January 2024 Wiregrass

Stories | Recipes | Events | People | Places | Things | Local News January 2024

Wiregrass

Electric Cooperative

Team spirit

WEC’s 2023 Employee Day

WIREGRASS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE is a member-owned electric cooperative serving more than 24,000 accounts in Houston and Geneva counties in Alabama and parts of Dale, Coffee and Covington counties in southeast Alabama.

ALABAMA LIVING is delivered to some 420,000 Alabama families and businesses, which are members of 22 not-for-profit, consumer-owned, locally directed and taxpaying electric cooperatives. Subscriptions are $12 a year for individuals not subscribing through participating Alabama electric cooperatives. Alabama Living (USPS 029-920) is published monthly by the Alabama Rural Electric Association of Cooperatives. Periodicals postage paid at Montgomery, Alabama, and at additional mailing office.

POSTMASTER send forms 3579 to: Alabama Living, P.O. Box 244014 Montgomery, Alabama 36124-4014.

ALABAMA RURAL ELECTRIC ASSOCIATION

AREA President Karl Rayborn Editor Lenore Vickrey Managing Editor Allison Law Creative Director Mark Stephenson Art Director Danny Weston Advertising Director Jacob Johnson Graphic Designer/Production Coordinator Brooke Echols

Snake business

Kyle Carlisle has been fascinated with snakes since childhood. That snake fascination is now his vocation. From two Baldwin County outlets, Loxley and Stockton, he raises and sells elongated reptiles to customers worldwide.

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F E A T U R E S

VOL. 77 NO. 1

JANUARY 2024

8 Watt Wisdom

Strategies to limit excess demand and save!

20 Worth the drive

A Headland restaurant uses the bottle tree theme to decorate its business that offers old-fashioned recipes with a modern twist.

for 42 Scholarships Wiregrass students

Valuable opportunities for academic and vocational learners

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ADVERTISING & EDITORIAL OFFICES:

340 TechnaCenter Drive Montgomery, Alabama 36117-6031 1-800-410-2737 For advertising, email: advertising@areapower.com For editorial inquiries, email: contact@alabamaliving.coop NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE:

American MainStreet Publications 611 South Congress Ave., Suite 504 Austin, Texas 78704 1-800-626-1181 www.AMP.coop www.alabamaliving.coop USPS 029-920 • ISSN 1047-0311

D E P A R T M E N T S 11 Spotlight 29 Around Alabama 34 Cook of the Month 40 Outdoors 41 Fish & Game Forecast 46 Cup o’ Joe ONLINE: alabamaliving.coop ON THE COVER

Look for this logo to see more content online!

Printed in America from American materials

Chris Jones, WEC plant specialist, enjoys a lively team trivia game with co-workers at the 2023 Employee Day. See more on Page 6.

42 WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

ONLINE: www.alabamaliving.coop EMAIL: letters@alabamaliving.coop MAIL: Alabama Living 340 Technacenter Drive Montgomery, AL 36117

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Sign up at alabamaliving.coop JANUARY 2024 3

Optimism in the new year Board of Trustees David Winstead District 9 President

Randy Odom District 2 Vice President Debra E. Baxley District 1 Secretary

John Clark Jr. District 3

Danny McNeil District 4

Tracy Reeder District 5

Kip Justice District 6

Donald Ray Wilks District 7

Greg McCullough District 8

4 JANUARY 2024

BRAD KIMBRO CEO Wiregrass Electric Cooperative Happy New Year to each of you in our Wiregrass community!

Stepping into 2024 as the new CEO of Wiregrass Electric, I feel excited and humbled, acutely aware of the weight and responsibility of this role. It has been my privilege and honor to serve at WEC for the past 18 years. I am truly blessed to be part of a great team that has accomplished so much for our cooperative and community. As Les embarks on his well-deserved retirement, I’ve been reflecting on the lessons he’s imparted — lessons of service, dedication and, above all, caring for our members.

Under Les’ leadership, we created programs that improve the quality of life for our membership, managed costs with more efficiencies — all to keep rates as low as possible while improving reliability. During this time, we also forged strong relationships with citizens, elected officials, and business and community leaders. It is my commitment to members to continue on this path.

WEC is well-positioned to navigate the challenges facing our co-op and the electric utility industry as a whole. We are moving in the right direction that is strategic and guided by benchmarking data and best practices, sound board policy and careful financial planning. We are focused on reliability and maintaining a member-centric attitude, all while embracing safe work practices.

Transitioning into this role, I am keenly aware that I’m standing on the shoulders of a giant. Les guided us with wisdom, grace and a steady hand on the wheel. I am reminded every day of the trust placed in me by the Board of Trustees, representing you, to guide this co-op.

And I am not alone. Surrounding me is a team of excellent leaders in their own respects, and together, I promise to continue our member-centric approach in all that we do.

This team of senior staff leaders is a blend of familiar faces, well placed and well prepared for the journey ahead. I assure you this transition is smooth and strategic, elevating the strengths of the people deeply committed to our organization and the principles of the cooperative model. I look forward to working with our

team here at WEC to continue the legacy Les has shown us all here of standing in the gap for RURAL AMERICA! Though we are separated by different departments and different offices across our service territory, we enjoy coming together for Employee Day. It’s a day when we gather as one big WEC family to celebrate milestones like longevity awards, recognizing those who’ve given years of service to our co-op. We also do training and team-building exercises.

This is important as we navigate changing terrains and something that’s on all our minds — energy costs. The world of energy is shifting under our feet. PowerSouth’s necessity to move away from coal, driven by environmental regulations, has nudged us toward a reliance on natural gas and a move toward incorporating more nuclear energy.

As you’ve seen, part of your residential bill now reflects capacity costs, in part to recoup costs associated with the capacity we need to meet member demand. If you flip to Page 8, you’ll read more about the excess demand charge and ways you can keep your household’s individualized charge as low as possible by reducing your home’s demand.

I believe in always being up front with you.

When costs go up, it’s not something we take lightly. It’s our duty to explain why, and it’s your right to understand it. Together, we can navigate these roads, making smarter choices about how we use energy.

I implore you to use all the resources Wiregrass Electric offers — whether it be reading the advice we give in this magazine, bill inserts and social media, or discussing your concerns directly with a member services representative.

We want to help you understand these changes and how to mitigate excess demand in your own household so we can keep costs as low as possible for everyone.

As we step into 2024, I’m filled with optimism. Optimism for the innovative solutions we’ll explore, for the challenges we’ll overcome together and for the continued opportunity to serve you in this new role. n www.alabamaliving.coop

Leadership matters

WEC Service Area

Meet WEC’s senior staff Contact Information Mailing address 509 N. State Hwy 167 P.O. Box 158, Hartford, AL 36344 Phone 1-800-239-4602 Toll Free Outage “Hotline” 1-888-4-MY-OUTAGE • 1-888-469-6882 (24 hrs/day) Website www.wiregrass.coop Find us here:

WEC’s senior staff members are, from left, Jason Thrash, Lisa LeNoir, Brad Kimbro, Bethany Retherford and Stevie Sauls.

Brad Kimbro, Chief Executive Officer

Brad Kimbro is stepping up as CEO after 18 years with Wiregrass Electric Cooperative. His path from chief operating officer and vice president of member services to the helm is marked by a deep commitment to innovation and operational excellence. Known for his strategic vision and member-centric focus, Brad’s ascension reflects his ability to lead WEC in a dynamic industry. As CEO, he is set to represent WEC on the boards of PowerSouth Energy Cooperative and Alabama Rural Electric Association, steering the cooperative toward new heights of success and service.

Bethany Retherford, Vice President of Human Resources and Administrative Services

Bethany Retherford brings more than a decade of experience to her new role as vice president of human resources and administrative services. She earned a master’s degree in human resources management from Troy University, and she has led WEC’s human resources and compliance with fairness and accountability. Her expertise is crucial in shaping strategies for talent management and organizational efficiency, ensuring smooth and effective operations.

Jason Thrash, Vice President of Engineering and Operations

Jason Thrash, a University of South Alabama electrical engineering graduate, joined WEC in 2011. His innovative use of drone technology and completion of the Robert I. Kabat Management Internship Program highlight his forward-thinking approach and commitment to member service. As vice president of engineering and operations, Jason plays a crucial role in advancing WEC’s operational and engineering strategies.

Alabama Living

Stevie Sauls, Vice President of Member Services and Communication

Stevie Sauls, with a rich 30-year tenure in the cooperative world, is WEC’s new vice president of member services and communication. His extensive experience, including a background in industrial electricity and drafting and design technology, enhances his role in improving member services and communication.

Stevie’s decades-long commitment to WEC underscores his dedication to building strong member relations and effective communication strategies.

Lisa LeNoir, Chief Financial Officer

Lisa LeNoir, with WEC since 2005, has dutifully served as chief financial officer since 2014. Her educational background in business administration and accounting, coupled with her certification as a utility accountant, equip her to adeptly manage WEC’s financial affairs.

Overseeing accounting, billing and information systems, Lisa ensures the cooperative’s financial stability and operational efficiency. n

Find Wiregrass Electric Co-op on Twitter (@WEC2), Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Payment Options

BY MAIL Wiregrass Electric Cooperative Inc. Department 1340, P.O. Box 2153 Birmingham, AL 35287-1340 WEBSITE Payments may be made 24 hrs/day by Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express and E-Check on our website at www.wiregrass.coop.

PHONE PAYMENTS Payments may be made any time by dialing 1-800-239-4602.

NIGHT DEPOSITORY AND KIOSKS Available at each office location.

IN PERSON Mon.-Fri. 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Payment kiosks are also available 24/7 in all offices.

Locations: • 509 N. State Hwy. 167 • Hartford, AL 36344 • 13148 W. State Hwy. 52 • Samson, AL 36477 • 1066 Ashford Highway • Ashford, AL 36312 • 6167 Fortner St. • Dothan, AL 36305 For questions regarding sanitation service, call Houston County Sanitation Department at 334-677-4781 or Dothan City Sanitation at 334-615-3820.

Working for

Everyone JANUARY 2024 5

2023

Employee

An occasion for team-building, triumphs and trivia

At Wiregrass Electric Cooperative, Employee Day is far more than just a day of training — it’s a celebration of unity and camaraderie. Once a year, our entire team, spanning four offices in Hartford, Ashford, Samson and Dothan, gathers for a day dedicated to connection and recognition.

This special day is an opportunity for employees across all departments to engage in team-building exercises, enjoy fellowship over meals, participate in work-related trivia, that not only entertains but also educates, and learn about the challenges and opportunities we face. It’s a day where learning and fun go hand-in-hand, instilling a deeper understanding and appreciation of our cooperative among staff.

A highlight of the day is the presentation of awards to team members for their years of service, recognizing milestone work anniversaries that underscore their dedication and hard work. These moments reflect the spirit of Employee Day — celebrating the individuals who make WEC a strong, united force for good. Through these interactions, we reinforce our pledge to each other and to the communities we serve, a vital part of our cooperative culture.

After all, we serve you better together. n

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www.alabamaliving.coop

Day Special recognitions

WEC honors 12 team members for milestone work anniversaries, ranging from five to 25 years, during its annual Employee Day celebration.

Alabama Living

JANUARY 2024 7

Make wise energy choices to lower your bill Make every watt count this winter! In March, Wiregrass Electric Cooperative is assessing a new billing component for residential members — an excess demand charge. This charge is an important part of our ongoing efforts to manage energy demand and lower overall costs.

What is the Excess Demand Charge?

• A 50-cent charge per kilowatt, or kW, of demand that exceeds a threshold of 3 kW during specific peak hours.

• The charge is based on your highest energy demand on the most demanding day of the month during the winter season — specifically, November through February.

Why these specific winter months?

From November through February, the demand for early-morning heating surges with intense weather events like cold fronts and polar vortexes. This seasonal peak in energy use impacts our wholesale power costs year-round, necessitating a more strategic approach to energy management.

Winter peak hours are 6-9 a.m.

This is the time when WEC, in sync with our wholesale energy supplier PowerSouth Energy Cooperative, experiences its highest demand. These “red zone” hours are crucial — they are when members’ conscious and collective energy use can make a real difference.

Wiregrass Electric Cooperative is committed to providing cost-effective, reliable power. Remember, your actions during these crucial winter months can lead to savings throughout the year. Let’s work together to manage our collective energy use smartly. n

Your how-to guide to lower demand:

Set the heat to a lower temperature during peak hours.

Avoid running washing machines, dryers, dishwashers and other highenergy appliances during peak hours.

Proper insulation can keep your home warm and reduce the demand on your heating system.

Programmable and smart thermostats and water heater timers are the best tools to schedule the bulk of your energy use for off-peak hours.

Dive into the details and learn more about how you can make a difference by visiting the FAQ page at wiregrass.coop.

8 JANUARY 2024

www.alabamaliving.coop

Family Pets

| Alabama Snapshots |

Our great grandson Beckham with “Buddy.”

SUBMITTED by Cathy Watson, Clayton.

Elsa enjoying the nice cool grass. SUBMITTED by Michelle Kilander, Cullman.

Harmony and Marshall with our dogs Mandie and Henry.

SUBMITTED by Amy Mosley, Loxley.

Lottie Shillabeer dressed for Halloween with her dog Scout. SUBMITTED by Rep. Steve Clouse, Ozark.

Bensyn and Daxsyn Hall with their pet pig, Wilbur. SUBMITTED by Sandra Hall, Montgomery.

Milo is the best German Shorthair Pointer in Fitzpatrick! SUBMITTED by Tara Sharpe, Fitzpatrick.

Hayes Martin and his pal Hank. SUBMITTED

by Rachel Martin, Atmore.

March theme: “Farm Life” | Deadline: January 31 Online: alabamaliving.coop | Mail: Attn: Snapshots, P.O. Box 244014, Montgomery, AL 36124 RULES: Photos submitted for publication may also be published on our website at alabamaliving.coop and on our Facebook and Instagram pages. Alabama Living is not responsible for lost or damaged photos. Send a self-addressed stamped envelope to have photos returned.

Alabama Living

JANUARY 2024 9

Spotlight | January ‘American Pickers’ will be picking in Alabama

This mural depicting marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, by Sunny Paulk and Corey Spearman, is at the corner of Montgomery and Lee streets in Montgomery and is on the Alabama Mural Trail.

Stars of the History Channel’s hit series “American Pickers” will be filming episodes in Alabama in February 2024. The show’s stars, including lead picker Mike Wolfe, have been to Alabama several times during the show’s 24-season run.

According to a news release from the show’s producers: “The ‘American Pickers’ TV show is looking for leads and would love to explore your hidden treasure. If you or someone you know has a unique item, story to tell, and is ready to sell … we would love to hear from you! Please note, the Pickers do not pick stores, flea markets, malls, auction businesses, museums, or anything open to the public. If interested, please send us your name, phone number, location, and description of the collection with photos to: americanpickers@cineflix.com or call (646) 493-2184."

PHOTO BY ALLISON LAW

See Alabama in art on mural trail The Alabama Mural Trail encourages both locals and tourists to discover Alabama off the beaten path. The trail offers a diverse set of murals in both urban and rural areas around the state. When exploring the trail, travelers might find depictions of everything from a historical display of the civil rights movement to a scene from “To Kill a Mockingbird” to a set of angel wings.

If you’re out and about and find a mural with the Alabama Mural Trail marker in the corner, be sure to snap a picture in front of the mural, tag @alabamatourist on Facebook and Instagram, and use #SweetHomeMurals.

Visit AlabamaMuralTrail.org for a comprehensive list of murals all around the state. Interested in creating a mural? The website also has information on best practices for creating a mural and sources for potential funding.

Take us along!

We’ve enjoyed seeing photos from our readers on their travels with Alabama Living! Please send us a photo of you with a copy of the magazine to: mytravels@alabamaliving.coop. Be sure to include your name, hometown and electric cooperative, and the location of your photo.We’ll draw a winner for the $25 prize each month. Make sure your photo is clear, in focus and not in shadow.

 Larry and Kenneth Capps, retirees from Dixie EC, along with their wives, Sharon and Dianne, took Alabama Living with them on a 15-day cruise to Hawaii, including a stop at Rainbow Falls on the big island of Hawaii.

Lower your sodium intake to lower blood pressure Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is the leading underlying cause of death worldwide, affecting more than 1.25 billion people, including more than 100 million Americans. Most people worldwide eat more salt than recommended.

So, is there a connection?

Nearly everyone can lower their blood pressure, even people currently on blood pressure-reducing drugs, by lowering their sodium intake, reported a new study from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Northwestern Medicine. Results were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2023.

“A number of studies link high salt intake to high blood pressure and a higher risk of premature death and cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks and strokes,” said Dr. Cora Lewis, professor in UAB’s School of Public Health and co-investigator of the study. “From previous trials, we know that a lower-sodium diet lowers blood pressure on average, but for reasons not yet clear, some people are more salt-sensitive than others.” (Story originally published on Alabama News Center) 10 JANUARY 2024

 Gina Speziani of Coosa Valley EC traveled to Segovia, Spain for this photo in front of a Roman aqueduct that has been serving the town of Segovia for more than 2000 years.

 Belinda Strickland and her daughter Brittany traveled to Spain last October for two weeks, and they took their Tallapoosa River Electric Cooperative version of the magazine with them to Granada. Belinda and her husband Jimmy have been members of TREC for many years.

www.alabamaliving.coop

January | Spotlight

Find the hidden dingbat!

Several readers claimed to have found December’s hidden dingbat in places we never thought of, including an ad on Page 15. Remember, we won’t ever hide the dingbat in an ad or on Pages 1-8. But many of you did correctly find the hidden Christmas light on Page 35, masquerading as an exclamation point at the end of the “Cook of the Month win $50” headline.

Jean Hammock of Decatur made us chuckle when we read her comment: “It was so easy it took me a while to find it.” Vicki Thomas of South Alabama EC said, “This may have been one of the quickest times to find the dingbat in a while. Usually I have

to go through twice before finding it but found it on the first go-round this month.”

Hunting for the Christmas bulb proved to be a nostalgic trip for several readers, like Dianne Chandler of Baldwin EMC: “When I was a child, we used these Christmas lights so I was happy to see that you chose it for the dingbat!” And Lillie Noble of Black Warrior EMC told us, “I have never won anything in my life, but I always put my Christmas lights around my house every year.” We’re betting Clark Griswold would approve! Congratulations to Therese Harrison of Falkville, a member of Joe Wheeler EMC, for being selected as our randomly

 Sherri Fancher traveled with her husband Martin to Oceanside, California, with their magazine.

They are members of Dixie EC.

 Randy and Pam Hurst of Butler took a two-week vacation out West, where a highlight was visiting Yellowstone National Park. The Hursts are members of Black Warrior EMC, where Randy retired after 36 years as a lineman, and Baldwin EMC, where the Hursts have a second home.

 Judy Burnham of Baldwin EMC cruised the Fiordland National Park in New Zealand aboard the Majestic Princess.

 Dianne Glasgow, a member of Tombigbee EC, enjoyed the Ray Stevens CabaRay show in Nashville, Tennessee.

Alabama Living

drawn winner this month. Therese wins a $25 gift card from Alabama One Credit Union. This month we’re hiding a bagel in honor of National Bagel Day on January 15. Good luck!

Sponsored by

By mail: Find the Dingbat Alabama Living PO Box 244014 Montgomery, AL 36124 By email: dingbat@alabamaliving.com

Whereville, AL Identify and place this Alabama landmark and you could win $25! Winner is chosen at random from all correct entries. Multiple entries from the same person will be disqualified.

Send your answer with your name, address and the name of your rural electric cooperative, if applicable. The winner and answer will be announced in the February issue.

Submit by email: whereville@alabamaliving.coop, or by mail: Whereville, P.O. Box 244014, Montgomery, AL 36124.

Do you like finding interesting or unusual landmarks? Contribute a photo you took for an upcoming issue!

Remember, all readers whose photos are chosen also win $25!

December’s answer: St. Andrews Church, a small, Gothic Revival style structure, was erected in 1853-1854 in Gallion, Ala., in Hale County. The exterior features wooden board and batten with a steeply pitched roof; the interior is notable for its beautiful woodwork. Much of it is virtually unaltered, including the original altar rail and chancel furnishings, pews, organ and stained glass. (Photo courtesy RuralSWAlabama.org) The randomly drawn correct guess winner is Marycile Echols, on behalf of Tyson Chapel AME Zion Church, a member of Dixie EC. JANUARY 2024 11

Zkano Founder and Owner Gina Locklear shows Sand Mountain Electric Cooperative Manager Mark Malone, a Zkano fan for several years, the latest styles in the lobby of the Fort Payne-based mill store.

PHOTO BY LENORE VICKREY

See videos and more at alabamaliving.coop

Organic socks keep family tradition alive in Fort Payne

By Lenore Vickrey

I

first met Gina Locklear on a hot July day in 2010, when a group of Alabama farmers and artisans were showcasing their wares under tents near the lawn of the state Capitol in Montgomery.

There were baskets of peaches, handmade soaps, paintings, and edibles of various types on display and for sale.

But one booth was different. A young business woman from Fort Payne was proudly showing off her own unique Alabama-made product: organic cotton socks. The only color choices were white and natural, but I was intrigued and immediately bought a pair of the “no-show” style to wear with tennis shoes.

They have lasted 13 years.

It’s been nearly 14 years since that day, and Gina Locklear and the company she founded, Zkano, now ship their American-made socks all over the country.

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“Socks are a lot more exciting now than they were then!” says Gina, who I revisited recently at the Fort Payne-based mill that she founded in 2009 and where she now presides over a successful enterprise that churns out thousands of dozens of socks every year. That’s a sock about every three minutes.

She was no stranger to the sock business, having grown up in the northeast Alabama town once known as the “sock capital of the world.” As recently as the late 1990s, more than half the city’s residents were employed in the 150 local sock mills, and it was said that one of every eight pairs of socks in the world were made in Fort Payne. Gina’s parents, Terry and Regina Locklear, owned their own mill, named Emi-G Knitting (for their two daughters, Emily and Gina), but like many of the mills that once thrived there, it suffered as corporations shifted to buying from compawww.alabamaliving.coop

nies overseas that could make socks cheaper.

Yet they managed to keep their doors open. A 22-year-old Gina graduated from Samford University in Birmingham in 2002, worked in retail stores in Homewood, and even sold real estate before deciding she needed to do something to help her parents.

“I liked real estate, and the people I worked with,” she says, “But I knew I had to get into the sock business in some way because that was what I was passionate about. It was what I wanted to do.”

Going organic, and colorful

It took a year of talking to her parents about an idea she had, “making our own organic socks. It took a lot of convincing.” Instead of making socks for athletic wear companies in bulk, her plan was to make socks for individuals. And not just in white.

After a year of research, especially into the sourcing of organic cotton and dyes, the company was launched in 2009.

“The cotton is grown in Lubbock, Texas, and it’s spun and dyed in North Carolina,” she explains. “It was always important to me to source the cotton from the United States.” The process uses no heavy metals and only low-impact dyes which use less water and the dye adheres better to the yarn. “It took me a while to find a supplier that would do that,” she recalls, but using safe, non-toxic materials in clothing and everyday products has always been a priority for her personally and it was no different for her business.

Going organic wasn’t as mainstream then as it is today. “We spent a lot of time trying to tell people why we were organic,” Gina recalls. “It probably hurt us in the beginning, it was so new.

But I wouldn’t change it. Now it’s pretty mainstream. Now people don’t want toxic materials on their body or their skin.”

The business got a huge boost in 2015 when Martha Stewart named it one of the winners of her “American Made Award,” which recognized small business owners across the country. “It was crazy,” she remembers. “I could sit here for an hour and tell you what we learned from that. It helped us grow and gave us the credibility we needed.” She hired a PR firm to help get the word out, and that resulted in a cover story in The New York Times’ Gina and her parents, Regina and Terry Locklear, who manage the day-today operations of the sock mill.

PHOTO BY LISA COLE

Alabama Living

Style section and a feature on “NBC Nightly News” in 2016.

The results were overwhelming, especially for a small shop with only six employees in the plant.

“I was paralyzed,” she says. “Orders were coming in so fast. Our world changed after that, but we needed it so badly. It just happened when it was supposed to. It got us some loyal customers and the credibility a young business really needs.”

Those loyal customers have stayed, and boosted by the ease of online ordering and a presence on social media, Zkano socks gained even more customers and has been able to expand its number of trendy colors and lively styles for men, women and children.

“When you and I first met, we only had white and natural socks,” says Gina, “and now we have 70-something shades of colors! To go from one shade to all of these is still kind of exciting to me,” she adds, showing off the dozens of stacks of yarn inside the mill. Even the names are creative, evoking nature, food, childhood memories: orange popsicle, mushroom, robin egg blue, dahlia, antique moss.

“Lots of times we will rename a color to make it more appealing,” she adds. Using a Pantone color wheel as a basis, the team decides on colors for the dyes. “We don’t usually follow trends,” she says. “We do what we think our customers will like.”

A trio of ladies help with selecting and naming the different colors. “A lot of times I’m like, ‘What do we call this color?’ And Rhonda (Whitmire, quality control manager) will be like, ‘I know, sugar plum.’ She’s amazing with colors. They are (all) amazing helping me with style names. It’s a group effort.”

Unexpected inspiration

Design inspiration can come from unexpected places. For example, wholesale coordinator Mariah Hemphill, who also works in customer service and order fulfillment, was looking through quilt tops made by her great-grandmother and found a particularly appealing floral design. She took photos and showed them to Gina, and presto, a new design was born. They called it the “Lucille,” named, appropriately, for Mariah’s great-grandmother

Gina checks a sock with Vance Veal, plant manager and master technician, who’s been with the Locklear family since her childhood. PHOTO BY LENORE VICKREY

JANUARY 2024 13

and Gina’s grandmother Lucy.

“It’s my favorite sock,” says Mariah.

Once colors and designs are in place, it’s up to Plant Manager and Master Technician Vance Veal to make it all happen. He’s been with the Locklear family since Gina was 12, and has largely taught himself how to program the sock knitting machines to weave the yarns in the patterns required for each sock.

“He’s been there every step of the way,” Gina says, helping transition the mill from making basic white athletic socks to footwear with colorful stripes, flowers, animals, mushrooms, even Bigfoot (that design is called “Into the Wilderness”). A popular men’s design was “Retro Stripes,” based on some of the first socks her parents’ mill made in the early 1990s. Those quickly sold out.

Also helping in the manufacturing part of the mill are knitting technicians Guillermo Bautista and Kenny Young. And Gina’s parents continue to play a vital role, managing the day-to-day operations of the mill. “Without them here to run the mill, I’d have to move to Fort Payne fulltime,” says Gina, who divides her work week between Fort Payne and her home in Birmingham where she lives with her husband.

Once knitted, socks are rinsed, dried and “boarded,” or placed on specially shaped fitters to remove wrinkles. Rhonda is joined by Mariah and Maria Pascual, who meticulously check each sock for any flaws before it’s put on the shelf for sale. Any socks with flaws, dubbed “irregulars,” are donated to homelessness shelters and community organizations.

Those that can’t be donated are recycled for use in carpet padding in the automotive industry.

Holiday sales were steady, with the popular Elf Stripe design (one with lime green stripes and red toes and heels, and another with the reverse) selling out. A consistent top seller last year was the “Wildflowers” floral design with a hunter green background (named “Fir”), and it’s expected to continue to be popular in 2024. For spring, Gina says, “We will have a new floral design, probably several. We want to find ways to do more colorful types of basic socks, and make them more interesting, for men and women.”

While Zkano doesn’t plan to expand its operation, they do want to grow their customer base. “We want to be reaching a lot more people who are looking for products made in the USA,” Gina says, “so we can employ more people here in town.

“And we want to keep our focus on socks.

That’s what we’re good at, and we want to continue doing that.”

For more info, see zkano.com and follow the company on Facebook and Instagram. 14 JANUARY 2024

Above, a look inside a sock knitting machine as multiple colors of yarn are woven into what will soon be a new sock.

Below, before leaving the plant, each sock is carefully checked by a team including Mariah Hemphill, Rhonda Whitmire and Maria Pascual. Any irregulars are donated to homeless shelters and community organizations.

PHOTOS BY LENORE VICKREY

www.alabamaliving.coop

Alabama Living

JANUARY 2024 15

Story and photos by Emmett Burnett

S Kyle Carlisle, back in high school days, examining a hypo redtail boa.

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omewhere around the age of 10, Baldwin County’s Kyle Carlisle received his first snake. It was a local species, a rat snake, common in the Bay Minette area around Kyle’s home. The boy’s interest grew and over the years more snakes were acquired, bred, and hatched. Today there are 180 saleable serpents in his house.

Kyle is in his 20s now. His snake fascination is his vocation. From two Baldwin County outlets, Loxley and Stockton, he raises and sells elongated reptiles to customers worldwide. The supply is bountiful.

In addition to the previously mentioned 180 Loxley serpents, Kyle’s Stockton location has another 500. They are mostly pythons, king snakes, corn snakes, boas and such. Collectively they are the fork-tongued livestock of Kyle’s business, KcReptiles LLC, uniting snakes with those who love them.

“Snakes are just cool,” says Kyle, from his Loxley location, as a four-foot long python coils around his arm. “They come in every color imaginable and are relatively easy to maintain.”

They are also lucrative. “After the rat snake, I bought a corn snake and later a ball python,” he recalls. “I sold my first clutch (snake eggs) for $2,000.” Not bad for a teenager.

His business launched in 2020, eventually shipping ball pythons, corn snakes, king snakes, milk snakes, and other fanged delights throughout the United States and around the world. He has sold thousands.

Global customers include the Philippines, South Korea, and until recently, China, before it cut off imports.

Now, before reading more and dreaming of reptile riches, approach with caution. As Adam may have said to Eve, “Snakes aren’t for everyone.” Kyle is licensed at local, state and federal levels. He meets all legal requirements, from Baldwin County, to internationally. www.alabamaliving.coop

Fascination with snakes leads to lucrative business for Baldwin County man Most of Kyle’s livestock is raised in captivity, Diverse customer base by him. None are venomous. If you want a waMeanwhile, back at the office. Livestock snakes are in plastic ter moccasin, take your business elsewhere. rectangular boxes, one per box. Each box is labeled with its conHe breeds, incubates, raises the brood, cares tent and stacked, one on top of the other, building walls of snakes and feeds snakelets, in temperature-controlled in various sizes and stages. environments. When ready to travel, saleable His customer base is a diverse lot. Many are collectors who valserpents are marketed through shows and online ue certain snakes for their color and markings. shipping.

Some are investors, buying prized snakes for breeding, in In addition to internet sales, he supplies pet shops hopes of selling the babies for top dollar. Some people invest in and shows. Kyle explains, race horses for their poten“I do about 50 shows a tial. Other’s see the same year and usually sell 50 to potential in snakes.

100 snakes per show. But I For many, snakes are don’t participate in more pets and in often cases, the than two shows a month as more the merrier. “I origit is hard on the animals.” inally purchased a pair of In last June’s Gulf Coast ball pythons from Kyle,” reExotic Animal Expo, calls customer and friend, held in Mobile, hundreds Dallas McVeay of Bon Seflocked around the slithercour. “Now I have about ing menagerie, displayed 50. Currently they are in in clear boxes in glass my house but I’m building counters. Shoppers bought an outdoor ‘reptile room’ 50. which they will move to.”

Prices vary. A starter But Kyle warns, regardsnake, pet quality, goes for less of one’s reptilian inas little as $40. A collectible tentions, all snakes share snake with desired colors a commonality. “They can and markings can be yours bite you. I have been bitten for a lot more. “My avermany times but it doesn’t age ball park python sale Carlisle displays a rare pastel banana randon with the potential of being worth hurt. Feels like your finis about $450,” Kyle notes. $10,000. ger’s being pricked.”

“The most money I have But he adamantly conmade for a single snake sale is $7,000. Now I sell plenty of $1,500 tinues, “Snakes are not aggressive. They are defensive. They are to $2,000 snakes but it takes a special person to come in and buy not out to get you but they will strike if threatened.” one for $7,000.”

So what are the signs of a threatened snake? “They hiss,” says Online sales require unique handling. Weather is a huge facKyle. “Snakes don’t hiss just to hiss–they hiss to say ‘you are gettor. During summer, the animals are shipped with a cryo-cold ting on my nerves.’ In addition, many snakes duplicate a rattlepack to keep them cool. In winter, the snakes journey with a heat snake’s flickering tail as a warning - ‘back off, now!’” pack.

He adds, “People often report being chased by a snake when Alabama Living

JANUARY 2024 17

For many, snakes are pets and in often cases, the more the merrier. that is probably not the case. It is running back to a safe place, such as a hole in the ground. Often it appears the snake is chasing you when actually it is trying to flee. Unfortunately you are standing in the way of its hideout.”

And then there is that forked-tongue flickering thing. “That’s how a snake smells,” notes Kyle. “They have a keen sense of smell, which is how they find prey.” The flickering tongue also registers data about its surroundings, including humans.

Do your research

As for pets, some species are surprisingly good at being one.

“But do your research,” Kyle advises. “Learn about the snake you

have in mind. Know its health requirements and care needed.”

He adds, “Others disagree, but I believe snakes do not have personalities per se. But they do have varying dispositions.” Some are calmer than others.

“If you want one that will sit on the couch and watch TV with you, get a ball python,” notes Kyle. “The ball python is the pet rock of the reptile industry.”

For those wanting a snake that is more active yet tame enough to handle, go with a milk snake, or corn snake.

Regardless of choice, above all else, provide the best care you can for the pet, collector’s item, or investment, that slithers into your life.

Carlisle discusses snake care with a shopper at the Gulf Coast Exotic Animal Expo last summer.

18 JANUARY 2024

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Alabama Living

JANUARY 2024 19

| Worth the drive |

Southern fare

with small-town heart

By Allison Law

I

n the heart of a small-town, downtown square, looking out over a pretty park in the center and up-and-coming businesses all around, is The Headland Bottletree, a restaurant born in the COVID era that has nonetheless managed to survive and thrive.

Serving dinners only, Wednesday through Saturday, seats at the restaurant fill quickly, with diners hungry for an elevated, Southern-inspired menu but who stay for the camaraderie familiar to anyone from a small town. Come on any night, owner Whitney Woodham says, and this table will be talking to that table, with everyone milling around; the staff knows the majority of the people who walk through the door.

Whitney says her mom, Mary Jo, who founded the restaurant, described the fare as “old-fashioned recipes with a modern twist.” With its tagline “a Southern bistro,” the dishes are familiar, yet elevated a bit with as much fresh produce and seafood as Woodham and head chef Jess Conner can get.

Menu mainstays are the steaks (ribeyes and filets are the best sellers) and seafood, including Mary Jo’s Crab Cakes and Sausage and Gulf Shrimp Pasta. Appetizers include Bacon and Collard Egg Rolls, Caprese Salad and Fried Cheese Curds, and there are always homemade desserts available (including decadent cheesecakes).

But what most diners come for are the specials that change weekly, sometimes more often if a certain protein or vegetable becomes available. There’s always a fish special and two other Whitney Woodham main courses. Some recent popular offerings: A shrimp and steak fried rice bowl; pan-seared halibut with garlic lime cream sauce; Tuscan chicken pasta; mahi-mahi with homemade tartar sauce, fries and mixed vegetables; beef bourguignon; and an open-faced brisket sandwich.

Now, the eatery is expanding into soups, including a chicken, sausage and shrimp gumbo. There are also appetizer specials, such as prosciutto, pear and goat cheese egg rolls and jalapeno cheese poppers with sweet chili mayo.

Conner, Woodham says, cooks just like her mom, Mary Jo, did, with “a lot of details, and a lot of care.” Her mom’s spirit still lives on in the restaurant, which Woodham says she feels all the time.

Finding new life, late in life

Mary Jo Woodham was in her 70s when she bought the building that houses the Bottletree. She was divorced and had built a house, and had done lots of small projects, like working at a botanical garden. Staying active was a given; she had no desire to sit around and grow old.

When the building came open, Mary Jo said, “I just can’t leave the building,” her daughter says. She didn’t know why, but she had a vision, Whitney says; she just kept coming back to it. When Whitney walked in for the first time, she couldn’t believe her mom had bought the building and wanted to open a restaurant.

“Every one of her friends said, ‘don’t do it.’ But she was determined, and if you told her not to do something, she would do it.”

20 JANUARY 2024

Pan seared tripletail with a Creole sauce, cheese grits and fried okra.

PHOTO BY EVERGREEN CREATIVE COMPANY

About the name

Most of us are familiar with bottle trees – a unique Southern gardening tradition that traces its roots to Africa. Legend has it that shiny objects placed around the home would draw evil spirits away – that they would find their way into the upturned bottles, unable to escape. Many trees used traditionally blue bottles, but designers today use pretty multi-colored bottles, like the ones used on the centerpiece of the namesake restaurant.

Mary Jo Woodham, who founded the restaurant, built the bottle tree that greets guests at the front door.

PHOTO BY EVERGREEN CREATIVE COMPANY

Alabama Living

JANUARY 2024 21

So Mary Jo set to work, in a big way. She ripped down the dropped ceilings and redid the floors herself. Every chair and table, she put together. And her artistic touches are here too: the artwork on the walls are hers, and she built the bottle tree that greets customers at the front door. She even designed the restaurant’s logo. “She was just very talented,” Whitney says.

She opened on Oct. 26, 2019, doing lunches at that time.

Whitney had started her own career path. She grew up in Dothan, and after college in Montgomery, she moved to France to learn the wine business and went to school there. Later, she moved to New York and continued to work in the wine industry.

In March 2020, she returned to Alabama to her mom’s restaurant to help with what was supposed to be a one-off event. COVID-19 shifted her plan.

The restaurant where she was working in New York closed, so she decided to stay and help her mom in a socially-distanced dining room and with to-go orders at The Bottletree. It would change her life path dramatically.

“A lot of people say, they thought she did this just to get me home, and that may have been true,” Whitney says. “But there’s a blessing – we worked together for about two years that we would not have had, had she not done this.”

Continuing on

Beef bourguignon.

PHOTO BY EVERGREEN CREATIVE COMPANY

THE HEADLAND BOTTLETREE

Headland

l

PHOTO BY EVERGREEN CREATIVE COMPANY

11 Grove St., Headland, AL 36303 334-785-5594 TheHeadlandBottletree.com, and look for their page on Facebook Hours: 5:30 to 9 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday

22 JANUARY 2024

Mary Jo had little experience in the hospitality industry; she had a small sandwich shop when Whitney was young, and had a wine shop in Dothan that did well. But she had no formal culinary training. Her textbooks were the many, many cookbooks she used, many of which still grace a bookshelf above the kitchen today. “She would read a cookbook like I would read a novel,” Whitney says.

Fortunately, people were supportive One of the lovely bottles that during COVID, picking up food at the graces the bottle tree at the restaurant and walking across the street entrance of the restaurant. to the park for picnics. “People were very PHOTO BY ALLISON LAW good to us.”

Then Mary Jo was diagnosed with cancer. Two years ago, she was diagnosed in March and died in July. Whitney found herself in the restaurant business, trying to continue the vision her mom had just a few years before, in a small town she didn’t really know.

Headland’s growth, and its people, have convinced her of her mom’s business plan. “She proves me wrong from the grave every day,” Whitney says. “She could not have been more right on about this spot. There’s just something to this particular building; she kept coming back to it.”

Whitney shifted the focus of The Headland Bottletree to dinners, originally Friday and Saturday but later expanding to Wednesday through Saturday. Reservations are recommended, especially on the weekends.

Many of her employees have day jobs, since the restaurant is only open at night, a few nights a week. They all want The Bottletree to succeed, Whitney says; they’re more like family, so an expansion isn’t really in the cards for now.

She feels sure her mom would be pleased with how her vision is being carried on.

“It’s just such a shame (that she can’t see it), because this is the fun, easy part. When she was here, it was hard. But she is very present, and it’s very comforting to come in here, because everything in here is hers. So it’s a good feeling.” www.alabamaliving.coop

Alabama Living

JANUARY 2024 23

| Alabama Pe ple |

Jeff Norris

‘A hype man for teachers in Alabama’ Jeff Norris, who teaches sixth grade math at Oak Mountain Middle School, has an undeniable excitement when he talks about education and teachers in Alabama. Now, as Alabama’s Teacher of the Year, he gets to share his passion every day beyond his regular classroom.

He grew up in Jasper, in Walker County, and earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Alabama; a master’s degree in gifted education from South Alabama; and a second master’s degree in instructional leadership and an education specialist degree in teacher leadership, both from Montevallo. He has used those educational experiences in a variety of roles, starting out as a classroom teacher, and eventually moving into administration as an assistant principal and principal at the elementary school level.

During COVID-19, he decided to reprioritize his passion and step back into the classroom to teach again. He loved being an administrator and felt he was successful but felt called to be back with the students.

His wife, Sarah, is also an educator, and her parents were both educators. Their children, 17 and 15, are classic “teachers’ kids,” who love meeting people and love learning, too. We asked him to talk about his experience so far this year as Alabama’s Teacher of the Year, and about his approach to working with students and fellow educators. – Allison Law In your role as Teacher of the Year, you’re sort of an ambassador for education in Alabama. Talk about that.

I think people are under the assumption that the state teacher of the year is the best teacher in Alabama. I try to take away that perception. I always tell people, I really am just an ambassador, a representative of all the great teachers of Alabama. I don’t pretend to have all the answers, or speak more wisdom than any other great teacher I’ve encountered. But I do get the chance to empower teachers. I’m kind of like this self-professed hype man for teachers in Alabama. I kind of like that term. I laugh about it, but I take it very seriously.

There’s so much hard work that goes into teaching. Anything I can do to remind teachers how awesome it is and how exciting it is and how much of a difference they make, that’s what I want to do. That’s chief description number one. Inspire and empower teachers in Alabama to continue making a difference.

Number two, I spend a lot of my time traveling and talking to different school districts. I lead a lot of professional development around the state. I get to visit a lot of classrooms and see all kinds of neat things that are happening, and ultimately share those ideas. As I go along in my journey, I get to compile those things and share them with other people, and ideas I have along the way.

teaching and students as I am has been wonderful.

Do you look forward to going back to Oak Mountain Middle, after your term is over at the end of this school year?

I was really blessed because the principal at my school let me keep my classroom – it can be used for other purposes this year, so I didn’t have to give up my classroom. I’ve been able to bring teachers to Oak Mountain Middle and see instructors in progress, then go back to my classroom and talk about it. That’s been a neat opportunity. I’ve been able to stay in the local building and see “my kids” throughout the year. I try my hardest to stay in touch with the students.

That’s what I miss the most. I’ve loved every moment of what I’m doing. I’m trying to capitalize on that. I’ve enjoyed getting to talk to different groups, seeing all the things that are happening, sharing that knowledge, and sharing with people. I really have been so busy this fall that I haven’t had a chance to sit back and think about that yet.

I think in some ways I’ve tried not to, because it will make my heart miss my kids even more not being there day to day. So I will look forward to being with them again.

But I love what I’m doing now.

What have you learned so far in your travels around the state?

One of the things I tell people all the time, we are in the life changing business. I think that teaching is one of those few careers where we literally have an opportunity to impact other people’s lives significantly each day. So getting the chance to see that in action around our state is really powerful.

One of my teaching philosophies is that teachers make a difference. I try to make someone else’s life better. But it’s been great to see examples of that all over our state.

To see others who are as excited and passionate about 24 JANUARY 2024

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Alabama Living

JANUARY 2024 27

SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security benefits increase in 2024 M ore than 71 million Americans will see a 3.2% increase in their Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments in 2024. On average, Social Security retirement benefits will increase by more than $50 per month starting in January.

Federal benefit rates increase when the cost-of-living rises, as measured by the Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index (CPI-W). The CPI-W rises when inflation increases, leading to a higher cost-of-living. This change means prices for goods and services, on average, are higher. The cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) helps to offset these costs.

We will mail COLA notices throughout the month of December to retirement, survivors, and

Kylle’ McKinney, SSA Public Affairs Specialist, can be reached by email at kylle.mckinney@ssa.gov.

disability beneficiaries, SSI recipients, and representative payees. But if you want to know your new benefit amount sooner, you can securely obtain your Social Security COLA notice online using the Message Center in your personal my Social Security account at ssa.gov/myaccount. You can access this information in early December, prior to receiving the mailed notice. Benefit amounts will not be available before December. Since you will receive the COLA notice online or in the mail, you don’t need to contact us to get your new benefit amount.

If you prefer to access your COLA notice online and not receive the mailed notice, you can log in to your personal my Social Security account at ssa.gov/myaccount to opt out by changing your preferences in the Message Center. You can update your preferences to opt out of the mailed COLA notice, and any other notices that are available online. Did you know you can receive a text or email alert when there is a new message waiting for you?

January crossword Across 1 Action of beginning again 5 Start of an oak tree 8 Demopolis-born chemist credited with developing vinyl, Waldo ____ 9 Comes out of slumber 10 Family man 11 Calla ___ (flower) 12 Huntsville native who started Wikipedia, Jimmy ______ 14 Breakfast meat 16 “Friday Night Lights” score 17 Purpose 18 Try a new drink perhaps 21 Began 23 Alabama-born inventor of cortisone as a treatment for arthritis, Percy ____ 25 Fish eggs 27 New beginning, 2 words 30 Loudspeaker system, abbr.

31 Ram’s ma’am 33 Preparing to start on the golf course, with up 34 People who lead the way

That way, you always know when we have something important for you – like your COLA notice.

“Social Security and SSI benefits will increase in 2024, and this will help millions of people keep up with expenses,” said Kilolo Kijakazi, acting commissioner of Social Security.

January 2024 marks when other changes will happen based on the increase in the national average wage index. For example, the maximum amount of earnings subject to Social Security payroll tax in 2024 will be higher. The retirement earnings test exempt amount will also change in 2024.

Learn more at ssa.gov/news/press/factsheets/colafacts2024.pdf.

Be among the first to know! Sign up for or log in to your personal my Social Security account today at ssa.gov/myaccount.

Choose email or text under “Message Center Preferences” to receive courtesy notifications.

You can find more information about the 2024 COLA at ssa.gov/cola.

by Myles Mellor

Down 1 Decision for the future 2 Quick to adapt to new circumstances 3 Form of green energy 4 Be in front 5 Its beginning was on December 14, 1819 6 Single item 7 Where birds hatch 12 Existed 13 Alabama-born lady who invented windshield wipers, Mary _____ 15 Gets back together with old friends 19 Rolled on a new coat 20 Born in Birmingham, this rocket engineer helped invent the automobile air bag, _____ Kirchoff 22 Cry from Homer Simpson 24 50 states 26 Paranormal ability, abbr.

28 Label 29 In the location referred to 32 ___, the people Answers on Page 41

28 JANUARY 2024

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Around Alabama

27-28

Greenville Greenville Camellia Show at historic Beeland Park, 1016 E. Commerce St. The park is home to an eight-acre camellia garden with some 300 plus camellia trees over 70 years old, and 100 others planted in the last 10 years. Show is open to entries from any grower as long as they own the bloom. 1 to 4 p.m.; free admission. For more information, visit the Greenville Camellia Society on Facebook.

View Alabama eagles in their natural habitat during the Eagle Awareness Weekends at Lake Guntersville State Park.

PHOTO BY BILLY POPE

FEBRUARY

3

Montgomery Hank Williams celebration, 10 a.m. at Oakwood Cemetery. Food and music to follow at the Hank Williams Museum, 118 Commerce St. Canvas prints available. 334262-3600.

Mobile USS Alabama Living History Crew Drill. 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. See history come to life when WWII re-enactors tell the stories of the original crewmen of the battleship USS Alabama and submarine USS Drum. Presentations and demonstrations throughout the day. Be on deck at 1 p.m. when the “call to battle stations” is sounded. All activities are included in the day’s admission. USSAlabama.com

1

10

JANUARY

1

Orange Beach Flora-Bama Polar Bear Dip, 12 p.m. Groups and families gather in costume, swimsuits and wetsuits to take a dip in the Gulf of Mexico at high noon. Those who fully submerge get a free draft beer and free New Year’s lunch. Florabama.com

12-14

Decatur Festival of the Cranes, Wheeler Wildlife Refuge. More than 14,000 Sandhill Cranes along with several pairs of whooping cranes spend the winter here each year. The Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge hosts this event for both experienced birders and anyone who would like to learn more about wildlife birding. Search for the event’s page on Facebook.

19-21, 26-28 and Feb. 2-4

Lake Guntersville Eagle Awareness Weekends, Lake Guntersville State Park. The weekends were created to coincide with Alabama’s Bald Eagle Restoration Program in 1985 with some of the best conservationists and birders in the field. The tradition continues, with live bird demonstrations and programs by notable speakers, guided safaris for viewing eagles in their natural habitat and photo ops with birds of prey. Alapark.com

20

Prattville Cruising the Creekwalk 5K, 9 a.m. at Doster Memorial Community Center, 424 S. Northington St. Route takes runners along Autauga Creek and through historic downtown. Awards in 5-year age groups.

CruisingtheCreekwalk.itsyourrace.com

27

Millbrook The Millbrook Revelers Mardi Gras Festival and Parade. Festival grounds open at 9 a.m.; parade begins at noon.

Vendors from across the Southeast will have food and other goods, plus fun activities for children.

The parade staging is at Mill Creek Park on Main Street; the theme for the parade is Laissez les bon temp rouler, or “let the good times roll.”

MillbrookRevelers.org

Alabama Living

Wetumpka Mardi Gras Festival and Parade, Gold Star Park, 212 S. Main St. Vendors open at 9 a.m., and parade begins at 1 p.m. Presented by the Order of Cimarron.

10

Auburn Krewe de Tigris Mardi Gras Parade, 3 p.m. in downtown Auburn. Get ready to catch some beads and enjoy decked-out floats and costumed characters in this familyfriendly event. KreweDeTrigris.com

16-17

Autaugaville Autauga County Sheriff’s Rodeo, R.H. Kirkpatrick Arena, 2214 Highway 14 West. Bull riding, barrel racing, steer wrestling, team roping and more.

Tickets are $15, with children 5 and under free with paid adult. Purchase tickets only at the Autauga County Sheriff’s Office from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. 334-365-5638.

To place an event, e-mail events@alabamaliving. coop. or visit www.alabamaliving.coop. You can also mail to Events Calendar, P.O. Box 244014, Montgomery, AL 36124; Each submission must include a contact name and phone number.

Deadline is two months prior to issue date. We regret that we cannot publish every event due to space limitations.

Alabama Living on FB instagram.com/alabamaliving Serving North AL, Southern TN, and Northwest GA. We offer traditional sandblast and laser etched monuments.

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7315 County Road 17 • Woodville, AL 35776 256-805-0153 • macy@libertymonument.net

The Best of

Hardy Jackson’s Alabama You’ve read and laughed along with Hardy Jackson for the past 10 years in the pages of Alabama Living, and now you can have 48 of his best columns all in one place! We are proud to offer this first-ever compilation of the favorite author’s work, illustrated by the talented Dennis Auth. Just scan the QR code here, or use this form to order your copy today!

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RETURN WITH $21.95 PER COPY CHECK PAYABLE TO ALABAMA LIVING MAIL TO: Alabama Living PO Box 244014 Montgomery, AL 36124 ONLINE: www.alabamaliving.coop JANUARY 2024 29

| Gardens |

It’s time to take a camellia road trip!

See related story, Page 32

C

amellias, the “ros(typically twice the diameter and 1.5 times the height es of winter,” are in of the root ball) and addbloom across the state this month, which ing organic matter to the is the perfect excuse for a soil. They also need to be planted “high” in the hole road trip to one, or all, of so that at least one inch of Alabama’s nationally recognized camellia gardens. the root ball remains above Those gardens, which ground level. This ensures are sprinkled across our the plant’s feet don’t get too state from The Magic City wet. Add a good layer of to the Wiregrass and the mulch around the root ball Black Belt to the Gulf to retain moisture and protect exposed roots, and the Coast, are part of a nationwide network of some plant should thrive. (Learn 65 camellia plantings that more about camellia culmake up the American Cature in Alabama in The mellia Trail.

Culture of Camellias: The State Flower of Alabama at The Camellia Trail, a partnership between the www.aces.edu) American Camellia Society Camellias can be plantand public gardens, was esed any time of year in Altablished to help preserve abama, but they do best if and support these collecplanted in late fall and eartions, many of which are ly winter or in early spring. historic, and raise public And while there are cultiawareness of these plants. vars that bloom as early as To qualify for a spot on September and as late as mid-March, now through that trail, camellias must February is their time to be a prominent feature of shine. It’s also a chance to the garden (a minimum of Camellias come in a variety of petal formations in an array of colors and sizes.

PHOTO BY MARK STEPHENSON peruse the many camel50 cultivars and/or species lia options by visiting the is required). In addition, gardens on the Camellia Trail and in other managers of these gardens must create and long-lived, low-maintenance, landscape gardens and landscapes across the state. maintain a register of all camellias in the evergreens but who adore them for their This is also camellia show season, a time garden each of which must be labeled and exquisite blooms, which appear a bit like when local camellia groups sponsor exmapped. magic during the coldest times of year. hibits of the year’s best blooms and where More than half of the ACT gardens are Those blooms brighten an otherwise camellia devotees can share expertise and located in southern states, including Aldrab winter landscape. And oh what often plants with one another the public. abama which boasts six sites: Aldridge blooms they have! The thousands of culCheck with your local camellia group, Gardens in Hoover, Beeland Park Gardens tivars available offer a kaleidoscope of in Greenville, Bellingrath Gardens and a list of which can be found on the ACS colors options (from pure white and pale Home in Theodore, Cornerstone Gardens site (americancamellias.com) under the pink to deep red and variegated) and petin Mobile and the Mobile and Dothan Bo“Clubs and Societies” link. The site is also al formations (single, double, peony, rose tanical Gardens. chock full of information on all things caand more). Some produce huge blooms, mellias. It’s no wonder the South claims so much others petite, but all are elegant. of the trail because it is here that camelCamellias can also be planted in a valias, natives of Asia, found a happy secriety of locations, including in pots, and JANUARY TIPS ond home within our temperate clionce they are established, they require  Order vegetable and flower seeds for the mate. They also found many, many little (if any) pruning, have few pests, and coming gardening year. adoring fans here, people who don’t require tons of watering. They do,  Sow seed for cool season greens and value camellias as handsome, however, need to be pampered at planting. vegetables.

According to experts, camellias are a  Remove dead limbs and spent plants prime example of the old gardening adKatie Jackson is a freelance from the landscape. writer and editor based in age “dig a fifty-dollar hole for a five-dollar  Plant bare-root trees, shrubs and roses.

Opelika, Alabama. Contact her at tree.” They like loose, well drained soils  Apply winter mulch. katielamarjackson@gmail.com. which begins with digging a large hole

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Alabama Living

JANUARY 2024 31

‘Camellia City’ bursting into bloom

Camellia shows, such as this one held in Mobile in 2019, provide opportunities for the public to see a remarkable diversity of camellias, buy plants and get advice from camellia experts.

Story and photos by Katie Jackson

A

s later-flowering camellias (C. japonica) begin bursting into bloom across the state this month, they’ll add welcome splashes of color to the winter landscape. In Greenville, however, those japonica blooms will practically blanket the landscape.

Greenville, located just off Interstate 65 in Butler County, is home to thousands of camellias, the first of which reportedly arrived in 1848 at a time when camellias were becoming popular additions to southern landscapes. Over time, more camellias were planted in the town and more and more residents began growing and propagating the plants.

By 1937, Greenville was so chock-full of camellias that, prompted by a comment from a visiting garden editor, the town adopted “The Camellia City” as its moniker. That same year, the Greenville Garden Club hosted the town’s first camellia show, an annual event that became one of the biggest camellia shows in the state.

(The 1950 show drew some 5,000 attendees from all but eight of the Alabama’s 67 counties.)

During the 1940s, a friendly competition among the town’s wealthier “white-collar” men to hybridize the plants resulted in an array of novel locally developed camellias. Local residents, including members of the county’s numerous Home Demonstration Clubs, also began planting camellias everywhere—in private yards and gardens, along city streets and on the grounds of parks, cemeteries, schools, churches and other community spaces. Numerous camellia-focused organizations also formed, among them the Greenville Men’s Camellia Club (established in 1947), whose members were pivotal in creating the Alabama Camellia Society in 1948 and in the designation of the C. japonica as Alabama’s official state flower in 1959. Greenville also became a go-to destination for camellia enthusiasts from across the region and beyond.

Though interest in camellias has waxed and waned over the 176 years since the first camellia arrived in Greenville, the passion among its residents for these plants has not faded. And one of the most passionate is local historian and self-professed camellia fanatic Barbara Middleton. A native of Butler County, Middleton 32 JANUARY 2024

Barbara Middleton, known as “the camellia whisperer” in Greenville, is a longtime advocate for her town’s camellias, which are intrinsic to the city’s past and future.

grew up around camellias, but didn’t fall under their spell until the early 1980s when she saw them blooming in a historic South Carolina garden.

“I came home and bought about 20 camellias and started my garden,” she said. In the years since, Middleton has become both an accomplished camellia grower and a devoted advocate for the town’s camellia plants and heritage. Known by her fellow Greenville Camellia Society members as the “Camellia Whisperer,” she has also worked tirelessly with other local camellia devotees to put Greenville back on the map as a camellia destination.

In April 2023, those efforts paid off when the town’s historic Beeland Park became part of the American Camellia Society’s prestigious American Camellia Trail. Camellias are scattered throughout the eight-acre park, but they are the stars of its “Garden of Memory,” which contains a mix of earlier blooming sasanquas (C. sasanquas) and japonicas, 300 of which are more than 70 years old and another 100 that were planted in the last decade.

While sasanquas have been festooning Beeland Park and the town with colorful blooms all fall, now is when the japonicas come into their own, cloaking Greenville in color and making this a prime time to see Greenville’s camellias in all their glory. This month the town will also offer an additional camellia experience: the 2024 Beeland Park Camellia Show, which is planned for Jan. 27-28.

Presented by the Greenville Camellia Society and the City of Greenville and sponsored by the ACS, the show is a chance for camellia growers, both experienced and novice, to bring their best blooms and compete for honors. It is also an opportunity for the public to see the beauty and diversity of camellia blooms, mingle with experts and buy camellia plants. (More information on the day’s events and Greenville’s many camellia resources can be found on the Greenville Camellia Society’s Facebook page.)

Organizers and city leaders believe the show and the town’s designation to the ACS Camellia Trail will once again make Greenville a go-to destination for camellia enthusiasts. That, in turn, will cultivate new tourism and business opportunities for the town signaling a new blossoming for “The Camellia City.” www.alabamaliving.coop

Alabama Living

JANUARY 2024 33

WINGS & RIBS

| Alabama Recipes |

Photos and styling by Brooke Echols

Playoff and bowl games are the perfect setting to serve up some tasty homemade wings or ribs, or both!

Winning Recipe: Baked Chicken Wings

34 JANUARY 2024

Cook of the Month: Ed White, Covington EC Ed White is a self-described “wing nut.” He loves to eat wings and he loves to cook them, especially for his wife who is partial to extra crispy ones. So he set out on a quest to perfect a recipe that would result in wings that were not only tasty, but crispy. He tried one he called “Spicy Peanut Butter and Jelly Wings,” in honor of relatives who were coming to visit and who had helped make hundreds of PB&J sandwiches which included a care package, as part of an outreach to the homeless in Washington, DC. “They were tasty but not crispy,” he recalls. So he tried again, this time adding flour along with cornstarch to the coating. “That made the difference,” says White, a retired parks and recreation superintendent who now works as a plumbing contractor. Of course, to get them extra crispy, he recommends cooking them longer, which requires some patience, he says with a smile. For his sauce, he likes to use Tapatio brand hot sauce, which has medium heat. These wings would be perfect to serve during the upcoming football playoff and championship games, he adds.

Baked Chicken Wings 4 pounds chicken wings (using the whole wing or halve them at the joints, discarding wingtips) ¼ cup all-purpose flour ¼ cup cornstarch ¾ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon cracked black pepper 1 teaspoon paprika 1 teaspoon garlic powder Buffalo sauce: 1/3 cup Tapatio Hot Sauce 1½ cups light brown sugar 1 tablespoon water Adjust your oven rack to the upper-middle position. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a wire rack on top. Spray the rack with non-stick spray. Keep the chicken wings whole or halve them at the joints, discarding wingtips. Use paper towels to pat the wings dry and place them in a large bowl. It’s important to dry them very well. Combine the salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, flour and cornstarch in a small bowl. Sprinkle the seasoning over the wings, tossing evenly to coat. Arrange wings, skin side up, in single layer on prepared wire rack. Bake on the upper middle oven rack, turning every 20 minutes until wings are crispy and browned. Total cook time will depend on the size of the wings but may take up to 1 hour. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes. Transfer wings to a bowl and toss with sauce.

C

hicken wings are a tailgate dream!

While wings may be a cheaper cut of chicken, they have a ton of natural flavor all their own. There have been dozens of varieties of wings since they were first invented in Buffalo in 1964, but our fa- Brooke Burks vorite recipe is one that allows us to eat them the fastest. That motivation led us to develop this chicken wing recipe made quick and easy in the Instant Pot. We take whole wings and drumettes, steam-cook them in the instant pot, and then crisp them up by finishing them under the broiler with a tasty sauce.

Quick, easy and super delicious! For more recipes like this one, visit us over at thebutteredhome.com.

Instant Pot Chicken Wings 1 pound chicken wings and drumettes 1/2 tablespoon seasoning salt 1 cup water 3 tablespoons honey 1 tablespoon soy sauce 2 teaspoons smoked paprika 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons onion powder 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1 teaspoon garlic powder 2 tablespoons melted butter 2 tablespoons hot sauce, optional Season wings with seasoning salt. Pour 1 cup water into liner pot of the Instant Pot. Place wings in a basket and put into Instant Pot. Close lid, lock, set vent to seal. Set to manual or pressure cook for 10 minutes for fresh chicken, 15 minutes for frozen.

When the cook time is complete, allow pressure to naturally release for about 10 minutes. Carefully release any remaining pressure.

Mix all remaining ingredients for sauce together well. Place wings in a large bowl and cover with half of the sauce. Coat well. Place wings on a sheet pan fitted with a rack or covered with foil. Place under broiler for 2 to 4 minutes per side. Baste with reserved sauce just before serving.

Photo by The Buttered Home

Buffalo Sauce: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir together all sauce ingredients. Mix well until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature before adding to wings or prepare the sauce ahead of time and refrigerate.

Alabama Living

JANUARY 2024 35

Monthly Recipe Contest! $50 prize June theme: Ice Cream Submit by: March 1

May theme: Cinco de Mayo Submit by: February 2

Email us: recipes@alabamaliving.coop Visit our website: alabamaliving.coop USPS mail: Attn: Recipes P.O. Box 244014 Montgomery, AL 36124

Recipes can be developed by you or family members. Adapt a recipe from another source by changing as little as the amount of one ingredient. Chosen cooks may win “Cook of the Month” only once per calendar year. Submissions must include a name, phone number, mailing address and co-op name.

Alabama Living reserves the right to reprint recipes in our other publications.

Ribs and Green Bean Stew

Sweet Honey Wings

Rub-a-Dub Rub

1 slab ribs 1½ pounds green beans, preferably fresh 1 12-ounce can tomato paste 1 11.5-ounce can tomato juice Salt and pepper, to taste 1 medium onion, cut in large pieces 4 Irish potatoes, cut in large pieces

2 pounds chicken wings All-purpose flour ¾ cup light brown sugar ½ cup honey ¼ cup Frank’s hot sauce Cooking oil, for deep frying

1/4 cup brown sugar 2 teaspoons Tajin 1 teaspoon smoked paprika 1 teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon onion powder 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/2 teaspoon white pepper

Wash slab of ribs and take off excess fat.

Cut the ribs in pieces, one or two bones, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place on a large pan covered with parchment paper. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes until lightly brown. Pat excess grease off ribs. In a large pot, put in tomato paste and tomato juice. Add salt and pepper, and cut green beans.

Cook about 30 minutes, then put the ribs in the pot with the green beans, add large pieces of onion and enough water to cover. Cook about one hour, add Irish potatoes and cook an additional 30 minutes. Serves 6. Delicious with Italian or French bread.

Sara Jean Brooklere Cullman EC

Cut wing tips off. Roll in flour. Deep fry until light brown. Mix brown sugar, honey and hot sauce. Dip wings in sauce. Lay out on a foil-lined baking pan. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook 15 minutes.

Betty Black Black Warrior EMC

Ellanor’s Easy Sauce 1 cup honey 1 cup brown sugar ¼ cup soy sauce Hot sauce, to taste (optional)

All ingredients can be mixed into a single spice container and used as a rub for chicken or fish. Makes for a sweet and smoky salmon rub. Can also be combined with a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil to use as a marinade.

Stephanie Khamken Central AL EC Ribs and Green Bean Stew

Mix all ingredients and spread over ribs, chicken, roast or any meat of choice.

Cook as desired.

Kay Harrison South Alabama EC

Editor's note: Thanks to the readers who noticed that some directions were missing in our December Cookie Contest winning recipe for White Chocolate Cookies. The marshmallows are to be blended in with the peanut butter and melted bark, Rice Krispies and peanuts.

(Melting the marshmallows in with the white chocolate would be a tasty idea as well.)

The red and pink sprinkles in the photo were a festive styling touch, and not a required ingredient.

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Alabama Living

JANUARY 2024 37

| Consumer Wise |

Tips to stay warm and save energy this winter Q: A:

My winter energy bills are typically higher. Can you offer advice on how to lower bills during colder months?

stat setting of 68 degrees in the winter while you are awake and lower when you are asleep or away from home. Keep in mind that setting the temperature too low can cause pipes to freeze or Colder weather can increase energy use and bills since moisture issues in some geographic locations. heating accounts for the highest wintertime energy conAdding an additional layer of clothing, slippers or a hat can sumption in most homes. The amount of energy used to heat keep you comfortable in a cooler home. your home depends on your equipment, how you use it and the Do you use electric resistance space heaters to heat a room or efficiency of your home’s shell—the building components that small section of your home? If so, you may see an increase on separate the indoors from the outdoors. your electric bill. For example, let’s say you use a 1,500-watt elecIt’s important to know tric space heater to warm how your home is heatyour living room while ed so you can make inyou watch TV or read a formed decisions on your book. Operating that space energy use. It also helps heater for two hours a day you prepare for upcoming at the U.S. average electricbills and avoid surprises ity rate of about 16 cents that impact your budget. per kilowatt-hour will cost A forced-air furnace is you about $15 a month. the most common type Operating that same space of heating system and is heater for 12 hours a day fueled by natural gas, prowill cost you about $90 a pane, oil or electricity. Heat month. pumps are growing in popIf you choose to use ularity and available for space heaters, use them forced-air systems. If you safely. Keep them 3 feet have a forced-air system, away from anything flamcheck the filter regularly mable, do not leave them and replace when it’s dirty. unattended and plug them Ductless heat pumps, or directly into the outlet, not mini-splits, boilers, radian extension cord or powant heat, baseboard heater strip. ers and electric resistance Just as we put on a windheaters are other common breaker to keep cold winds heating system types. from blowing through a If you don’t know what sweater, your home also type of system you have, benefits from blocking air find the model number of movement. Air sealing can your equipment and look Air seal around plumbing penetrations with expanding foam to reduce drafts in make a big improvement it up online. You’ll find in- bathrooms and kitchens. in the comfort of your PHOTO COURTESY MARK GILLILAND, PIONEER UTILITY RESOURCES formation about the kind home as well as provide of system, how efficiently it energy savings. A common operates and recommendations for servicing it, which can imair sealing practice is applying weatherstripping to exterior doors prove system efficiency. and windows. You can also seal around plumbing penetrations to We use energy to make our homes comfortable. The easiest help eliminate drafts. A gap often exists between the drywall or and lowest-cost way to save money on heating is to keep your wood and the plumbing pipes and drains. Filling these gaps with thermostat as low as your comfort will allow. The closer your expanding foam can reduce drafts in bathrooms and kitchens. home’s temperature is to the outdoor temperature, the less enCold, windy winter days are the perfect time to find opportuniergy is used. ties for air sealing. Rattling doors or moving curtains can indicate The U.S. Department of Energy recommends a thermoair leakage. Air leakage can occur where two different materials come together, like drywall and trim work. Cracked plaster and Miranda Boutelle is the chief operating officer at Efficiency Services gaps in drywall can also cause drafts. Sealing the gaps saves enerGroup in Oregon, a cooperatively owned energy efficiency company. gy and improves comfort.

She has more than 20 years of experience helping people save energy at home, and she writes on energy efficiency topics for the As outdoor temperatures dip this winter, take a few proactive National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the national trade steps to maintain comfort in your home and keep your energy association representing more than 900 local electric cooperatives. bill in check.

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Alabama Living

JANUARY 2024 39

| Outdoors |

Orange Beach crew lands largest marlin caught in Gulf

I

n October 2023, the Best Trait, captained by Chris Mowad, good judge of its size at that time. We were afraid she would get headed out of Sportsman’s Marina in Orange Beach and into the rig.” sailed into Alabama fishing history.

Through skillful maneuvering, Captain Mowad kept the marThe crew also included Tyler Robinson, Travis Bashaw, Addilin in open water and away from entangling the structure at the son Gilly and Joseph Glover. Scott Crump of Jasper owns the 55rig. In the fighting chair, Anderson battled the leviathan for more than an hour. At first, the guys on the Best Trait did their best to foot boat. Sitting in the hot seat that day, Scott “Scooter” Anderson, Jr. of Houston, Texas, soon tangled with a giant blue marlin. manhandle the monster marlin into their boat. They pulled it up The Best Trait ventured to the as far as they could and tied it to fertile waters off the Mississipthe fighting chair to wait for help. pi River Delta about 125 miles “Chris had to use the boat to southwest of Orange Beach. plane the fish when it died during Finding nothing at their first the fight,” Anderson says. “After spot, Captain Mowad, a veteran it died, it took another 25 minutes to get it to the boat. When of fishing these waters for many I first saw the size of the fish, I years, motored the vessel to another location, the Blind Faith knew we were going to need help rig. pulling it into our boat. Luckily, The immense Blind Faith another boat was out there and rig, the deepest rig operated by Chris knew the captain. Two of Chevron, sits about 60 miles their guys got onto our boat to from the mouth of the Missishelp pull the fish through the sippi River. The rig stands 29 tuna door.” stories tall, including the massive With the fish finally landed, structure underwater, and sits in the team returned to Orange about 7,000 feet of water. At the Beach on Oct. 18. The enormous new location, the captain marked marlin weighed 1,145.60 pounds. some fish. For bait, the team deIt stretched 175 inches, or 14.58 ployed two live 5-pound blackfin feet, from the tip of its bill to its tuna, a favorite meal of big blue tail. Without the bill, the behemoth measured 145 inches long, marlin. or just over 12 feet, with an 84“We had one tuna on a tip inch girth. rod and one on a rigger,” Glover The big fish shattered the old says. “With the tip rod, we run it Alabama state record of 851.90 straight behind the boat. We put pounds. It also beat every other the other bait on the rigger so fish ever weighed in Alabama. it goes farther out and the lines The only fish that comes close is don’t get tangled. We ‘bump troll’ a 1,019-pound tiger shark caught the bait by bumping the engines

by Brett Rutledge while fishing forward to keep the line tight. with High Adventure Charters The big marlin hit the bait on the during the 2023 Alabama Deep tip rod about 40 feet behind the Sea Fishing Rodeo. boat. We watched it hit the bait The crew of Best Trait landed this record blue marlin on Oct. 18.

PHOTO COURTESY SCOTT “SCOOTER” ANDERSON JR. “All the credit goes to Captain with full force and eat the tuna.”

Chris,” Anderson says modestly.

The captain tracked the marlin “He marked it on the sonar and told us when to drop the baits. on his electronics and watched it go for the tuna. The crew could It’s a team effort to catch a fish like this. I’m more happy for Capsee on the sonar the massive billfish taking the bait. tain Chris. A captain dreams of catching a fish like this. I was just “The marlin piled into my live bait,” Anderson recalls. “We lucky enough that it ate my live bait.” knew it was a good fish, but we didn’t think it was going to be a Anderson’s fish also ranks as the biggest blue marlin ever grander. It jumped twice, but it was far away. We couldn’t get a pulled from the Gulf of Mexico. The previous Gulf record weighed 1,054 pounds. The International Game Fish Association lists the world record blue marlin at 1,402 pounds, a fish caught John N. Felsher is a professional freelance writer who lives in Semmes, Ala. He also hosts an outdoors tips show for WAVH in the Atlantic Ocean off Brazil in 1992.

FM Talk 106.5 radio station in Mobile, Ala. Contact him at j.

Since the fish died in the fight, the crew donated the meat to a felsher@hotmail.com or through Facebook. zoo to feed the animals.

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Answers to puzzle on Page 29

DOUG HANNON’S FISH & GAME FORECAST 2024

EXCELLENT TIMES

JANUARY

A.M.

Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

FEBRUARY

Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

2:42 - 4:42 3:30 - 5:30 4:18 - 6:18 5:06 - 7:06 5:54 - 7:54 6:42 - 8:42 7:30 - 9:30 8:18 - 10:18 9:06 - 11:06 10:42 - 12:42 11:30 - 1:30 NA 1:06 - 3:06 1:54 - 3:54 2:42 - 4:42 3:30 - 5:30 A.M.

4:18 - 6:18 5:06 - 7:06 5:54 - 7:54 6:42 - 8:42 7:30 - 9:30 8:18 - 10:18 9:06 - 11:06 9:54 - 11:54 10:42 - 12:42 11:30 - 1:30 NA 1:06 - 3:06 1:54 - 3:54 2:42 - 4:42 3:30 - 5:30 4:18 - 6:18 5:06 - 7:06 5:54 - 7:54 6:42 - 8:42 7:30 - 9:30 8:18 - 10:18 9:06 - 11:06 9:54 - 11:54 10:42 - 12:42 11:30 - 1:30 NA 1:06 - 3:06 1:54 - 3:54 2:42 - 4:42

GOOD TIMES

MOON STAGE

PM

3:06 - 5:06 3:54 - 5:54 4:42 - 6:42 5:30 - 7:30 6:18 - 8:18 7:06 - 9:06 7:54 - 9:54 8:42 - 10:42 9:30 - 11:30 11:06 - 1:06 FULL MOON 11:54 - 1:54 12:42 - 2:42 1:30 - 3:30 2:18 - 4:18 3:06 - 5:06 3:54 - 5:54 PM

4:42 - 6:42 5:30 - 7:30 6:18 - 8:18 7:06 - 9:06 7:54 - 9:54 8:42 - 10:42 9:30 - 11:30 10:18 - 12:18 11:06 - 1:06 NEW MOON 11:54 - 1:54 12:42 - 2:42 1:30 - 3:30 2:18 - 4:18 3:06 - 5:06 3:54 - 5:54 4:42 - 6:42 5:30 - 7:30 6:18 - 8:18 7:06 - 9:06 7:54 - 9:54 8:42 - 10:42 9:30 - 11:30 10:18 - 12:18 11:06 - 1:06 FULL MOON 11:54 - 1:54 12:42 - 2:42 1:30 - 3:30 2:18 - 4:18 3:06 - 5:06

AM

PM

9:09 - 10:39 9:57 - 11:27 10:45 - 12:15 11:33 - 1:03 NA 1:09 - 2:39 1:57 - 3:27 2:45 - 4:15 3:33 - 5:03 5:09 - 6:39 5:57 - 7:27 6:45 - 8:15 7:33 - 9:03 8:21 - 9:51 9:09 - 10:39 9:57 - 11:27

9:33 - 11:03 10:21 - 11:51 11:09 - 12:39 11:57 - 1:27 12:45 - 2:15 1:33 - 3:03 2:21 - 3:51 3:09 - 4:39 3:57 - 5:27 5:33 - 7:03 6:21 - 7:51 7:09 - 8:39 7:57 - 9:27 8:45 - 10:15 9:33 - 11:03 10:21 - 11:51

AM

PM

10:45 - 12:15 11:33 - 1:03 NA 1:09 - 2:39 1:57 - 3:27 2:45 - 4:15 3:33 - 5:03 4:21 - 5:51 5:09 - 6:39 5:57 - 7:27 6:45 - 8:15 7:33 - 9:03 8:21 - 9:51 9:09 - 10:39 9:57 - 11:27 10:45 - 12:15 11:33 - 1:03 NA 1:09 - 2:39 1:57 - 3:27 2:45 - 4:15 3:33 - 5:03 4:21 - 5:51 5:09 - 6:39 5:57 - 7:27 6:45 - 8:15 7:33 - 9:03 8:21 - 9:51 9:09 - 10:39

11:09 - 12:39 11:57 - 1:27 12:45 - 2:15 1:33 - 3:03 2:21 - 3:51 3:09 - 4:39 3:57 - 5:27 4:45 - 6 ;15 5:33 - 7:03 6:21 - 7:51 7:09 - 8:39 7:57 - 9:27 8:45 - 10:15 9:33 - 11:03 10:21 - 11:51 11:09 - 12:39 11:57 - 1:27 12:45 - 2:15 1:33 - 3:03 2:21 - 3:51 3:09 - 4:39 3:57 - 5:27 4:45 - 6 ;15 5:33 - 7:03 6:21 - 7:51 7:09 - 8:39 7:57 - 9:27 8:45 - 10:15 9:33 - 11:03

The Moon Clock and resulting Moon Times were developed 40 years ago by Doug Hannon, one of America’s most trusted wildlife experts and a tireless inventor. The Moon Clock is produced by DataSport, Inc. of Atlanta, GA, a company specializing in wildlife activity time prediction. To order the 2023 Moon Clock, go to www.moontimes.com.

Alabama Living

JANUARY 2024 41

s p i h s r a l o h Sc s b a r g r o f up Operation Round Up Foundation Throughout the year, WEC members generously volunteer to round up their monthly bills to the next dollar so the Operation Round Up Foundation can provide scholarships. Last year, ORU awarded 23 scholarships to Wiregrass area students.

Who can apply?

WEC members and their dependent children, including those under legal guardianship.

Traditional students

College-bound high school seniors attending a public, private or home school.

It’s that time of the year for students to consider their future in higher education or technical training — and how to pay for it. Wiregrass Electric Cooperative is here to help.

Electric Cooperative Foundation In addition to providing in-house scholarship opportunities, WEC sponsors a $1,000 educational scholarship to a high school senior administered through the Electric Cooperative Foundation.

Who can apply?

Applicants for this scholarship should be interested in pursuing a postsecondary or vocational education. To qualify for the scholarship, the applicant must be a dependent child of a member of a WEC. The application must be submitted directly to the Electric Cooperative Foundation.

Deadline to apply is Feb. 23.

Download the application here:

Nontraditional students

Students planning to attend an accredited institution in Alabama who meet at least one of these criteria: have delayed enrollment into postsecondary education; are financially independent for financial aid purposes; have dependents other than a spouse; or are single parents.

Aspiring lineworkers

Students who want to enroll in Wallace Community College’s Pre-Apprentice Electrical Lineworker program and demonstrate a financial need.

Deadline to apply is April 5.

Apply here:

42 JANUARY 2024

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Heart for Hartford’s youth Vernon Alford makes a difference in the background Vernon Alford doesn’t mind the noise of cheering, buzzers or even blaring concert music. In fact, he routinely seeks it out, immersing himself in the vibrant energy of Hartford’s youth. At 80, the city magistrate is a regular at school sporting events, where his presence is as reliable as the rhythm of the clock he manages for basketball and volleyball teams. “I’m probably at four games a week,” he says, proudly.

Alford’s love for music and people draws him to concerts, where he indulges in his hobby of people-watching. “It’s fun,” he chuckles, and he finds comfort in the exuberance of younger generations.

But his involvement with Hartford’s youth extends beyond a spectator role.

Alford often orchestrates logistics for school sports teams, leveraging his military background to arrange travel WEC CEO Brad Kimbro and WTVY General Manager Valerie Russell present Vernon Alford, center, with a $1,000 check on behalf of WEC’s Operation Round Up.

Alabama Living

accommodations at reduced costs. His goodwill also stretches to sponsoring student activities and providing financial support to college students.

This thread of generosity was spun from personal loss. “After my wife passed away, I heard some kids talking about her kindness,” Alford says. “Some mentioned their financial struggles in college. That’s when I decided to sponsor a student.” What began as a modest gesture of support has grown, and he now aids four students. “It’s not a lot, but it makes a difference,” he says.

But it’s not just about the money. He stands as a motivator and friend, forging profound connections that ripple through the community. Yet, if there’s one thing that perturbs Alford, it’s the noise made about his altruistic deeds. He’d rather keep that quiet.

Despite his preference for discretion, the community’s recognition of his dedication led to his nomination and subsequent selection as a Silent Hero of the Wiregrass.

This honor, a collaboration between Wiregrass Electric Cooperative’s Operation Round Up Foundation and WTVY, celebrates unsung heroes like Alford.

“Our volunteer Operation Round Up Foundation board members are good at what they do,” says Brad Kimbro, WEC’s chief executive officer. “This award is for individuals like Vernon, who contribute silently, yet significantly, to bettering their community.”

Alford’s response to receiving the Silent Hero award is one of humble surprise. “I was shocked. I didn’t want these things to get out,” he admits with a laugh. “But it did, and that won’t change anything for me.

“But I can’t tell you how it makes me feel to even be able to do this,” Alford continues earnestly. “I’m going to keep doing it until either the school or the city council tells me I have to quit. But until then, I have no intention of stopping. I might go bankrupt doing it, but that’s not going to stop me.”

JANUARY 2024 43

| Our Sources Say |

Warnings A

friend of mine recently asked why I write so many articles about climate change and Net Zero.

As an electric utility, the provision of reliable and affordable electricity is our primary objective. The intent of my articles is to illustrate how the many differing forces pushing for economic change, and the restructuring of the world’s energy industry, will likely disrupt the electric utility industry and reliable energy supply. When it happens – and the possibility increases every year – I would rather say, “You were warned.”

The electric utility industry’s greatest challenge today is the forced transition to green energy resources or a Net Zero carbon future. With that pressure, the ability to provide reliable and affordable energy is more at risk today than during any time since the United States was fully electrified in the 1940’s.

Anyone paying attention remembers the rolling blackouts around Christmas last year with Winter Storm Elliott. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the agencies that regulate wholesale electric markets and are responsible for U.S. electric grid reliability, issued in late October a joint assessment of electric and natural gas issues during Elliott.

The report noted that, for the fifth time in eleven years, power plant failures caused by winter weather jeopardized reliability. In the face of growing demand to heat homes and businesses, many natural gas generators failed because of technical or mechanical issues, or a lack of natural gas to fuel the generators.

Electric service to hundreds of thousands of Southeastern consumers over the Christmas holiday was interrupted, and millions more still were asked to conserve power to avoid further grid failures. The report notes the problems were particularly troubling in that the firm load interrupted occurred in the Eastern Interconnection (the entire U.S. electric grid east of the Rockies), which normally has surplus generation and transmission capacity should electric utilities across the region need to support one another. However, the problems across the Interconnection were so severe that it was necessary to curtail electric firm load in the southeast.

New York City faced its own problems. The city’s entire natural gas distribution system was led to the verge of collapse. The demand for natural gas to heat homes and businesses and to supply electric generation plants increased dramatically, while supply from the Appalachian’s Marcellus and Utica natural gas fields was curtailed by cold weather and the lack of natural gas pipeline capacity. The result of those actions led to insufficient natural gas pipeline pressure downstream in New York City. Consolidated Edison, New York City’s natural gas distribution provider, was forced to interrupt some natural gas customers and redirect a liquefied natural gas regasification system to prevent a total col-

lapse of its natural gas distribution system.

Consolidated Edison serves millions of retail natural gas customers in the New York City area. If the natural gas distribution system had collapsed from low pressure, each of those customer’s pilot lights would have gone out. Inspecting systems and re-lighting millions of pilot lights would have taken months, and millions of New Yorkers would have been without gas heat for the rest of winter.

Most of the problems experienced last winter were self-inflicted. New York Governors Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul have prohibited natural gas fracking in expanding the Marcellus fields into New York. They have stopped natural gas pipeline expansion in New York and prohibited additional gas distribution system expansion in New York City. Recently released regulations to reduce methane emissions in oil and natural gas production will result in decreased output of those fuels.

On his first day in office, President Biden stopped the Keystone pipeline and followed with draconian restrictions on natural gas permitting and construction that have effectively made new interstate natural gas pipeline construction impossible. Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act allocates billions into green energy projects and policies that intentionally shift the burden of the country’s green energy transition to the electric utility industry. Last spring, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a rule that will require the majority of U.S. coal and natural gas plants to either close, switch to hydrogen fuel, or be equipped with pricey carbon capture and storage systems. More than likely, most of the affected plants will be forced to close.

Federal environmental policy is forcing energy usage to shift from fossil fuels, for consumers heating their homes or cooking their food (for example), to electricity. Electric utilities will need to bear the responsibility of ever-increasing electric demand while other policies severely restrict the available resources that would increase generation. It is becoming increasingly difficult, for electric utilities and natural gas utilities, to provide basic, necessary services at times of high demand because of restrictive government policies.

Last month I wrote about the fraying of the environmental movement to decarbonize the world’s energy. That fraying continues, but the environmental movement continues to call for total elimination of fossil fuels worldwide. Apparently, extremists don’t care about power outages, natural gas system collapses, or utility cost increases (or maybe they want them). You would think the experiences of power outages, even more close calls, and warnings for more in the future, would change the obsession with ending fossil fuel use. It apparently hasn’t and probably won’t. Remember, you were warned.

I hope you have a good month.

Gary Smith is President and CEO of PowerSouth Energy Cooperative.

44 JANUARY 2024

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JANUARY 2024 45

| Cup o’ Joe |

Illustration by Dennis Auth

Once upon a time, in a snowstorm

E

very southerner knows when the weatherman predicts 1/8 of an inch of snow, we head to the supermarket and buy more food than Admiral Byrd needed on his trip to Antarctica.

Of course, two days later it’s 70 degrees, and all those leftover groceries end up in Blessing Boxes at local churches. No harm done.

However, every now and again the forecasters make a big mistake that has major consequences. Those events get names - like Snowmageddon. On January 28, 2014, the weather in central Alabama changed so fast, and was so bad, that it left motorists stranded and people stuck in their offices overnight.

I was one of them. I remember looking out my office window near downtown Birmingham and watching the whole mess progress. By mid-afternoon the streets began icing over. Heavy snow started falling. Immediately, vehicles began to slide on the gentle incline in front of our building. Unfortunately, by the time our CEO decided to let us go, it was too late. Nevertheless, some of my fellow employees foolishly made a mad dash for home. They ended up sleeping in their cars and paying a chunk of money to a towing company.

I knew I couldn’t make it. The last six miles to my house was a curvy, hilly, two-lane road, flanked by deep ditches. I would have about as good a chance of staying on that road as a drunk on New Year’s Eve. Birmingham’s snow-clearing capability is pretty much Bubba with a pickup full of sand. Minneapolis it ain’t. So, it was going to be the next day before the roads were passable.

The sun set, and a couple dozen of us took stock of our situation. We had power, a large television in our meeting room, and the kitchen was decently stocked. It might not Joe Hobby is a standup comedian, a syndicated columnist, and a long-time writer for Jay Leno. He’s a member of Cullman Electric Cooperative and is very happy now that he can use Sprout from his little place on Smith Lake. Contact him at jhobby2000@aol.com.

46 JANUARY 2024

be home, but it wouldn’t be uncomfortable.

A cold darkness fell over the city. We passed the time by talking, playing computer games, and watching the local news.

Naturally, the weathermen were doing a great job of explaining why they totally whiffed on predicting the storm. By now, hundreds of motorists were stranded on the highways. We made a good decision to stay put.

Soon we realized we weren’t alone. Someone knocked on our door and said there was a school bus loaded with children stranded on a road near our office. I shuddered just thinking about what the bus driver and the teacher were experiencing.

Several hours in a bus with about three dozen hungry, cold, scared kids is enough to make Billy Graham cuss.

We quickly herded all the children off that bus and into our warm building. There, they had food, a TV, and about a half dozen Aunt Bees doing everything to make them comfortable.

We were even cutting the crust off their sandwiches. Within minutes, all the children had called their worried parents, while we switched the channel to “Sponge Bob Square Pants.”

With our new friends scattered throughout the office on sofas, chairs, and any spare pillows we could scrounge, I called it a night. I rolled up a towel for a pillow, and used an old car blanket for my cover. Then I cut off my office lights and crawled under my desk. Honestly, it was a lot like a Motel 6.

An early morning door knock by the police was our wakeup call. It’s amazing what a stranded bus full of kids will do to their sense of urgency. The children were herded into several vans fitted with snow chains, and off they went, continuing an adventure they undoubtedly still talk about today.

The morning temperature began to rise. By noon, the roads were somewhat passable, and one by one, we carefully headed for our homes.

Three days later, I played golf. Take that, Buffalo, New York!

I never forget to thank God we live in the South, even if we just have Bubba with a pickup full of sand. www.alabamaliving.coop

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