersburg, Plainview, Post,
Quanah, Ralls, Roosevelt, Ropesville,
Rotan, Shallowater, Slaton, Southland,
Smyer, Spur and Wilson. If you are
teaching at a private school, your
application will be subject to eligibility
verification.
• at least one student in the class is a
member of and receives electric service
at their home or family business from
South Plains Electric Cooperative.
Ten teachers received grants for their
science and art/music classroom projects for the 2015-2016 school year. Their
stories will be published in this magazine and will be available at www.SPEC.
coop under the Operation Round Up tab.
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March.indd 25
Operation
Round Up
Neighbors helping
Neighbors!
How will the applications be
judged?
All applications will be screened by a
volunteer committee related to education to select the finalists. The Operation
Round Up Board will select the 10 winners from the finalists.
A project or educational field trip
should offer an expanded learning
opportunity for the students that compliments and reinforces daily classroom
studies. This is an opportunity to do
something extra for students.
Teachers receiving grants must submit a written, final report with pictures
on their project or educational field trip.
Applications may be completed and
submitted online, or download a PDF at
www.SPEC.coop under the Operation
Round Up tab.
The grant application deadline is
5 p.m. on Friday, May 15, 2016. All of the
Operation Round Up funds come from
Cooperative members volunteering to
participate in the program. The average
annual contribution is only $6.00, and
we need your participation!
If you want to participate, just call
our member services department at
806.775.7766. You can also enroll online
and learn more about Operation Round
Up at www.SPEC.coop.
March 2016 SOUTH PLAINS EC Texas Co-op Power
25
2/4/2016 4:11:40 PM
SOUTH PLAINS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE
AGRICULTURE
Fresh local grown, shelled pecans. $9/lb. or
$25/3 lb. Lubbock 781-4697 or 781-7296:
Sheep shearing by Kevin, a graduate of Abernathy & Mr. Kelly’s ag class. Comes to Texas &
Oklahoma twice a year. 806-470-2121:
Used John Deere tractors, some with front-end
loaders. 745-4060:
Farm fresh eggs. $2 a dozen. Call 775-4260:
Shredders, blades, plows, tractors and more.
Call for pricing. 778-9919:
Tanks repaired. Plastic, fiberglass and metal.
Rainwater collection systems. 548-0959:
Adams Farm Equipment Company, since 1976.
Cultivator knives, sweeps & spikes, sand fighters, offset disks on sale. 762-1876:
Bozeman Tire, new and used auto, truck and
farm tires. Service trucks available for on-site
repairs. 765-6308; 470-3855 cell:
AUTOS, RVS, BOATS
2010 Ford F-150 King Ranch Crew Cab. Leather,
navigation, sunroof, 86,000 miles, in great
condition. 543-9911.
DH Auto is Lubbock’s newest auto repair shop.
LCU alum owned and operated. Great rates,
honest service. dhautotx.com or call 441-6485.
Tin Star Services, Inc. is a CA/CO, GC & construction mgmt firm serving Texas for over 10 years.
References available by request. 263-4543.
Concrete Randy. Driveways, sidewalks, slabs,
patios, dirt work, asphalt repair. Free estimates,
call 448-1148:
Professional tile installation, references available, 30 yrs. experience. Andrew 544-3958 or
873-3647; Gilbert 778-4095; Carrie 559-6554:
We do all types of fence work from repair to
replacement, ag and ranch a speciality. Free
and honest bids, call Les at 438-7859, 470-7782:
Blue Sky Custom Shutters. Dealer for O'Hair
Shutters. Interior window treatments and
exterior shutters; shadow boxes. 535-0456:
Polyurethane foam roofing & insulation. Best for
flat roofs and inside metal buildings. Over 40
yrs. experience. 781-4041; 253-0205:
Brian Harper Heating and Air Conditioning, Inc.
TACL#A22184. 445-0020:
Luna Construction. Steel buildings, welding,
concrete, fences, free estimates. 781-1232,
781-1786:
Ford Insulation & Fireplaces. Fiberglass or
cellulose insulation. Monessen fireplaces, gas
logs and outdoor grills. 548-2750:
Victor Jimenez Concrete and Dirt. Patios, sidewalks, driveways, flower beds, curbs. 317-3288:
B&R Auto Parts. New and used parts, mechanic on staff, six month warranty on all parts.
4401 Ave. A, Lubbock, 762-0139:
Reduce your energy bills summer/winter with
full vinyl replacement windows. Low installed
price. Also do metal buildings, free est. 787-7690:
JNJ Customs. Retro mods, light restorations,
custom fabrication and general auto repair.
Contact Jim 778-3776 or Jay 500-0061:
Spray foam insulation. Metal buildings or barns.
New or existing structures. Free estimates.
441-1553; 787-5699:
Logan’s Auto Repair, for all your automotive
services, 13th and Q, Lubbock, 749-3488:
Colbert Painting & Remodeling. 35 yrs. in business, interior & exterior, residential & commercial, specialty faux painting, free est. 441-8898:
Windshield repair/replacement, rock chip repair,
all auto/truck glass, mirrors, mobile & shop service. 7415 82nd St. Clear Vu Auto Glass 791-4311:
Competitive Auto Repair Service, 30 years
experience, light truck, light auto, reasonable
rates. 392-5487:
Straub Masonry: In business over 40 yrs. Brick,
stone, pavers, glass block, pointups, mailboxes,
repairs. 795-5681:
Smith Construction: carports, metal buildings,
remodels, metal roofs and fences. 893-6905:
Armor Auto Glass of Lubbock. Windshields, rock
chip repairs, door glasses, back glasses, mirrors.
Locally-owned, free estimates. 778-3710:
All types of roofing and all phases of remodeling, windows, siding, roof additions, free estimates, Roof Master & Construction, 780-7663:
Bryan’s Auto Parts Locator. 9-6, M-F. Nationwide
parts locator, new and used. Delivery and installation available, warranty on all parts. 745-2050:
Western Implement Company, featuring
Kubota, Bush-Hog and Land Pride. 321 19th St.
765-0900, kubotalubbock.com:
Jay’s Home Auto Repair, mobile mechanic. 8AM8PM, Monday-Saturday. I still make house calls.
Over 30 yrs. experience. 773-8622:
Premier Home Exteriors. Steel siding, overhangs, storm doors, storm & insulated windows.
798-2482:
Truck accessories; service and restoration on
Scouts; Scout Madness Truck Outfitters. www.
scoutmadness.com. 745-7475:
Roy Reese Construction. Remodel or new construction, metal roofs, barns, fencing. 839-2174:
Precision Auto Repair, engine overhauls, brakes,
alignments, chassis, rear axles, cv-joints,
electrical. 866-9021:
BOOKS, VIDEOS, CDS
Local author writes true adventure book.
Confessions of a Bible Salesman...An Exciting
Adventure with God. $13, www.kelleylitsch.com:
CONSTRUCTION
FINANCIAL & INSURANCE
Sig Dansby & Assoc. Insurance Services. Auto,
home, renters, life, annuities, disability, IRAs.
Independent agents. 785-0840, 432-770-0197:
Your agent for business, home, auto & life
insurance since 1982. Keith Potts, State Farm,
794-5084 or www.keithpotts.com:
Home, Auto, Life. Free child kit with policy. Jim
Welch Ins. Agency, 783-0290. www.FarmersofLubbock.com:
Phenix Security. Home Alarms, Business
Alarms Security Cameras. Free Estimates. State
Licensed. 928-6326
Burial insurance: Lincoln Heritage Funeral
Advantage. Call Darin Tetens, 632-0104:
Tim McCann Painting. Interior and exterior
painting, fence and deck staining. 10% off final
bill with Co-op Connections card. 549-8923:
HEALTH
26
March.indd 26
Electric wheel chair, in good condition. 790-3479
Texas Co-op Power SOUTH PLAINS EC
March 2016
MEMBERS’ MARKET CLASSIFIEDS
Diane’s Magnetic Jewelry. Why hurt? Stop the
pain! Lubbock 781-4239:
Stressed out, tight muscles, reached the boiling
point? Relaxing massage; swedish & deep
tissue. Specials availabe, call Rayna 470-9665:
It’s no longer about losing weight! Get healthy,
shed extra pounds w/Plexus Slim. 778-5393.
http://bjmassingill.myplexusproducts.com:
Learn what essential oils are all about. Classes
online and in person. Email or call for schedule.
832-0531, [email protected]:
Enjoy the best massage in town. Patti Hill, LMT,
swedish, deep tissue, hot stone, mother-to-be,
reflexology; evenings & Saturdays. 239-4208:
Super Blue Stuff, pain relief of arthritis, back
pain, carpal tunnel, sports injuries, specials.
253-3040, 786-5356:
HOUSEHOLD
Oliver’s Cleaning Service. Home, office, lawn,
etc. Mistie, 466-8500:
Grace Mobile Home Repair. 473-7470. Owner
Joe Beck. 10% discount when mentioning ad:
S&K Furniture Repair. Specializing in recliner
frame work, wood reglue and touch-up repair.
www.skfurniturerepair.com. 798-2471:
Jordan’s Carpet Cleaning. 806-300-6622.
Carpet cleaning, countertop refinishing, water
extraction:
J&P Mobile Home Movers, serving all of Texas.
445-6370; 445-2178:
LANDSCAPING
Approx. 300’ x 5’ chain link fencing materials.
Slats, 4 pedestrian gates, 1 drive-through gate.
$2,000 OBO. 757-2145, 549-7249.
Landscaping and small acreage equipment for
rent or sale. Tiller, wood chipper, brush cutter and
more. Lubbock Rent-All 7423 82nd St. 543-9911:
3-D-S Lawncare, mowing, edging, trimming.
8805 25th St. Call: Freddy 448-0368 or Latika
448-9234:
Shredding lots & acreage. Call anytime 778-7092.
Bobbys’ mower repair. Get your mower ready
now, call Bobby at 470-7392:
Todd Anderson Lawn/Tree. Specializing in weed
control, deep-root fertilization, diagnose &
treat diseases & insects. Licensed/ins. 797-1770:
Lone Star Fence. Wood & chain link installed.
lonestarfencelubbock.com call Jimmy at 806778-1942. Like us on Facebook:
Lubbock Pergola & Deck; Full service designbuild company. Free consultation and design.
549-9258; www.lubbockpergola.com:
Macrame plant hangers & hanging tables. Made
to order, variety of designs & colors. www.macremaedecor.com or [email protected]
High Plains Gardens. Native plants and grasses.
Vegetable/herb plants (in season). Cactus &
succulents. 778-9333:
Vicki’s Crafts. 445-2921. For fall, Christmas and
every day. 4108 E 3rd. Thurs.-Fridays:
Patio Creations: Casino portable bars, custom
built: refrigerator, CD player, lights, game &
bar. Cedar wood, drink & chip holders. 783-8351:
TX Concealed Handgun Class: $100, includes
meal & range fee. Complete class in one day.
Rockhill Arms & Mercantile. 940-663-6180:
Small tractor shredding, blade work. Also
sandblasting & mobile welding. 239-9894:
Authentic Chuck Wagon Catering. Award winning cooks. Delicious Old West meals cooked on
site. 798-7825. 789-5929. www.hxwagon.com:
MISCELLANEOUS
Affordable event rentals for DIY. Check out
website at www.renteventforme.com. 777-7015:
Stroller, car seat, light blue baby seat,girl’s pink
pea pod razor, 4 office chairs, paintings for office
& home, Leave a message or text 548-2616.
Pink Zebra Sprinkles, Sales consultant: Marrelle
Thomas. Phone: 466-2428.
Live traps, small and medium. 790-3479
APC battery back-up by Schneider, 550 volts,
3-yr. warranty. Never removed from box.
Ordered by mistake. $100. 795-4673.
Long-arm quilter, t-shirt quilts, pieced quilts.
368-5684.
I will pick up leftover garage sale items when
your sale is complete! 474-6688.
High Plains Firewood, seasoned & split Pinion,
Oak, Pine, Mesquite & Pecan. Pick-up or delivery
available. Call or text 786-0281:
Restore old quilts to make beautiful keepsakes!
Hand quilted by the Canyon Methodist Quilters
Guild. Also finish quilt tops. 789-5840:
D Productions mobile DJ service with DJ Debbie
D for all occasions, all styles of music. 407-2470:
Roy’s Mobile Home Service. Moving, installation,
local and long distance. 791-5485:
Parties, weddings, or just for fun! Mike Pritchard
for your live entertainment needs. From solo
to duo or full piece band. 797-1573; 773-2215:
Long arm quilting, quilt piecing, complete tshirt quilts, Lesa Ann’s Quilting Studio. 787-3735:
DJ with TJ. DJ for all occasions. Reasonable prices. 632-6086 or go online to www.
DJwithTJ.com:
Golf clubs, woods, irons, putters, wedges,
bags and new drivers. Stonegate Golf Course.
786-7077:
Watkins Products Associate, Wilda Pruitt.
741-1154. jrwatkins.com/consultant/wilda.pruitt:
Have old houses to be moved to your location.
Bigham Housemoving. 781-7841, 781-7843:
All-over, long-arm quilting. Call Deanna at
Connecting The Pieces. 787-4083:
Jones Tire. We buy and sell used tires, 13, 14 &
15. Flats fixed $5.00. 102 E Broadway. 762-8112:
Weddings, family, monthly specials, etc. Seasonal Mini Sessions and all your photo needs.
549-1651. mjohnsonphoto.net:
Concealed handgun class. Serving the South
Plains since 1996. Sat. class, call for details.
Fred’s Gun Emporium, 3003 Slide Rd. 799-3838:
Military Surplus-Antiques-Collectibles, now
open at 2405 34th St., 10-5:30 M-Sat. Glory B.
470-0330 or 368-5264:
The Carpet Barn. All types of flooring. Low
overhead means low prices. Visa/MC. Financing
available. 132nd & I-27. 745-7977:
Used utility poles, 30’, no cutting on site, must
sign release of responsibility, make donation to
Operation Round Up, call 775-7793 to make appt:
If you need a personal computer tech to install
hardware, software or perform repairs, David
Sanders 470-6336:
Edge to Edge overall long arm machine
quilting, pick-up and delivery. Call Marlene
Hildebrandt 787-3334:
Ruben’s Head Shop, haircuts, 6409-A University
Ave. near Pets Plus. Walk-ins.
Cactus Creek Firewood. Oak, pinion, mesquite,
pecan, hickory. From a few sticks to a cord.
Delivery or pick up. 392-4004. 4124 E FM 1585:
SignPro Electrical Sales & Service. Ask for Debi,
Full service sign company. 10% off for mentioning this ad. 798-7446:
All your photography needs. Monthly specials.
Weddings, family, sports, etc. 559-7796.
www.wgalavizphotography.com:
Members’ Market Advertising Form
Category _____________________________________________________________
Deadline for ads in the April magazine is March 4, 2016.
Email ad to [email protected] or complete form and mail to:
SPEC, Attn.: Lynn Simmons, P.O. Box 1830, Lubbock, TX 79408
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
In Texas
call: 811
Name __________________________________________
Phone __________________________
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PEST CONTROL
ABC Pest Control, certified, licensed, insured
for roaches, ants, silverfish and mice. Free
estimates w/75 mile radius of Lubbock. 319-1869:
Pest Management Services. 794-4567. For
general pests, animals, rodents, termites (liquid
or bait), lawns, trees & shrubs. Lubbock area:
Good pest control costs no more. Free estimates.
20 yrs. of know how. West Texas Pest Control,
W.L. Matheny (m) 778-0225:
PETS & LIVESTOCK
AKC Miniature Schnauzers. Great gifts. Vet health
checked, first shots. Lubbock. 543-1699.
1+ acre of land for livestock or horses. Free
rent. Restrictions apply. Call Ray after lunch
at 620-3807.
Like riding horses? Check out West Texas
Drifters Riding Club at www.westtexasdriftersridingclub.com. Accepting new members now:
Pawsitively Purrfect Grooming Salon. All dog
and cat breed grooming. Over 50 years combined experience. 54th & Aberdeen, 795-3323:
Dog Grooming. Sheila’s Country K-9 Grooming
offers full-service bathing and grooming for all
dog breeds. Call 704-0002:
Custom-made pet collars with rhinestone name
and charm sliders. 11 collar styles and charms.
Text or call: 781-1587 or 791-0241:
Do your horse good! Certified equine sports
massage therapy. Beneficial for performance,
competition and leisure horses. Angie 928-1403:
Furever Friends and Rescue placing rescued
dogs and cats in new homes. Serving the Childress area, donations accepted. 940-585-6035:
Like driving your horse and buggy? Check our
website to see what the Llano Estacado Driving
Society is doing. www.born2buggy.org:
Spur Veterinary Hospital serves both small and
large animals. We specialize in equine health.
Brandon or Ali Broyles, DVM. 271-3355:
10.98 acres unimproved land with deed restrictions on N. Milwaukee, N. of Erskine. Spike
Wideman C21 John Walton Realtors 787-9969.
Interested in buying, selling or investing in real
estate? Give me a call. Shawna Taylor, Realtor
with Keller Williams Realty at 781-9025.
10.2-acre tracts or larger. $2,500/acre. 1/4 mile
west of intersection of FM 2528 and CR 5800.
No improvements. Call 392-5944 after 5pm:
R&R Home inspections, serving the West Texas
area, protecting peace of mind. 786-4175:
Buying or selling real estate in Lubbock &
surrounding area? Call Linda Scott, Realtor at
Stephens Realty at (806) 781-5314:
Free market evaluation of your home, no
obligation. Call Teresa Richardson, Realtor at
Century 21 John Walton Realtors, 781-4864:
We list and sell homes in Lubbock and surrounding area. Mark & Amy Franco; mark@
exitlubbock.com. 441-4998:
Looking to buy or sell your home ? Call Debby
Tullis at 777-6863. WESTMARK, Realtors:
County Line Inspection. Real estate, new
construction, building, mechanical, electrical
and plumbing. Lic. #10599. 445-1685:
RENTALS
Hillside RV Park, full hook-ups; three miles
south of Roaring Springs on FM 3203; 348-7519:
Heavily wooded RV spots on private fishing
lake, hiking trails, outdoor activities. One hour
from Houston & Beaumont. 936-365-2267:
Home for you & your horse! 2 & 3 bdr. Ranchplexes with private paddocks for horses &
fenced dog runs. 50th & CR 1305. Call 687-0029:
RV spaces for rent, clean, country living. 1 mile
W. of Tahoka Hwy. on Woodrow Rd. $175/mo.
rent & deposit. No outside pets. 789-7874:
Advertising Policy
Advertising in the Members’ Market is a free service offered
to co-op members. All ads are limited to three lines and only
one ad per month per member. Ads must be renewed monthly
unless other arrangements are made with Lynn Simmons by
phone 775-7826, fax 775-7851, mail or e-mail lsimmons@spec.
coop. This information is provided by SPEC on an informational,
“as is,” basis. SPEC does not endorse, examine or warrant any
businesses listed and makes no representation or warranties of
any kind, express or implied, as to the operation of the businesses
or the quality of their services. To the full extent permissible by
applicable law, SPEC disclaims all warranties, express or implied.
SPEC will not be liable for any damages of any kind arising from
the use of this information, including, but not limited to, direct,
indirect, punitive and consequential damages.
RESTAURANTS, CATERING
Double B Party Barns, near Reese Center. Nightly
rentals, catering available. Call Brian. 781-4892.
www.doublebpartybarns.com:
Four-Bar-K Inside, ½ mile E of Tahoka Hwy. on
82nd, BBQ lunch Fridays 11:30-2PM, live music &
free beer. Parties & catering. 789-8682:
Cagle Steaks. Reserve a room for your next
special occasion. 795-3879:
TREE CARE
Hildebrandt Tree Tech. Complete tree care
services. Insured. www.mytreetech.com Free
est. Certified arborist, TX 3791A. Casey 441-7722:
Noey’s Tree Services. Been in business for 30
yrs. Specialists in all trees: shaping, trimming
and take down. Free est. 632-2926; 777-3926:
South Plains Electric
Cooperative, Inc.
Richburg Horticulture. Professional, prompt tree
care services. Old school integrity, new school
technology. BS degree. 793-1586:
P.O. Box 1830, Lubbock, TX 79408
West Texas Trees, locally grown, thousands
of trees to choose from, wholesale prices.
863-4922:
24-hour automated outage reporting
(806) 741-0111 Lubbock local
(888) 741-0111 toll free
Treelovingcare.com provides all tree care
services. Call or e-mail for free e-mail newsletter. James Tuttle, Certified Arborist, 785-8733:
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New Service/Account Inquiry
WANTED
M-F 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. • (806) 775-7766
After 5 p.m. and on weekends • (806) 775-7732
Chevy K1500 between 1990-1993. 575-808-9430.
Riding lawn mowers for parts. L.R. Burleson,
730-9573:
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Buying all coins; silver, gold and currency
collections. Ken’s Coins, 795-4058:
(806) 775-7811
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Need six- and five-feet chain link fencing.
300-5252:
24-hour Online Bill Pay
www.SPEC.coop
Need to rent a home or a property managed
in Lubbock? Call Wayne at WestMark Leasing,
776-4217, www.lubbock4rent.com:
can you
dig
Adopt a dog from Morris Safe House, a no-kill
facility; vaccines, spayed/neutered, socialized,
ID chip. 239-0156. www.morrissafehouse.org:
Stud service for AKC registered Rottweilers.
Boarding services. 317-9494; leave message:
Check it out! LubbockSaddleClub.org. Play day
dates for 2015 for Lubbock Saddle Club and
other events. www.LubbockSaddleClub.org:
Registered working border collies from champion bloodlines. www.abbordercollies.com.
806-492-3456:
Small breed puppies, Chihuahua, long/smooth
coat, Yorkies, Dachshund, Poodles, others, shots
& wormed. (940) 937-8392:
REAL ESTATE
440 acres for sale in Motley County. Cabin, barn,
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www.spec.coop • Like us on Facebook
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Before you dig, get the
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utilities exist everywhere,
even in your yard. Digging
without knowing where
it’s safe to dig can cause
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and even loss of lives.
In Texas call: 811
March 2016 SOUTH PLAINS EC Texas Co-op Power
27
2/5/2016 3:29:39 PM
Electric Notes
CONSERVATION AND SAFETY INFORMATION
Top 5 Energy Users in Your Home
A starting point for savings
ALTHOUGH MOST HOMEOWNERS would like
to be more energy efficient and save money,
the effort feels overwhelming because
many people don’t know where to start.
How can the average family use less energy,
lower their utility bill and still meet their
daily energy needs? To get started, it is useful to identify the top energy users in your
home.
The top five energy users in U.S. homes
are, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration:
Space cooling—13 percent
Lighting—11 percent
Space heating—9 percent
Water heating—9 percent
Refrigeration—7 percent
Changing home
energy use habits can
help save money.
Together, these five constitute almost
half the American homeowner’s energy bill
every month. By adjusting household habits
around each energy user, you can start conserving electricity and saving money.
Water-Heating Efficiency
Adjust the Temperature
Combined, home heating and cooling use the most energy and
take the biggest bite out of your energy budget. You can achieve
at least 10 percent savings by taking a few simple, low-cost steps.
a During cold weather, set your thermostat to 68 degrees.
a During warm weather, set it to 78 degrees.
a Clean the filters of your HVAC system to cut costs between
5 and 15 percent.
a Clean refrigerator and electric baseboard heater coils to
maintain maximum efficiency.
a Caulk and weatherstrip around windows and doors to prevent indoor air from escaping to the outdoors.
No matter what the climate or time of year, proper use of a
programmable thermostat can save you 10 percent on your
monthly utility bill.
Shine the Light on Savings
Take a fresh look at the lighting in your home. If you still use
incandescent lighting, your lightbulbs are operating at only
25 percent energy efficiency. Replacing your home’s five most
frequently used bulbs with Energy Star-certified light-emitting
diodes can save you $75 per year. Another easy way to save is to
always turn lights off in rooms that are not being used.
20
Texas Co-op Power March 2016
Just as it is energy-wise to insulate your roof, walls or floors, it
also pays to wrap your water heater with an insulating blanket.
Doing this is all the more critical if you have an older unit.
Make sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions. For additional efficiency and savings, insulate exposed hot water lines
and drain 1–2 gallons of water from the bottom of your tank
annually to prevent sediment buildup.
Cold Cash Back in Your Wallet
If your refrigerator was purchased before 2001, chances are it
uses 40 percent more energy than a new model. If you are
considering an appliance update, a new Energy Star-certified
refrigerator uses at least 15 percent less energy than noncertified models and 20 percent less energy than required by federal standards.
Regardless of the age of your fridge, there are additional
steps you can take to save energy and money. For example,
don’t keep your refrigerator too cold. The Department of
Energy recommends temperatures of 35–38 degrees for the
refrigeration compartments and zero degrees for freezers.
By understanding how your home uses energy, you can
determine the best ways to modify energy use and keep more
money in your wallet.
TexasCoopPower.com
A N K N E T | I STO C K .CO M
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Texas USA
The First “Flying Saucer”
Description of Denison UFO in 1878 became archetype for alien space travel
BY E.R. BILLS
22
Texas Co-op Power March 2016
When I was growing up in the late
1970s, Star Wars and Close Encounters of
the Third Kind practically owned the big
screen, and Hollywood followed up with
a Mork & Mindy takeover of network TV.
Folks were captivated by galaxies “far, far
away,” and I was no different; but Texas
seemed light-years away from everything
that was going on in deep space.
I recently stumbled across something
that dispelled this youthful misperception.
Mork, Han Solo, Chewbacca and the visitors portrayed in Close Encounters were
all space travelers, and the modern archetype for alien space travelers is the “flying
saucer.” As it turns out, the first recorded
sighting of a flying saucer was not in
Roswell, New Mexico, or Boulder, Colorado,
or at the Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. One
was spotted in Texas on January 22, 1878.
According to a January 25, 1878, frontpage report in the Denison Daily News—
which was attributed to the Dallas Herald
and headlined A Strange Phenomenon—a
farmer named John Martin was hunting
“six miles north of this city” when he spotted something in the distance. Martin’s
“attention was directed to a dark object
high up in the southern sky,” the story said.
The “shape and velocity with which the
object seemed to approach riveted his
attention, and he strained his eyes to discover its character.”
At first the object appeared to be the
“size of an orange,” but it got bigger and
brighter as it approached. Martin stared
at it so long he was temporarily blinded,
and by the time his vision was restored,
the object was almost directly overhead.
By then it was “about the size of a large
saucer” and was soaring across the sky at
high altitude and with incredible speed.
Martin said it resembled a balloon, and
the Herald reporter noted that if it was
not a balloon, “it deserved the attention
of our scientists.”
The story appeared in The Dallas
Weekly Herald on January 26 and the
Daily Oklahoman soon after. There is no
evidence that the incident ever actually
received examination from local, state or
national scientists at the time, but it did
grab the attention of stargazers and
researchers decades later. It was discussed
in the influential book The Flying Saucers
Are Real (Fawcett Publications, 1950) by
Donald Keyhoe, revisited in The Dallas
Morning News on August 6, 1965, and
examined in Close Encounters of the Lone
Star Kind in Texas Monthly in 1969.
Although mysterious objects in the sky
have been recorded throughout human
history, the sighting in Denison led to the
first-ever mention of a flying saucer, and
flying saucers have been a staple of UFO
lore ever since.
Where Martin saw the saucer is not
exactly clear. According to the 1880 U.S.
census, there was a tenant farmer named
John E. Martin living in Grayson County
(where Denison is located), but there were
five John Martins working as farmers in
Collin County (just north of Dallas and Dallas County): three Johns (two of whom
were listed in the 1870 census), one John
P. and one John W. The 1880 census listed
no John Martin in Dallas County.
Regardless of which John Martin saw
TexasCoopPower.com
JOHN WILSON
Although mysterious objects
in the sky have been recorded
throughout human history, the
sighting in Denison led to the
first-ever mention of a flying
saucer, and flying saucers have
been a staple of UFO lore
ever since.
TexasCoopPower.com
a flying saucer in North Texas in 1878, at
least three local newspapers reported it—
at a time when no one had even heard of
a UFO, much less space aliens, “close
encounters” or R2-D2. This sighting
occurred before there was a genuine context or compelling rhetoric for such
events. It also took place before the sightings themselves became cliché—lending
credence to the original account and
firmly cementing the notion of visitors
from galaxies “far, far away” right here in
our own backyard.
E.R. Bills is a writer from Aledo.
March 2016 Texas Co-op Power
23
Observations
Resident Spirits
Lady Bird Johnson’s experience with haunted houses—first her childhood home, then the White House
BY MARTHA DEERINGER
24
Texas Co-op Power March 2016
In an imposing, 17-room antebellum
mansion just a mile outside of Karnack,
in deep East Texas, Claudia Alta Taylor
was born December 22, 1912, into wealth
and privilege. Her nursemaid, enchanted
by the 6 ½-pound, dark-haired baby, pronounced her “as purty as a lady bird,”
introducing a nickname the tiny girl would
bear for the rest of her life.
Thomas Jefferson Taylor, the baby’s
bombastic and domineering father and the
wealthiest man in town, owned a 65,000acre cotton plantation, two cotton gins, a
fishing business and two country stores,
on which he posted the optimistic sign,
“T. J. Taylor—Dealer in Everything.”
Perhaps it’s prophetic that Karnack
(misspelled by a postmaster who intended
to name it “Karnak” for the temples of
Egypt) lies near the town of Uncertain and
just 20 miles from Jefferson, which claims
to be the most haunted town in Texas.
Many believed Taylor’s mansion sheltered
a resident ghost.
Built in 1843 and known as the Brick
House, the mansion was the scene of a
tragedy in 1861. Owner Milt Andrew’s
beautiful 19-year-old daughter, Eunice,
known as “Oonie,” sat alone in a rocking
chair in her bedroom beside the fireplace
during a violent thunderstorm. Lightning
coursed down the chimney and struck her,
consuming the girl and her chair in a fiery
inferno. Rumors suggest that Oonie’s ghost
never left the house.
When Lady Bird was 5, the Brick
House, which is still standing and used as
a private residence, witnessed a second
tragedy. Minnie Lee, Lady Bird’s genteel
mother, fell down the spiral staircase and
died from complications of a miscarriage
caused by the fall.
Minnie’s death came during her husband’s busiest time of year, and Taylor, not
to be distracted from his business, took the
5-year-old to the store with him and set up
a bed for her on the second floor, where
coffins were stored. When she inquired
what those long boxes were, her father
replied, “Dry goods, honey, just dry goods.”
Lady Bird’s brothers, still away at
school, were not told of their mother’s
death for almost a year.
With her two older brothers away at
school, Lady Bird’s childhood centered on
her bedroom, with the view from its windows blocked by trees. The family’s servants repeatedly warned her to stay away
from Oonie’s bedroom, just down the hall
from her own, and the whistling of the
wind around the floor-to-ceiling windows
added to Lady Bird’s fears. Although she
says she never saw Oonie’s ghost herself,
in later years Lady Bird admitted that, “I
felt quite sure that ghosts did exist, and I
was scared.” In her 80s, she told biographer Jan Jarboe Russell, “I would not,
even now, at this age, feel comfortable
being alone in that house myself.”
In the fall of 1919, Lady Bird started
school, and her mother’s sister, Effie, came
to Karnack to help her niece adjust. Effie
believed that Minnie’s ghost inhabited the
Brick House and visited her at night with
instructions on caring for Lady Bird, washing windows and tending to other derelict
household chores.
To escape the atmosphere of the house
TexasCoopPower.com
E VA VA ZQ U E Z
and its resident spirits, Lady Bird turned
to nature. The pine forests and swamps
reminded her of her mother, who had once
strolled barefooted through the woods in
a white dress with a bouquet of wildflowers in her hand.
Lady Bird also explored nearby Caddo
Lake and its adjacent bayous, where “time
seemed ringed around by silence and
ancient cypress trees, rich in festoons of
Spanish moss. Now and then an alligator
would surface like a gnarled log. It was a
place for dreams,” Lady Bird said in Russell’s book Lady Bird: A Biography of Mrs.
Johnson (Scribner, 1999).
“Growing up alone, I took my delights in
the gifts nature offered me daily,” Lady Bird
TexasCoopPower.com
said. Her love of wildflowers and interest in
the environment are part of her inheritance
from her mother, along with a shyness that
was occasionally mistaken for aloofness.
After she graduated from the University of
Texas with two degrees, Lady Bird’s marriage to Lyndon Johnson propelled her out
of the Taylor ancestral home and on the road
to the White House, another residence
purported to house spirits of the departed.
Four former first ladies have claimed
to sense the presence of Abraham Lincoln’s ghost during their stints in the
White House. Grace Coolidge glimpsed
him standing by the window in his former
office. Eleanor Roosevelt felt Lincoln’s
spirit enter the room late one night while
she worked alone in the Lincoln Bedroom.
Jacqueline Kennedy sat quietly in the Lincoln Bedroom on occasion to draw solace
from Lincoln’s spirit, and Lady Bird Johnson strongly sensed his presence in the
hallway of the private quarters.
Staff members and dignitaries such as
Winston Churchill and Queen Wilhelmina
of the Netherlands also sighted the former
president and other apparitions in the
White House.
But if Lady Bird actually saw those spirits herself, she kept her own counsel—a trait
she had probably developed many years
earlier at her childhood home in Karnack.
Martha Deeringer, a member of Heart of
Texas EC, lives near McGregor.
March 2016 Texas Co-op Power
25
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TexasCoopPower.com
March 2016 Texas Co-op Power
29
WOW
99
159
$349.99
LIMIT 4 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling
800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount or coupon or prior
purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt.
Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original coupon must be
presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
comp at
$
$99
SAVE
$250
99
• 580 lb.
capacity
LOT 95659 shown
61634/61952
Customer Rating
26", 4 DRAWER
TOOL CART
SUPER
COUPON
How Does Harbor Freight
Sell GREAT QUALITY Tools
at the LOWEST Prices?
$17.97
$59.97
comp at
8
$ 99
LIMIT 8 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot
be used with other discount or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original
purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original
coupon must be presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
SAVE
85%
• Drill 28 LOT 91616 shown
Hole
69087/60379
Sizes
3 PIECE TITANIUM
NITRIDE COATED
HIGH SPEED STEEL
STEP BIT SET
169
$519.99
99
comp at
LOT 61888
68885 shown
Customer Rating
170 AMP MIG/FLUX
WIRE WELDER
LIMIT 3 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot
be used with other discount or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original
purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original
coupon must be presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
$
SAVE
$350
WE CARRY A
FULL LINE OF
WELDING WIRE AND
ACCESSORIES
R
PE ON
SU UP
O
C
comp at
5
$ 99
LOT 66537 shown
69505/62418
72" x 80"
MOVING BLANKET
R
PE ON
SU UP
O
C
SAVE
66%
LIMIT 8 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot
be used with other discount or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original
purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original
coupon must be presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
R
PE ON
SU UP
O
C
$169.99
comp at
9999
20"
SAVE
$228
comp at
$328
99
99
LOT 60363/69730
LOT 68121
69727 shown
CALIFORNIA ONLY
6.5 HP (212 CC) OHV
HORIZONTAL SHAFT
GAS ENGINES
$
259
comp at
99
$429.99
LOT 62170/62648
62666/90154 shown
• DOT Certified Tires
1195 LB. CAPACITY
4 FT. x 8 FT.
HEAVY DUTY FOLDABLE
UTILITY TRAILER
LIMIT 5 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot
be used with other discount or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original
purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original
coupon must be presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
$
SAVE
$170
R
PE ON
SU UP
O
C
$
$149.99
comp at
7999
SAVE
$70
Customer Rating
LOT 68333/69488 shown
1650 PSI
PRESSURE
WASHER
$
89
comp at
99 $168.97
SAVE
$78
LOT 60338/69381 shown
900 PEAK/
700 RUNNING WATTS
2 HP (63 CC) 2 CYCLE
GAS RECREATIONAL
GENERATOR
1999
$32.99
comp at
• 225 lb.
capacity
LIMIT 3 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot
be used with other discount or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original
purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original
coupon must be presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
$
SAVE
39%
LOT 67514
EASY-STORE
STEP LADDER
R
TWO TIER
PE ON
SU UP COLLAPSIBLE
O
C
LIMIT 4 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot
be used with other discount or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original
purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original
coupon must be presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
R
PE ON
SU UP
O
C
LIMIT 4 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling
800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount or coupon or prior
purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt.
Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original coupon must be
presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
LIMIT 3 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot
be used with other discount or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original
purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original
coupon must be presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
R
PE ON
SU UP
O
C
LIMIT 4 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling
800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount or coupon or prior
purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt.
Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original coupon must be
presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
$
$8433
SAVE
$85
• Weighs 73 lbs.
62670/61253/61282 shown
RAPID PUMP® 3 TON
LOW PROFILE
HEAVY DUTY STEEL
FLOOR JACK
Customer Rating
LOT 68049/62326
SUPER
COUPON
WOW
LIMIT 5 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot
be used with other discount or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original
purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original
coupon must be presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
at
99 comp
$89
Customer Rating
LOT 95275 shown
61615/60637
39
$
SAVE
55%
3 GALLON, 100 PSI OILLESS
PANCAKE AIR COMPRESSOR
We have invested millions
of dollars in our own
state-of-the-art quality test
labs and millions more in
our factories, so our tools
will go toe-to-toe with the
top professional brands.
And we can sell them for a
fraction of the price because
we cut out the middle man
and pass the savings on to
you. It’s just that simple!
Come visit one of our
600+ Stores Nationwide.
R
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C
Limit 1 coupon per customer per day. Save 20% on any 1 item
purchased. *Cannot be used with other discount, coupon or any
of the following items or brands: Inside Track Club membership,
extended service plan, gift card, open box item, 3 day parking lot
sale item, compressors, floor jacks, saw mills, storage cabinets,
chests or carts, trailers, trenchers, welders, Admiral, CoverPro,
Daytona, Diablo, Franklin, Hercules, Holt, Jupiter, Predator, Stik-Tek,
StormCat, Union, Vanguard, Viking. Not valid on prior purchases. Nontransferable. Original coupon must be presented. Valid through 7/1/16.
ANY
SINGLE
ITEM
20%
OFF
SUPER COUPON
R
PE ON
U
P
S U
CO
QUALITY TOOLS LOWEST PRICES
EVERYDAY
SAVE
83%
$17.99
$ 99
2
YOUR CHOICE
RIP
LOT 47873 shown
69005/61262
comp at
Customer Rating
LOT 69006
60715/60714
CLAW
16 OZ. HAMMERS
WITH FIBERGLASS HANDLE
$
comp at
$79.99
3999
SAVE
50%
LOT 61611
46092 shown
ADJUSTABLE SHADE
AUTO-DARKENING
WELDING HELMET
comp at
$34.99
$ 99
5
SAVE
82%
LOT 42292 shown
69594/69955
AUTOMATIC
BATTERY FLOAT
CHARGER
SAVE
64%
$69.99
2499
comp at
$
LOT 61894/96451
60725/69465 shown
Customer Rating
NON-CONTACT INFRARED
THERMOMETER WITH
LASER TARGETING
LIMIT 5 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling
800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount or coupon or prior
purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt.
Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original coupon must be
presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
R
PE ON
SU UP
CO
LIMIT 6 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling
800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount or coupon or prior
purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt.
Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original coupon must be
presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
R
PE ONCustomer Rating
SU UP
CO
LIMIT 5 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling
800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount or coupon or prior
purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt.
Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original coupon must be
presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
R
PE ON
SU UP
CO
LIMIT 5 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling
800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount or coupon or prior
purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt.
Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original coupon must be
presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
R
PE ON
SU UP
CO
$
comp at
$166
5999
SAVE
$106
LOT 93897 shown
69265/62344
RETRACTABLE AIR HOSE REEL
WITH 3/8" x 50 FT. HOSE
"
40
Tools sold
separately.
99
SAVE $
75% comp at $79.99
19
LOT 69262
69094/61916
2745 shown
• 300 lb. capacity
SAVE $
$79
comp at
99 $199
LOT 69034 shown
60728/62857
62858/63054
119
Customer Rating
10 FT. x 20 FT. PORTABLE
CAR CANOPY
YOUR
CHOICE
LOT 42305
69044
99 $899
$17.97
comp at
LOT 69043
42304 shown
SAE
$5
SAVE
66%
SETS
COMBINATION WRENCH
METRIC
• Extends from
6 ft. to 8 ft. 10"
Customer Rating
$
comp at
$99
6999
LOT 68862/62896 shown
1.5 HP ELECTRIC POLE SAW
comp at
$29.97
11
99
$
comp at
$752.99
29999
LOT 61256/60813
61889/68142 shown
Customer Rating
LOT 60758
62689 shown
7
$ 99 $34.49
comp at
Customer Rating
SAVE
76%
LOT 61733
90714 shown
Customer Rating
7
$ 99
8" HUNTING KNIFE
WITH SURVIVAL KIT
• Weighs 245 lbs.
• 600+ Stores Nationwide
• HarborFreight.com 800-423-2567
LIMIT 5 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot
be used with other discount or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original
purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original
coupon must be presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
$1029.99
369
99
Customer Rating
LOT 68784 shown
69387/62270/62744
comp at
$
SAVE
$660
44", 13 DRAWER
INDUSTRIAL QUALITY
ROLLER CABINET
LIMIT 9 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot
be used with other discount or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original
purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original
coupon must be presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
SAVE
NOW
10 PIECE DRAGONFLY
ER N
SOLAR LED STRING LIGHTS SUP PO
U
CO
LIMIT 8 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot
be used with other discount or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original
purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original
coupon must be presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
R
PE ON
SU UP
CO
99
194$399
comp at
$
LIMIT 5 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot
be used with other discount or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original
purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original
coupon must be presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
$13555
SAVE
$263
LOT 69684 shown
61776/61969/61970
12" SLIDING COMPOUND
DOUBLE-BEVEL MITER SAW
WITH LASER GUIDE
Customer Rating
SUPER
COUPON
WOW
12,000 LB. ELECTRIC WINCH
ER N
WITH REMOTE CONTROL AND SUP PO
U
AUTOMATIC BRAKE CO
LIMIT 3 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot
be used with other discount or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original
purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original
coupon must be presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
SAVE
$453
R
PE ON
SU UP
CO
LIMIT 6 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot
be used with other discount or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original
purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original
coupon must be presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
SAVE
59%
$
Customer Rating
LOT 95578/69645/60625 shown
4-1/2" ANGLE GRINDER
WE CARRY A FULL
LINE OF GRINDING AND
CUT-OFF WHEELS
R
PE ON
SU UP
CO
• No Hassle Return Policy
• 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
• Over 30 Million Satisfied Customers • Lifetime Warranty On All Hand Tools
LIMIT 4 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot
be used with other discount or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original
purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original
coupon must be presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
SAVE
$29
ER N
calling 800-423-2567. Cannotl
or HarborFreight.com or by
ses after 30 days from origina l
LIMIT 8 - Good at our stores
t or coupon or prior purcha
le. Origina
be used with other discoun . Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferab er per day.
per custom
coupon
one
purchase with original receipt
Limit
Valid through 7/1/16.
coupon must be presented.
Customer Rating
ER COUPON
WOW SUP
9 PIECE FULLY POLISHED
LIMIT 5 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot
be used with other discount or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original
purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original
coupon must be presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
R
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SU UP
CO
LOW-PROFILE SUPUPO
CREEPER CO
LIMIT 7 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot
be used with other discount or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original
purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original
coupon must be presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
19"
R
PE ON
SU UP
CO
LIMIT 5 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot
be used with other discount or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original
purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original
coupon must be presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
Customer Rating
R
PE ON
SU UP
CO
LIMIT 1 - Cannot be used with other discount, coupon or prior purchase.
Coupon good at our stores, HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567.
Offer good while supplies last. Shipping & Handling charges may apply if not
picked up in-store. Non-transferable. Original coupon must be presented.
Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one FREE GIFT coupon per customer per day.
VALUE
$ 98
4
LOT 69052 shown
69111/65020
62522/62573
3-1/2" SUPER BRIGHT
NINE LED ALUMINUM
FLASHLIGHT
WITH ANY PURCHASE
FREE
SUPER COUPON
LOT
68496/61363
68497/61360
68498/61359
comp at
$ 49$14.97
6
YOUR CHOICE
SIZE
MED
LG
X-LG
POWDER-FREE
NITRILE GLOVES
PACK OF 100
comp at
$14.97
8
SAVE
39% $ 99
Customer Rating
™
LOT 61280/63124
95692 shown
1-1/4 GALLON SPRAYER
SAVE
44%
9
comp at
$18
$ 99
LOT 46163 shown
63031/69649
61878/61837
MECHANIC'S
SHOP TOWELS
PACK OF 50
LIMIT 9 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling
800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount or coupon or prior
purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt.
Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original coupon must be
presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
Customer Rating
R
PE ON
SU UP
CO
LIMIT 4 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling
800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount or coupon or prior
purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt.
Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original coupon must be
presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
$199.99
8999
comp at
$
SAVE
$110
LOT 61523 shown
60395/62325/62493
HIGH LIFT RIDING
LAWN MOWER / ATV LIFT
• 300 lb. capacity
R
PE ON
SU UP
CO
LIMIT 5 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling
800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount or coupon or prior
purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt.
Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original coupon must be
presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
R
PE ON
SU UP
CO
LIMIT 7 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling
800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount or coupon or prior
purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt.
Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original coupon must be
presented. Valid through 7/1/16. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
SAVE
56%
• 5 mil
thickness
Item 68498
shown
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CO
TEXAS MEDICAL PLANS
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Texas History
Pecos River Flood of 1954
Heavy rain from Hurricane Alice sent wall of water that washed out highway bridge near Langtry
SCOTT DAWSON
BY LONN TAYLOR
The Pecos River rises in the mountains of New Mexico, flows south across
that state, then twists through the greasewood country and canyons of West Texas,
where it empties into the Rio Grande just
east of Langtry. It is a treacherous river. Its
sharply cut banks, shifting currents and
tenacious quicksands led rancher Charles
Goodnight to call it “the graveyard of the
cowman’s hopes.”
The river is subject to flash floods, and
over the weekend of June 26, 1954, when
Hurricane Alice dumped 28 inches of rain
into the Pecos drainage, a wall of water 90
feet high swept downriver and destroyed
the bridge on U.S. 90 between Langtry and
Del Rio. This was the most expensive
bridge disaster in Texas history.
That bridge was a 500-foot steel truss
double span, built in 1923 for $175,000.
The structure, 50 feet above the river’s
surface, was the first highway bridge built
over the Pecos, although the Santa Fe Railway had built a trestle bridge, then the
highest in the United States, slightly upstream in 1892.
During the 1954 flood, the Pecos River
crested at the highway bridge twice, first at
82 feet on June 27 at 7:30 a.m., when it took
out both steel spans and washed away a car
that was stalled on the bridge. Tragically,
the driver had led his family to safety across
the flooded bridge and had returned to try
to start his vehicle when the bridge fell. His
body was never recovered. The second crest
of 96 feet came the next day at 1:30 a.m.,
when it washed out the center pier.
Texas Highway Department engineers
A.J. Sharrod and J.A. Shelby drove out from
Del Rio on the morning of June 29 to
inspect the damage. They found extensive
damage on U.S. 90, but when they reached
the Pecos, they viewed complete destruction. Sharrod wrote, “The east abutment
[for one of the 225-foot steel spans] had
collapsed into the river about where it had
TexasCoopPower.com
been erected. The eastern steel span, which
was bent and badly twisted, was about 100
yards downstream in the middle of the
river. The middle pier for the steel spans
had collapsed and was underwater. The
west steel span was lying in the edge of the
water just off the west abutment.”
The railroad bridge withstood the flood,
but some lower bridges to the west washed
out, leaving the Santa Fe’s eastbound, 13car Sunset Limited stranded in Langtry
with 264 passengers. The passengers were
rescued by helicopters sent from San
Marcos, Corpus Christi and San Antonio to
Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio. The
choppers landed on the highway in Langtry
and ferried the stranded travelers to an
improvised landing point east of the river,
from which buses took them to Laughlin.
An eastbound Southern Pacific train, the
Argonaut, halted in Sanderson and backed
the 70 miles west to Alpine, where it was
switched to the Santa Fe tracks and continued on to New Orleans via Fort Worth.
Langtry, a town of 100, saw its population quadruple over the weekend. In addition to the railroad passengers, 200
motorists were marooned there. People
slept in cars, in the schoolhouse and on
the train. Food from the train’s galley was
supplemented by 1,000 pounds of Red
Cross rations flown in by helicopter.
During the flood, Jack Skiles of Langtry
was at his father’s ranch house just above
Eagle Nest Canyon, about a mile outside
of town. “It rained 30 inches on June 26
and 27, and on the morning of the 28th,
my father and I rode horseback up to the
highway, where my father had a store. The
man who was leasing the store told us the
Pecos River bridge was gone, and we didn’t
believe him. But he was right. It was gone.”
The Texas Highway Department worked
24 hours a day for 57 days to build a temporary low-water bridge that was about 7
feet above the normal water level. The
replacement bridge, which cost $185,000,
washed out about a year later, on July 19,
1955. Then the decision was made to construct the present bridge 273 feet above the
river at a cost of $1,168,500.
It is still there.
Lonn Taylor, author and former Smithsonian
historian, lives in Fort Davis.
March 2016 Texas Co-op Power
33
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Texas Co-op Power March 2016
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TexasCoopPower.com
Recipes
Eggs: Plain
and Fancy
This month, we celebrate the
humble egg. Readers share timehonored favorites, including a green
chile casserole and a classic cheese
soufflé. A flock of new cookbooks
also showcase the egg’s limitless
possibilities. Take the following recipe
from The Perfect Egg by Teri Lyn
Fisher and Jenny Park. Here, chewy
grains of farro, an ancient grain, are
tossed with balsamic vinaigrette and
a tumble of spring vegetables. (Feel
free to substitute shaved carrots, sugar
snap peas or even roasted mushrooms.)
A final topping of soft-boiled eggs and
aromatic garnishes transform a simple
salad into a nourishing, satisfying meal.
PAULA DISBROWE, FOOD EDITOR
No Leafy Greens Salad
BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE DRESSING
2
tablespoons minced shallots
1
clove garlic, minced
2
teaspoons light brown sugar
1
teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ cup balsamic vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper,
to taste
⅔ cup extra-virgin olive oil
SALAD
1
cup uncooked farro, rinsed and
drained
cups chicken stock
T E R I LY N F I S H E R
4
Salt
8 baby zucchini, sliced in half
lengthwise
10 French green beans, sliced in
half lengthwise
2
radishes, trimmed and thinly sliced
4 soft-boiled eggs, halved
Microgreens, crushed pistachios and
grated lemon zest, for garnish
1. DRESSING: Place all the vinaigrette
ingredients except the olive oil into a
small mixing bowl and whisk together.
2. Still whisking, pour in the oil in a slow
and steady stream. Continue to whisk
March 2016 Texas Co-op Power
35
Recipes
Eggs: Plain and Fancy
THIS MONTH’S RECIPE CONTEST WINNER
PATRICIA JAGER | PANOLA-HARRISON EC
From a comforting casserole to elegant preparations perfect for a
special brunch or light dinner, these excellent egg recipes are sure
to please at any time of day.
Green Chile Breakfast
Casserole
“My mother-in-law gave me this recipe. I have
made it many times for church brunches and
out-of-town visitors, and everyone loves it.
You can lighten it up with low-fat or fat-free
cheese.”
Butter, vegetable oil or nonstick
cooking spray
10 large eggs
½ cup all-purpose flour
1
teaspoon baking powder
1
pint small-curd cottage cheese
1
pound Monterey Jack cheese,
shredded
7–8 ounces canned green chiles,
chopped
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly
grease a 13-by-9-inch baking pan.
2. Lightly beat eggs in a large mixing
bowl. Add all remaining ingredients
and mix well.
3. Pour the egg mixture into the
prepared baking pan and bake 45–50
minutes or until lightly browned
on top.
4. Allow the casserole to sit 10–15
minutes before serving. Serves 8–10.
COOK’S TIP For more heat, look for hot or
fire-roasted green chiles, or add a few dashes
of your favorite hot sauce.
until the mixture has emulsified. Taste,
adjust the seasoning if needed, and set
aside until ready to use.
3. SALAD: Pour the farro and stock into a
medium pot and bring to a boil. Reduce
heat to medium and simmer 30–40 minutes or until most of the liquid has been
absorbed and the grains have softened
and split. Drain any remaining liquid
and allow the farro to cool, about 1 hour.
4. Fill a small pot with water and bring
to a boil. Generously season with salt
and drop in the zucchini and French
green beans. Blanch 2–3 minutes and
then transfer to an ice bath to ensure
that the vegetables retain texture and
color.
5. Once cooled, drain vegetables and
place into a large mixing bowl with the
cooked farro and sliced radishes. Drizzle
half the vinaigrette over the mixture and
toss together (you can reserve the
remaining vinaigrette for another use).
6. Top the salad with egg halves, microgreens, crushed pistachios and grated
lemon zest, and serve. Serves 4.
COOK’S TIP Farro can be found in most grocery
stores, typically in the pasta section. To cool farro
quickly, spread in a thin layer on a sheet pan and
place in the refrigerator about 15 minutes. If you
can’t find microgreens, consider sprouts or
chopped parsley.
The Perfect Egg by Teri Lyn Fisher and Jenny Park
(Ten Speed Press, 2015), used with permission
Easy Cheese Soufflé
NANCY SULLIVAN | FAYETTE EC
“Contrary to general thought, this soufflé is easy
to make, can be mixed in advance, and still rises
nicely in the oven. My family loves it as a light
weekday supper. I have also folded sautéed
mushrooms or chopped blanched asparagus into
the egg mixture before pouring into the dish,
and both are delicious additions.”
$100 Recipe Contest
August’s recipe contest is Garlic: The
Stinkin’ Rose. Send us your favorite
recipes featuring garlic by the March
10 deadline.
ENTER ONLINE at TexasCoopPower.com/contests;
MAIL to 1122 Colorado St., 24th Floor, Austin, TX 78701;
FAX to (512) 763-3401. Include your name, address and
phone number, plus your co-op and the name of the
contest you are entering.
tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter,
plus more to butter the dish
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2
cups cold whole milk
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 large eggs
2⅓ cups grated Gruyere cheese
3
tablespoons minced fresh chives
TexasCoopPower.com
M A RY PAT WA L D R O N
6
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Grease a 6-cup gratin dish and set
it aside.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over
medium heat, then whisk in the flour.
Cook mixture about 10 seconds, whisking for smoothness.
3. Add the milk. Continue whisking
until the mixture thickens and comes
to a strong boil, about 2 minutes.
(The white sauce should be thick and
smooth.)
4. Remove pan from heat and stir in
the salt and pepper. Allow the sauce
to cool about 10 minutes.
5. Break the eggs into a bowl and beat
well with a fork. Fold the eggs, cheese
and chives into the cooled sauce, and
mix well to combine.
6. Pour the mixture into the gratin dish
and bake 30–40 minutes or until the
soufflé is puffy and the top is nicely
browned.
COOK’S TIP The raw egg mixture can be
covered and refrigerated for up to a day before
baking. Once cooked, although the soufflé will
stay inflated for quite a while, it’s best served
immediately.
Shirred Eggs
JAMIE PARCHMAN | MAGIC VALLEY EC
Shirred eggs are simply eggs that are baked in
a flat-bottomed gratin dish or a ramekin traditionally called a “shirrer,” typically with butter
or cream. The addition of prosciutto (or your
favorite ham) creates a heartier dish that can
be served for brunch, lunch or dinner. “These
eggs are super easy but look fancy,” Parchman
says. “Whenever I bring them out, my family
is thrilled.”
⅛
6
12
¾
½
¼
4
2
cup (¼ stick) butter, softened
slices prosciutto
large eggs
cup heavy cream, or more to taste
teaspoon salt
teaspoon pepper
tablespoons Parmesan cheese
teaspoons finely chopped chives
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter
the bottoms and sides of six 6-ounce
ramekins.
2. Line the bottom and sides of each
ramekin with a slice of prosciutto,
slicing as needed to cover the surface
of the dish.
3. Crack 2 eggs into a small bowl,
leaving yolks unbroken, then carefully
pour the eggs into one of the ramekins.
Repeat with remaining eggs and
ramekins.
4. Pour 2–3 tablespoons of cream onto
each egg, then sprinkle with salt, pepper,
Parmesan and chives.
5. Place the ramekins on a baking sheet
and bake 10–12 minutes. (Yolks should
still be runny. Bake an additional 2–3
minutes if solid yolks are desired.)
6. Remove from oven and serve immediately. Makes 6 servings.
WEB EXTRAS at TexasCoopPower.com
Scrambling to find the perfect egg recipe? We
have more online.
WD METAL BUILDINGS
NEXT MONTH
Instant Pricing @ wdmb.com
TEXAS HATS AND HATMAKERS
Meet the craftsmen who help
today’s Texans carry on a
storied tradition.
SMALL-TOWN LIBRARIES These
community anchors create
an environment for learning
and sharing.
HAY BARNS TO COUNTRY HOMES
Look for additional content online
TexasCoopPower.com
AG BUILDINGS
METAL BUILDINGS
BARNDOMINIUMS
Hay Barns
Equipment Buildings
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Storage Buildings
RV Buildings
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March 2016 Texas Co-op Power
37
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Clogged, Backed—up Septic System…Can anything Restore It?
Dear
Darryl
DEAR DARRYL: My
home is about 10 years old,
and so is my septic system.
I have always taken pride
in keeping my home and
property in top shape. In
fact, my neighbors and I
are always kidding each other about who keeps their home and yard
nicest. Lately, however, I have had a horrible smell in my yard, and also
in one of my bathrooms, coming from the shower drain. My grass is
muddy and all the drains in my home are very slow.
My wife is on my back to make the bathroom stop smelling and as you
can imagine, my neighbors are having a field day, kidding me about the
mud pit and sewage stench in my yard. It’s humiliating. I called a
plumber buddy of mine, who recommended pumping (and maybe even
replacing) my septic system. But at the potential cost of thousands of
dollars, I hate to explore that option.
I tried the store bought, so called, Septic treatments out there, and they
did Nothing to clear up my problem. Is there anything on the market I
can pour or flush into my system that will restore it to normal, and keep
it maintained?
Clogged and Smelly – San Antonio, TX
38
Texas Co-op Power March 2016
DEAR CLOGGED AND SMELLY: As a reader of my column, I am
sure you are aware that I have a great deal of experience in this
particular field. You will be glad to know that there IS a septic solution
that will solve your back-up and effectively restore your entire system
from interior piping throughout the septic system and even unclog the
drain field as well. SeptiCleanse® Shock and Maintenance
Programs deliver your system the fast active bacteria and enzymes
needed to liquefy solid waste and free the clogs causing your back-up.
This fast-acting bacteria multiplies within minutes of application and is
specifically designed to withstand many of today’s anti-bacterial cleaners,
soaps and detergents. It comes in dissolvable plastic packs, that you just
flush down your toilets. It’s so cool. Plus, they actually Guarantee that it
restores ANY system, no matter how bad the problem is.
SeptiCleanse® Shock and Maintenance Programs are designed to work
on any septic system regardless of design or age. From modern day
systems to sand mounds, and systems installed generations ago, I have
personally seen SeptiCleanse unclog and restore these systems in a matter
of weeks. I highly recommend that you try it before spending any money
on repairs.
SeptiCleanse products are available online at
www.septicleanse.com or you can order or learn more by calling toll free
at 1-888-899-8345. If you use the promo code “DARTX15”, you can get
10% Off. So, make sure you use that code when you call or buy online.
TexasCoopPower.com
Focus on Texas
Boats
You may think we’ve gone off the deep end, but we asked to see what boats are
making waves in your town, and you didn’t clam up. Grab your friends and tackle
boxes and wade in with us because in Texas, life can be smooth sailing.
GRACE ARSIAGA
WEB EXTRAS at TexasCoopPower.com Find many more see-worthy photos online.
o RACHEL JOHNSON, CoServ Electric: “Noah, my
son, is testing the water with his paper boats.”
a CHRIS WALTERS, Houston County EC: An oyster
boat makes a morning run.
d MIKE ROACH, Nueces EC: A crab seems to stand
guard over a deserted boat in Corpus Christi.
a PAM JOHNSON, Navasota Valley EC: Johnson
and best friend Barbra
Turkal go retro on Lake
Limestone.
d ANITA EVANS, Sam
Houston EC: An elaborate duck blind on the
move
UPCOMING CONTESTS
JULY THE OLD WEST
DUE MARCH 10
AUGUST RESTORED
DUE APRIL 10
SEPTEMBER GONE FISHIN’
DUE MAY 10
All entries must include name, address, daytime phone and co-op
affiliation, plus the contest topic and a brief description of your photo.
ONLINE: Submit highest-resolution digital images at Texas CoopPower.com/
contests. MAIL: Focus on Texas, 1122 Colorado St., 24th Floor, Austin, TX
78701. A stamped, self-addressed envelope must be included if you
want your entry returned (approximately six weeks). Please do not
submit irreplaceable photographs—send a copy or duplicate. We do
not accept entries via email. We regret that Texas Co-op Power cannot
be responsible for photos that are lost in the mail or not received by
the deadline.
TexasCoopPower.com
March 2016 Texas Co-op Power
39
Get Going >
Around Texas
This is just a sampling of the events and festivals around
March
Smithville Pedal Thru the Pines,
(512) 321-7760, pedalthrupines.org
10
Fort Worth [12–13] Funky Finds Spring
Fling, (903) 665-7954, funkyfinds.com/spring
La Grange [10–13] Best Little Cowboy
Gathering in Texas, (979) 702-0086,
bestlittlecowboygathering.org
Huntsville [12–13] Rusty Chippy Show,
(936) 295-4162, huntsvilleantiqueshow.com
11
Houston [11–13] Azalea Trail, (713) 523-2483,
riveroaksgardenclub.org
12
Pick of the Month
Gillespie County Country
Schools Open House
Fredericksburg [April 2]
San Antonio [12–13] 55th Annual Fiesta of
Gems, (210) 860-2830, swgemandmineral.org
March 12
Smithville
Pedal Thru the Pines
Alleyton Texas German Society Convention,
(979) 732-3302, texasgermansociety.com
Bellville Classic Car Stampede,
(979) 865-3187, austincountycruisers.com
Buna Redbud Festival, (409) 289-5832
(830) 997-5116, historicschools.org
The Friends of Gillespie County Country
Schools, a nonprofit organization, oversees
12 country schools and preserves the history
of structures that, in some cases, date to the
1800s. “We’re working to keep those open
and repaired,” says the organization’s Jeanette
Beckmann, a member of Central Texas EC.
Round Top James Dick in Concert,
(979) 249-3129, festivalhill.org
San Benito Texas Independence Celebration,
(956) 739-0401, happybirthdaytexas.com
Seguin ArtsFest, (830) 401-2475,
visitseguin.com
SCHOOL: FRIENDS O F G I L L ES PI E CO U NTY CO U NT RY S C H OOL S . B IC YC L IST: K E S IP U N | D OL L A R P H OTO C LU B . EG G S : SVE TA MA RT | DOLLAR P HOTO CLUB
36 thAnnual
April 9 thru May 30, 2016
Saturdays, Sundays & Memorial Day Monday
Step Back in Time for the Time of Your Life
Get your Tickets at SRFestival.com TODAY
Just 30 minutes south of Downtown Dallas/Fort Worth in Waxahachie
40
Texas Co-op Power March 2016
TexasCoopPower.com
Texas. For a complete listing, please visit TexasCoopPower.com/events.
13
31
Boerne Boerne Concert Band: Spring
Concert, (830) 249-8918, visitboerne.org
Athens Henderson County Texas Master
Gardeners Spring Conference, (903) 675-6130,
henderson-co-tx-mg.org
15
April
Fredericksburg [15–20] Hill Country
Photo Roundup, (505) 577-0437,
jdavidsonphotography.com/hcpr
2
16
Lockhart Crawfish Boil or Shrimp Gumbo
Lunch, (512) 638-5852
Conroe [16–19] ModAero #NextGen Aviation
Festival, 1-844-663-2376, modaero.net
Luling Roughneck BBQ and Chili Cook-Off,
(830) 875-3214, discoverluling.com
18
Killeen [18–19] Shades of Texas Quilt Show,
(254) 289-6382, cttquiltguild.org
19
Denison Easter Egg Roll, (903) 465-8908
Lakehills Lakehills United Methodist Church
Fish Fry, (830) 751-2404, lakehillsumc.org
Port Arthur Taste of Gumbo & Trade Show,
(409) 729-4040, facebook.com/portarthurrotary
Rockdale [19–20] El Camino Real Trade Days,
(512) 639-9004, elcaminorealtradedays.com
TexasCoopPower.com
March 19
Denison
Easter Egg Roll
West [19–20] West, Central Texas Ceramic
Expo & Handcrafted Items, (254) 716-5227,
westceramicshow.com
29
Bellville [29–April 2] Hodges Farm
Antique Show, (979) 877-5244,
facebook.com/hodgesfarmcountryantiques
Schulenburg Sausagefest, (979) 743-4514,
schulenburgsausagefest.com
Stonewall LBJ 100 Bicycle Tour,
(830) 868-7128, lbj100.bike
Submit Your Event!
We pick events for the magazine directly from
TexasCoopPower.com. Submit your event for
May by March 10, and it just might be
featured in this calendar!
March 2016 Texas Co-op Power
41
Hit the Road
Visit a Sky Island
Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center and Botanical Gardens can captivate explorers
BY E. DAN KLEPPER
42
Texas Co-op Power March 2016
A hike on the Modesta Canyon
Trail can feature maidenhair ferns,
warblers, finches, foxes and bobcats.
the greenhouse. A large-screen display at
the visitors center can help guests identify
birds they have seen. Also inside is an
exhibit on the geology of the Davis Mountains, the key to understanding the modern diversity populating the surrounding
slopes, peaks and plateaus.
For a visitor, however, often the most
enlightening experience may come during
a simple walk.
Hikers can then see the geology for
themselves with a 1-mile loop hike to Clayton’s Overlook. Here, a 360-degree view of
the mountains complements a set of
plaques with information that corresponds
to the geology exhibit at the visitor center.
Then a self-guided, 1-mile stroll leads
to the botanical garden, where more than
150 species of native Chihuahuan Desert
plants are labeled and grouped to help provide a firsthand understanding of this
biome’s remarkable plant life.
Next is Cactus Hill, a quarter-mile loop
around a rocky outcrop featuring a
pollinator garden, water catchment area
(perfect for spotting birds) and a scenic
overlook. Hikers can continue along the bo-
tanical garden trail before taking a shady
breather in the Memorial Grove, a mix of
chinquapin oaks and wild roses, then
investigate the cactus greenhouse.
Research is also an important part of
the nature center’s program.
“We actively encourage researchers to
utilize our site,” says Rick Herrman, the
center’s director, “and we find the research
projects are perfectly complementary to
the site as a serene and gorgeous public
place for visitors energized by a connection
with nature.”
The admission fee provides visitors with
a chance to explore the Davis Mountains
environment and helps fund the center’s
efforts to bring the special characteristics
of the Chihuahuan Desert to the forefront
of environmental awareness and conservation. That’s a noble outcome for a pleasant desert garden walk.
E. Dan Klepper is a photographer, author and
artist who lives in Marathon.
WEB EXTRAS at TexasCoopPower.com
.
Find information to help plan your visit to
the Fort Davis area.
TexasCoopPower.com
E . DA N K L E P P E R
The Modesta Canyon Trail, a favorite walkabout at the Chihuahuan Desert
Nature Center and Botanical Gardens near Fort
Davis, crosses a grassland swale where
cloud shadows sometimes race red-tailed
hawks, briefly shading a sea of sideoats
grama and native plants that inhabit this
Davis Mountains preserve.
The trail surprises, suddenly dropping
into Modesta Canyon, where rock walls,
layered like stacked pancakes, expose the
geology of the region’s volcanic past. Soon,
treetops give way to their understory,
where songbirds often rest in the
branches. Before long, the soft splash of
water reveals the true secret of the canyon.
Modesta Spring, a shady grotto, offers
respite to maidenhair ferns, warblers,
finches, foxes, bobcats and the hiker seeking a cool, quiet place to rest.
Modesta offers one path into the heart
of the nature center, which is the headquarters of the Chihuahuan Desert Research
Institute. The 507-acre preserve was established to promote education, appreciation
and awareness of the Chihuahuan Desert,
the largest desert in North America. The
Davis Mountains, as well as much of the
Big Bend region, comprise the upper
reaches of the Chihuahuan, a biological
environment that also encompasses a
swath of northern Mexico. Much of the
Davis Mountains region, considered a
Chihuahuan “sky island,” lies between
5,000 and 8,000 feet above sea level and
embraces some of the most biologically
diverse environments on the planet.
The nature center explains this diversity with interpretive exhibits; a botanical
garden featuring more than 100 species
of trees, shrubs and perennials; a geologic
timeline with 4.5 billion years of rock samples; and almost 200 species of Chihuahuan Desert cacti and succulents in
Co N
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was 50 NOW 200 was 200 NOW 600
24/7
24/7
No add’l charge
No add’l charge
FREE
FREE
YES
YES
30 days
30 days
More minute plans available. Ask your Jitterbug expert for details.
“I tried my sister’s cell phone…
I couldn’t hear it.” Jitterbug is
designed with a powerful speaker.
There’s an adjustable volume control,
and Jitterbug is hearing-aid compatible.
“My cell phone company wants to lock me in on a
two-year contract!” Not Jitterbug, there’s no contract
to sign and no penalty if you discontinue your service.
“I don’t need stock quotes, Internet
sites or games on my phone, I just
want to talk with my family and
friends.” Life is complicated enough…
Jitterbug is simple.
“What if I don’t remember a number?”
Friendly, helpful Jitterbug operators are
available 24 hours a day and will even
greet you by name when you call.
“I’d like a cell phone to use in an
emergency, but I don’t want a high
monthly bill.” Jitterbug has a plan to
fit your needs… and your budget.
“My phone’s battery only lasts
a couple of days.” Unlike
most cell phones that need to
be recharged every day, the
Jitterbug was designed with one
of the longest-lasting batteries
on the market, so you won’t
have to worry about running
out of power.
Enough talk. Isn’t it time you
found out more about the cell
phone that’s changing all the
rules? Call now, Jitterbug product
experts are standing by.
Available in
Blue and Red.
Order now and receive a
FREE Car Charger for your Jitterbug –
a $25 value. Call now!
Jitterbug5 Cell Phone
Call toll free today to get your own Jitterbug5.
Please mention promotional code 102859.
1-877-566-2256
www.jitterbugdirect.com
47644
We proudly accept the following credit cards.
IMPORTANT CONSUMER INFORMATION: WE TALK offer valid on 400 minute plan and applies to new GreatCall customers only. Offer valid until plan is changed or cancelled. Jitterbug is owned by
GreatCall, Inc. Your invoices will come from GreatCall. All rate plans and services require the purchase of a Jitterbug phone and a one-time set up fee of $35. Coverage and service is not available everywhere.
Other charges and restrictions may apply. Screen images simulated.There are no additional fees to call GreatCall’s U.S. Based Customer Service. However, for calls to an Operator in which a service is completed,
minutes will be deducted from your monthly balance equal to the length of the call and any call connected by the Operator, plus an additional 5 minutes. Monthly minutes carry over and are available for 60
days. If you exceed the minute balance on your account, you will be billed at 35¢ for each minute used over the balance. Monthly rate plans do not include government taxes or assessment surcharges. Prices
and fees subject to change. We will refund the full price of the GreatCall phone and the activation fee (or set-up fee) if it is returned within 30 days of purchase in like-new condition. We will also refund your
first monthly service charge if you have less than 30 minutes of usage. If you have more than 30 minutes of usage, a per minute charge of 35 cents will be deducted from your refund for each minute over 30
minutes. You will be charged a $10 restocking fee. The shipping charges are not refundable. Jitterbug and GreatCall are registered trademarks of GreatCall, Inc. Samsung is a registered trademark of Samsung
Electronics Co., Ltd. ©2016 Samsung Electronics America, LLC. ©2016 GreatCall, Inc. ©2016 firstSTREET for Boomers and Beyond, Inc.
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