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
