LOCAL ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE EDITION JULY 2007 STEAK A Texas Love Affair PLUS Highway Havens Selecting Steak Hit the Road: Amarillo to Turkey Did you know that people who hunt or fish from boats have one of the highest boat fatality rates? Or that more people die from falling off ONON BOARDBOARD small boats (16 feet and Boating under) than larger ones? Here are some tips for accident-free boating: WITHWITH Safety Rules for Boating: • Be weather wise. Bring a BOATING portable radio to check BOATING weather reports. • Bring extra gear you may need. A flashlight and extra batteries, matches, map, flares, first aid SAFETY kit, sunglasses and sunscreen SAFETY should be kept in a watertight container or pouch. • Tell someone where you’re going, who is with you, and how long you’ll be gone. • Ventilate after fueling. Open the hatches, run the blower, and carefully sniff for gasoline fumes in the fuel and engine areas before starting your engine. • Anchor from the bow, not the stern. Use an anchor line at least five times longer than the water depth. • Know your boat’s capacity. Don’t overload it or put an oversized motor on it. Have fun on the water. Boat safely! This public service message is brought to you by your local electric cooperative. For more information, visit your local co-op. July 2007 VOLUME 64 NUMBER 1 FEATURES 6 Our Love Affair with Steak By Jeff Siegel Photos by Will Van Overbeek Buy a good cut of meat, slap it on the grill and keep the cooking simple. Mmmm. Doesn’t that steak smell good? 10 Highway Havens By Camille Wheeler Texas is raising the curtain on a new generation of super-looking, super-sized rest stops that are 6 attractions in themselves. FAVORITES Footnotes By Camille Wheeler Roadside Memories 31 Recipe Roundup Steak: A Cut Above 32 Focus on Texas Brothers 35 Around Texas Local Events Listings 36 Hit the Road By June Naylor Amarillo to Turkey 38 31 32 35 10 TEXAS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVES BOARD OF DIRECTORS: John Herrera, Chair, Mercedes; Greg Jones, Vice Chair, Jacksonville; Ray Beavers, Secretary-Treasurer, Cleburne; James Calhoun, Franklin; Charles Castleberry, Tulia; Gary Nietsche, La Grange; William “Buff” Whitten, Eldorado PRESIDENT/CEO: Mike Williams, Austin STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE: Roland Witt, Chair, Coleman; Bill Harbin, Vice Chair, Floydada; Texas Co-op Power is published by your Roy Griffin, Edna; Kim Hooper, Bluegrove; Steve Young, Hamiliton; Robert A. Loth III, Fredericksburg; Melody Pinnell, Crockett COMMUNICATIONS STAFF: Peg Champion, Vice President, Communications/Publisher; Kaye Northcott, Editor; Carol Moczygemba, electric cooperative to enhance the qual- Managing Editor; Suzi Sands, Art Director; Martin Bevins, Advertising Director; Andy Doughty, Production Designer; Sandra Forston, ity of life of its member-customers in an Communications Assistant; Melissa Grischkowsky, Communications Coordinator; Kevin Hargis, Copy Editor; Jo Johenning, Communications Assistant; Karen Nejtek, Production Manager; Shannon Oelrich, Food Editor/Proofreader; Dacia Rivers, Field Editor; Alex Sargent, Production educational and entertaining format. Artist; Ellen Stader, Proofreader; Molly Fohn, Intern COVER PHOTO by Will Van Overbeek July 2007 TEXAS CO-OP POWER 3 Bring the Breeze to You letters One of the keys to home energy efficiency is directing heating or cooling exactly where you want MINNIE LOU IS MY HERO it. At bedtime, you can save elec- Minnie Lou Bradley [May tricity by using standard fans or 2007]—what a wonderful life. POWERTALK ceiling fans. Ceiling fans should My life dream is to raise cattle, rotate counter-clockwise in the but my life events have led to summer (to generate a down- running a $150M company. PEC LAUNCHES GREEN WORKS ward breeze to cool you off) and Although my life is a suc- clockwise in the winter (to cycle cess, I will always yearn to Environmental responsibility has become the watch- the warm air that rises to your walk in Minnie Lou’s shoes. word for companies around the globe. At Pedernales ceiling.) By judicious use of a She is a true pioneer in an all- Electric Cooperative (PEC), that philosophy forms the ceiling fan, you can cut up to 40 too-modern world. I know not percent from your cooling bill in basis of an ongoing effort many women share my dream, the summer. but Minnie knows the content- launched this past Earth Or you can use the Bedfan®, ment from a lifetime of hard Day called Green Works designed and sold by Bryan work and dedication to the that encour ages the use of Texas Utilities member Kurt land. It has rewarded her richly. renew able elec tricity and Tompkins of Snook. The Bedfan Thank you for your story. blower goes between the bottom promo tion of conservation. CRISTI CANNON sheet and top sheet, circulating CoServ Electric Through that ini tiative, air directly on you. The bottom of the nation’s largest the blower stands at the foot of ALL IT NEEDS IS WINGS electric cooperative the bed, pulling air from under We enjoyed reading the article offers its more than the bed. (So this is a good incen- on the hummingbirds [“Hum - tive for people to clean under 200,000 members mingbirds: Those Magnificent their beds.) For more information Flying Machines,” March the monthly option on the fan, go to www.bedfan.com. 2007] and count ourselves of buying power that lucky to have several varieties is generated by renewable resources. Renewable elec- humming around us, enough tricity is not a new concept for PEC, whose chief sup- to keep 10 feeders active. Solar Screens Reduce plier, the Lower Colorado River Authority, has But we bet you’ve never seen Cooling Costs a hummingbird like ours! produced hydroelectric power for decades. And unlike Solar screens provide an programs offered by other utilities—which can cost inexpensive way to save substantially more than conventionally generated energy and help cut cool- electricity—the cost for green Pedernales power is ing bills. The screens reduce heat absorption in only half a cent more per kilowatt-hour than the base windows by up to 90 per- energy charge. cent, resulting in up to a The cooperative purchased 145,690,000 kilowatts 30 percent of renewable energy between June 2006 and March reduction in 2007 and wants more members to participate in the summer bills. Using solar program. Other than feeding at night, screens to there’s not too much different To promote improved energy management, the shade exposed about him. And we wondered cooperative offers its members resources such as the windows can why our feeder was dry every PEC Home Energy Center, an online energy audit reduce room morning. designed to help members save on monthly bills and temperatures NANCY AND GREG STUART by as much as 20 degrees. Pedernales Electric Cooperative reduce carbon emissions. It takes members on a step- The screens are virtually by-step tour of their dwelling, determining energy invisible from the inside We want to hear from our readers. Send usage, offering ways to increase efficiency and even while providing privacy letters to: Editor, Texas Co-op Power, 2550 measuring their “carbon footprint.” PEC also offers from the outside and cost S. IH-35, Austin, TX 78704, or e-mail us at about $1-2 per square foot. [email protected]. Please include the links through its website, www.pec.coop, to information name of your town and electric co-op. Letters If kept in place during win- may be edited for clarity and length and will on renewable electricity, environmentally friendly busi- be printed as space allows. Read additional ter, solar screens reduce letters at www.texascooppower.com. ness practices, and conservation and green building. wind chill and heat loss. 4 TEXAS CO-OP POWER July 2007 HAPPENINGS They’ll be going quackers in Northeast Texas on July 4 at the 14th annual JEFFERSON SALUTES AMERICA celebration. In addi- WHO KNEW? tion to a traditional fireworks bonanza, the Shreveport Municipal TASTY TOWNS Concert Band will belt out patriotic music, a cake and pie auction will raise money for children’s books at the local Carnegie Some enterprising anonymous Library, a bike and tricycle parade will roll through Otstott e-mailer has assembled Texas Park, and hundreds of little plastic ducks will be set loose town names under various cate- for a race down Big Cypress Bayou. gories. Our favorite category is The sponsor of the winning duck will win $500 cash, culinary. To wit: and other front-runners also can claim prizes. Proceeds NOODLE from the $5-per-duck fee benefit the city’s youth sports. (Jones County) The fun starts at 5 p.m. OATMEAL (Burnet County) TURKEY HARRISON COUNTY COURTHOUSE STANDS TALL FOR JUSTICE (Hall County) Site of the first pro-Civil Rights sit-ins in Texas in the 1960s, the old Harrison County SUGAR LAND Courthouse in Marshall serves as a shining example of designer J. Riley Gordon’s (Fort Bend County) Renaissance Revival architectural style. Built in 1900, the courthouse features a dramatic SALTY cast-iron central staircase and (Milam County) a false belfry on which stands RICE a uniquely winged 6-foot-tall (Navarro County) Lady Justice statue. The court- And top it off with: house formerly served as home to the Harrison County SWEETWATER Historical Museum but is cur- (Nolan County) rently undergoing renovation. The list we received contained Marshall is also headquarters two other town names we couldn’t of Panola-Harrison Electric verify—Bacon and Trout. If any- Cooperative. body out there knows if these —From The Courthouses of towns exist, please drop us a line. Texas, Texas A&M University Press, second edition, 2007 Texas Co-op Power (USPS 540-560) is pub- lished monthly by Texas Electric Cooperatives (TEC).