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POWER TALK
LETTERS
Mesquite Worse Than Bamboo
Author Clay Coppedge incorrectly states (March 2008) that bamboo once served as a windbreak along the River Styx—a claim that those of us intimately knowledgeable about the River Styx know is incorrect. The windbreaks along the River Styx are composed of South Texas’ own mesquite trees, which are surely much more of a horror than the lovely bamboo plant. It is fitting and appropriate that mesquite wood’s most useful purpose is its embers, which flavor Texas barbecue, perhaps an ethereal lesson to all.
Guy Matthews
San Patricio Electric Cooperative
Stick with Native Plants
“Texas Backyards Gone Wild” (March 2008) was an excellent inspiration for folks who are rethinking traditional landscaping and moving toward habitat creation with the use of native plants.
Unfortunately, when I turned the page and saw the article on “Bamboo: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”—all I could see was the ugly. This was certainly a disappointing article to follow “Gone Wild.” Bamboo, like the Nandina, or Heavenly Bamboo, a native of China and Japan, (Nandina domestica) is non-native, terribly invasive, and will choke out our native vegetation while your back is turned! It creates a sterile monoculture thwarting all efforts at habitat creation.
Maggie Livings
Volunteer, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Loyal Valley
Lilt and Tuna Fish, Ugh
I, too, have fond memories of those Toni or Lilt home permanents (“A Permanent Memory,” April 2008) but Mom didn’t make stew on those days. My younger brother to this day will not eat tuna fish sandwiches because he said on entering the house on “permanent” days he knew from the smell it would be tuna fish for supper. Of course, I don’t remember that, but the school pictures are a reminder of the fuzzy hair!
Rosie Yaw
Pedernales Electric Cooperative
Many Hats Off
Hats off to Tim Gearn, who is featured in “Hereford’s Backyard Ferris Wheel” (February 2008), and his compassion for us folks of another era and anyone who desires a simpler, slower pace of life.
I don’t mind being 90 feet high; it’s those 70-foot drops of roller coasters and splash-water log rides that give me heart palpitations.
Hats off also to the “Country Doctors” (February 2008), but, most of all, to Texas Co-op Power articles recognizing dedicated employees. I reported an outage at 2:30 a.m. one night, and by 3:30 a.m. a very nice employee from San Bernard Electric Cooperative called, telling me service was restored, everything was A-OK and to have a good night’s rest.
Helen T. Rogers
San Bernard Electric Cooperative
HOW DOES YOUR GARBAGE GROW? WAY TOO FAST!
In 2006, Americans produced 251 million tons of municipal solid waste prior to recycling, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). That works out to about 41/2 pounds a day for every man, woman and child in the country. Fortunately, 82 million tons of that material was recycled or composted that year.
The EPA estimates that materials recycled in 2006 include:
Auto batteries 99 percent
Steel cans 62.9 percent
Yard trimmings 62 percent
Paper and paperboard 51.6 percent
Aluminum beer and soft drink cans 45.1 percent
Tires 34.9 percent
Plastic HDPE milk and water bottles 31 percent
Plastic soft drink bottles 30.9 percent
Glass containers 25.3 percent
HAPPENINGS
August 27 is the 100th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s birth, and the LBJ National Historical Park is having many fun events this summer. We recommend watching “Movies Under the Stars” at the LBJ Ranch airplane hangar. LBJ converted the hangar into a theater where he frequently projected first-run movies for friends and neighbors.
Those bygone movie fests will be re-created on a professional screen. The parks staff has been careful to select movies it knows LBJ watched at the ranch. Free for your viewing pleasure will be “True Grit” on June 21, “Oliver” on July 26 and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” on August 9. Bring the kids, chairs or blankets and a picnic basket. Come around 6 p.m. The movies start at dark.
For a full list of what’s planned, go to www.nps.gov/lyjo.
MILE-HIGH ACCOMMODATIONS IN FORT DAVIS
The Hotel Limpia, which sits next to the town square in Fort Davis, once boasted that, at a mile above sea level, it was the highest hotel in Texas. It was built in 1912 by the Union Trading Company to accommodate ranching families who came to town for supplies as well as tourists, who continue to visit the 31-room inn.
Today the hotel is run by Joe Duncan and his wife, Lanna. In addition to the main building, constructed out of locally quarried pink granite, the Hotel Limpia offers accommodations in two annexes and in several historic homes nearby. It features spacious porches with rocking chairs perfect for kicking back and enjoying the mountain air.
—From Historic Hotels of Texas: A Traveler’s Guide, Texas A&M University Press, first edition, 2007
PERFECT HARMONY
It used to be that if you wanted to hear the Quebe Sisters Band, you’d have to go to the Fort Worth area.
But there they were in March performing at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s meeting in Anaheim, California. There they were again showcased at Austin’s South by Southwest Music Festival. In May, they were booked to represent Justin Boots at Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting. (Billionaire Buffett likes to play his ukulele with them.) There’s just no telling where you will find the sisters.
The sweet, picture-perfect Grace, Sophia and Hulda, ages 22, 20 and 17, respectively, sing close harmony on country swing, hot jazz and Western classics. And they play three mean fiddles—usually accompanied by Joey McKenzie on the guitar and perhaps a couple of bass players. Now you can order their CDs at www.quebesistersband.com or write: QSB, P.O. Box 1844, Burleson, TX 76097.
WHO KNEW?
The Governor’s Division of Emergency Management is headquartered in a bunker 26 feet below the Department of Public Safety headquarters building in Austin. The 12,000-square-foot bunker was built in 1964 and carved into the area’s limestone and caliche soil. Plumbing and lighting fixtures were mounted with shock-absorbing springs to protect them from breakage. In 1992, renovations doubled the size of the shelter, which is equipped with kitchen and decontamination facilities, and added upgrades such as state-of-the-art computer equipment and communication systems. In case of emergency, workers would be protected behind 10,000-pound entrance doors. The bunker provides protection from radioactive fallout and can resist the structural effects of a 20-megaton blast within 5 miles.
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